Microsoft Silverlight Books

Useful beginner book

If you want to learn modern JavaScript development (i.e. JQuery) from scratch then this book is for you. It's written in a very friendly manner and takes you gently from JavaScript "HelloWord" to creating full dynamic web pages using AJAX. Some readers has complained that the author uses plugins to accomplish mundane tasks rather than shoving "the bare metal" - personally I consider this a plus, since I would rather download and use well tested plugin than roll my own.

The book does however have a target audience issue. The author seams split between trying to teach JavaScript to people who have never programmed before, while simultaneous trying to explain advanced web development to more experienced readers. So in the end I must conclude that this is a very good book for beginners, while more experienced web developers might want to read books like jQuery in Action or JavaScript: The Good Parts.

Lars Tackmann
04 September, 2010

Also introduces the jQuery JavaScript framework

This book not only introduces JavaScript (its prime focus), but it also introduces the popular open-source JavaScript framework, jQuery, which supports many free open-source plug-ins found on scripting archives. With jQuery plug-ins, you can code at higher levels through the use of reusable code. The jQuery framework also takes care of many incompatibilities across browsers (like for JavaScript event handling) so the user can focus on his own JavaScript applications.

superticker
24 August, 2010

Perfect for Web Designers

I have just completed JavaScript: The Missing Manual. I am surprised at some of the negative reviews about this book. In my opinion, this is absolutely the best book for web designers who want to learn the basics JavaScript and also want to immediately take advantage of the most popular JavaScript library available.

I actually got interested in this book because of some of the negative reviews. I wanted to learn JavaScript quickly because I wanted to use jQuery on my web sites.

Before I bought this book, I read the introductory pages. In the About This Book section, the author says that the book will teach you the basics of JavaScript and programming, which it does. It will not teach you everything you need to know to build sophisticated, interactive Web pages. Instead the book shows you how to use jQuery and save a lot of time. So, after you learn JavaScript basics, you can start using the very cool jQuery plugins and add interactive functionality such as hiding or showing , creating cool lightbox galleries, inserting interactive google maps on the contact pages, and a lot of other things.

"Think of it this way: You could build a house by cutting down and milling your own lumber, constructing your own windows, doors, and doorframes, manufacturing your own tile, and so on. That 'do-it-yourself' approach is common to a lot of JavaScript books. But who has that kind of time? This book's approach is more like building a house by taking advantage of already built pieces and putting them together using basic skills. The end result will be a beautiful and functional house built in a fraction of the time it would take you to learn every step of the process."

So the question is: How much time do you have to learn JavaScript? If you're a web designer who wants to learn the basics of JavaScript quickly and start using very impressive js scripts, then this book is definitely for you. If you have a couple of years and want to become a JavaScript programmer, then this book is a great starting point. It's a mistake to dismiss this book because the author spends time on jQuery. If you want to be a full-fledge JS programmer, then jQuery can be an enormous help. You can download the uncompressed development version of jQuery and have great examples of sophisticated code to study, code that works and is cross-browser compatible.

You also have to be ready to learn JavaScript. If you don't have strong CSS skills, then you should first learn CSS before tackling JavaScript since CSS selectors are used to select parts of a web page to apply JavaScript (CSS: The Missing Manual is a good way to master CSS.)

One final comment. The author takes great care in clearly explaining Javascript code. The examples all work perfectly. This is a well-written technical book.

The Dude
24 August, 2010

Painfully informative.

Before you purchase and read this book (like I have) there is one important question you should ask your self: "How do I learn new things?". If it's by simply reading the complicated overview by an expert, than this book might be for you.

However if you're like me and you need to learn, in a hands on way, by performing and piecing the material together for yourself, then I would not recommend this book to you.

McFarland is incredibly knowledgable, but his approach was far too complicated for me to follow, without constantly having to reread every page. The tutorials included with the book were very good however they do tend you baby you a bit and leave you confused about what you have just made. Also they don't cover that much of the material presented.

All in all its not a horrible book if you happen to like his style and don't mind that it is more complicated than most beginners are prepared for. All I can say is that it wasn't for me. It was way more complicated than I found it to be just working with JS for myself and I'm at a loss for almost all of what I read in this book.

Matthew H. Jensen
15 June, 2010

Jquery

It's funny, when I first came and read these reviews I had no idea what Jquery was. But I learned. I gave it three stars because the book does not follow what it says...Javascript. Rather, it follows Jquery, a great javascript library. Now you may say, "Hey, Jquery lets you do everything you need to but even quicker and more efficient". That is true, but guess what, HTML5 is coming around the corner and it relies on Javascript coding...REAL javascript coding, and guess what? I don't know enough javascript for it because I learned the 'calculator' way of doing things without learning how to write out the math beforehand...and in HTML5, there are no calculators allowed.

Jason Semko
13 May, 2010

Great for the beginner programer

I've been dabbling web design as a hobby for the last 5-7 years. I consider myself pretty versed in HTML and CSS, but I wanted to learn more. I knew to get really fancy with my sites, I'd need to learn JavaScript or Flash. I opted for the former and picket up this book: JavaScript for the World Wide Web, Fifth Edition. Big mistake! It was not written for the beginning programmer and it was more of a "cook book" or Javascript recipes, type this code--get this result, with little explanation of the how's and why's. Frustrated, I quickly put that book back on my shelf. Fast forward about 2 weeks and I'm sitting in the doctor's office waiting room. I brought up the Kindle app on my iPhone and browse through my saved books to pass the time. Lo and behold, I found a sample section I had download several months ago for this book, Javascript, The Missing Manual. The difference between this book and the former was night and day. I immediately bought the whole book and via the Kindle app for PC/Mac, I can call the book up at whatever computer I'm at.

The Missing Manual starts from the ground up, introducing basic Javascript concepts like functions, arguments, and variables. It provides lots of simple codes samples (tutorial files available free online!) so you can practice what you're learning. I'm about 33% through the book and I feel like I've got a more solid foundation for learning javascript. The book has just introduced JQuery, something I've been needing to learn for work for some time. Speaking as someone with no programming language experience (outside of HTML and CSS), I highly recommend this book for those in similar circumstances that want to learn javascript. You won't be disappointed. My only problem is that I want to buy a Kindle now so I can take this book with me everywhere to finish reading it. The code samples are a little hard to read on the iPhone's small screen.

D. Martin
11 May, 2010

Another Missing CD

Before you buy any of the Missing Manual series, go to the Oreilly site and try to download and unzip the "Missing CD." The zip files are corrupt and cannot be unzipped. And the books are worthless without them. Javascript the Missing Manual is one that has a corrupted zip file. And right of the bat you are told to edit the files in that zip file. We'd be better off to pay the extra $5 for a real CD that worked. You don't save $5, you lose the price of the book.

Kenneth Peck
01 May, 2010

Stay Missing!

No body wants to be beginner forever. The book used so many script that came from another author. The book failed to give you sufficient foundation in making your own script. I thought that this is very good enough until I found another book by accident that explained from ground up, and teach you how to make your very own script without the help of a third party script. This one of the wanna be's and I'm so mad that o'reilley allows this kind of book that most of the script are from another author(using a third party script is considered copied). All I can say is that this book must be stay missing and never to be found!!

J. Francisco
17 March, 2010

This is not a manual for JavaScript

I need to begin this review with a caveat: The book actually met some specific needs, and it did so well. I was doing some work updating a friend's website, and he wanted to add jQuery for some effects, and this book helped me more than any other. Its information about jQuery is clear and useful.

But...

This is not a "manual" for JavaScript. And if anyone should know, it's one who writes manual as a profession.

A good manual for any product has 4 characteristics: it should be clear, concise, complete, and comprehensive. This book fulfills just the first two. And therein lies the problem, why I've given the book just 3 stars instead of 4 or 5. The book is nowhere near a complete treatment of JavaScript. In fact, if you want to learn all the fundamentals of JavaScript, you should go elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong. jQuery is great. It's one of the best JavaScript add-ons available, and its usefulness cannot be understated. But to really use any programming language extension, you are best served by first fully understanding the underlying language. And that's where this book fails. If you want to use this book to learn JavaScript itself, you will not. You'll learn just parts of it. Basic, useful parts, yes, but just parts. The books skips over with swaths of the language in favor of showing you easier ways to accomplish tasks with jQuery. Sure, it'll help you get things done quicker and easier, but you won't learn JavaScript. You won't learn how to get the same things done in JavaScript, you won't learn the limitations of JavaScript, and you won't learn how jQuery makes doing those things easier.

The folks who code jQuery are expert JavaScript programmers. They write elegant, concise code. If you really want to learn JavaScript, when you finish a good JavaScript book, you should be able to look at the jQuery code and, for the most part, follow it, and understand what's being done. This book won't get you there. Not even close. And that's my biggest issue with the book. You just won't learn he nuts and bolts of the JavaScript language.

Other reviewers have noted this, with comments such as the book is mistitled, that it should be JavaSctipt/jQuery: The Missing Manual. But that would not be accurate either. The jQuery functionality described in this book in no way covers the vast functionality of the jQuery library. So, really, the book is incomplete on both fronts.

There's even a bit on AJAX in the back, but it's just a taste. It's useful, but it takes space that could contain more about the Javascript language. One one critical piece of information is missing: HOw to detect whether a browser can use AJAX. (Hint: The same way you make sure a document is fully loaded before running jQuery, you find out if the browser recognized the XMLHttpRequest object, which is far, far better than old-tyle browser sniffing code.)

Once you understand that the book is neither complete nor comprehensive, what is there is good. The explanations are generally clear, although I do find some useful points touched on lightly. The chapters in the book do build on one another, so it's more useful read front-to-back than as a "manual" where you shoudl be able to go to any point and pull out self-contained content modules.

The writing itself is very welcoming, one of the trademarks of the Missing Manual series, and one reason why the books gets 3 starts instead of 2. The code samples are easy to follow and the book includes downloadable sample files.

Unfortunately, if you want a real "manual" that covers JavaScript comprehensively, you will have to go elsewhere.

Chuck Martin
27 February, 2010

jQuery: The Missing Manual

Lots of good material. Lots of practical examples. But be forewarned about a few things regarding this book.

First, it is by no means a comprehensive, from the ground up manual on Javascript. Lots of things are left unreferenced. This is not terribly surprising, since one volume can hardly cover it all. But if you're brand new to Javascript, you will still have plenty to learn after reading this book.

Second, readers should be aware that some of the examples given are terrible violations of usability standards. A good example is the frequent use of the alert command to show a popup window with a message. I understand that the goal was to keep examples short and sweet, but beginners should be told that popups are one of the best-known ways to annoy visitors and chase them away from your site. An example also shows how to make "sticky" tooltips with rollovers but doesn't bother to mention that users hate this sort of thing.

Third, as others have noted, most of this book is actually a tutorial on using jQuery more than Javascript. You can't use jQuery without Javascript, so it's not entirely fair to say that this is a book on jQuery in disguise. And besides, jQuery is now so popular, so powerful, and so well-known, that it appears that it will probably be incorporated into Javascript one day as an official part of the language, or that Javascript will be heavily adapted to look and act like jQuery.

But if you're committed to not using jQuery, however--for example, if you need to work with another, similar Javascript library--then this might not be the best book for you.

A quibble on style. The author touts on the back cover that a strength of this series is that it is written by "real authors." Yet this author uses the meaningless phrase "in other words" on nearly every page; frequently several times per page. This book may have been written by a real author but it was not edited by a real editor. Mr. McFarland, banish forever from your writing the words "in other words."

Reader
22 February, 2010

Mislabled title, but very good jQuery book

The title of the book is misleading. The title should be jQuery: The Missing Manual. This books serves of introducing many programming concepts (loops, if/else, variables) using Javascript and then launches into jQuery in chapter 5. You can't really get mad if you bought this book thinking otherwise because of the capability of research the internet provides us. Personally, I look at reviews and gather information on the books contents before I ever buy a technology book. I did that after blindly buying a book that was severely outdated. We all have at least one experience of buying a book that is not what we think it is, if this is what happened to you for this book, take it as a learning experience.

Now, as far as the book goes, I think its really good and informative on the jQuery library. After reading this book and going through the tutorials I feel I have the knowledge to successfully implement jQuery in the workplace. If I am in an interview and I am asked if I am knowledgeable on jQuery I can confidently say yes. The pacing was great, I never felt over whelmed and the tutorials are a great reinforcement of the ideas and concepts presented in the chapters.

I would recommend this book to developers looking to learn the jQuery library and web designers who do not want to fuss with coding complex scripts in the standard Javascript library. Many scripts are made much easier using jQuery so its a great tool for designers looking for enough programming knowledge to get stuff done but don't stay awake at night wondering about the many nuances of Javascript.

Eric Mobley
12 February, 2010

The Title Should be JQuery: The Missing Manual

This book is worthless as an introductory text or even as "Manual" for Javascript. I am in a class learning Javascript and bought this book as a bolster to Dietel's worthless book (the school is trying to dump it as it is worthless). In this book the fundamentals one needs to know about Javascript is handed off to JQuery in this book...it is definitely NOT a missing manual on Javascript.

All this is not to say the book itself is worthless as ONCE YOU KNOW Javascript then the short cuts with JQuery are extremely beneficial. My experience with the Missing Manual series has to this point been great. They are usually books that teach you the program is greater depth than the manual that came with it and really show you the inner workings of the program.

All this to say as a Missing Manual it is a one star worthless book. As a text for those that know Javascript and really want to see what a framework like JQuery can do to speed your work flow its a five star. Since the book is a Missing Manual it gets one star.

RLC
05 February, 2010

Another Winner From David Sawyer McFarland

As a number of other reviewers have noted, the author of this book previously wrote a successful MM book on CSS. David has carried forward his technique of lucidly explaining the principles and then following up with a relevant, engaging tutorial. His writing style is to be commended - never condescending, pedantic, obscure, or tedious. While the tone is good-natured throughout the book, the tone is intelligent and focused, never goofy, repetitive, or facetious.

This is an empowering book. Sawyer McFarland lays out the basics, provides templates for you to type in the relevant code (without having to type in entire pages of mundane supporting code), and lets you experience the power of JavaScript programming yourself. While it's impossible to explain JavaScript mastery in a single book, he does the next best thing: gives a substantial introduction to jQuery, arguably the leading JavaScript library and a significant tool for JavaScript programming. There need not be any debate on whether libraries are legitimate tools for JavaScript programmers, just as there is no debate on the legitimacy of libraries for Java or C++.

I have read this book twice and refer to it frequently. I'm looking forward to seeing what David Sawyer McFarland writes next.

Richard Peterson
18 January, 2010

AWESOME!!!

Really good purchase... I got it really fast, even faster than I thought... Would definitely buy again!!!

Anna Rybakova
14 November, 2009

Great. For beginners, but great.

The writing style was good. An excellent book for what it is. I would love the Advanced Javascript The Missing Manual. Again no complaints about this book.

Travis Ray
02 October, 2009

Extremely elementary treatment + poor coding style examples

As other reviewers have commented, this book is extremely elementary and not really suitable for anyone who already knows any C-like programming language (C, C++, java, Perl, etc.). Further, the decision to combine a rock bottom entry level introduction to Javascript with the advanced and somewhat confusing jQuery framework is also questionable (how does this make this the missing *javascript* manual?). A small quibble: the examples given in the book use a rather poor coding style. For example starting an else if on the same line of the closing right bracket of an if just leads to completely unreadable code. Of course style is a matter of taste. In light of the existence of the exhaustive "Javascript: The Definitive Guide" by David Flanagan (recommended) ", calling this book "Javascript: The Missing Manual" is both inaccurate and demonstrates a fair amount of hubris.

Patrick Goetz
06 August, 2009

Excellent

Excellent book for beginners! Very well written and easy to follow. I am a complete beginner when it comes to Javascript.
The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is that I don't think it will make for a very good reference book. Granted, it doesn't purport to be a reference book, but I have other beginning JS books that present the available methods and function in nice tabular format as they introduce them. This book does not have much of that.
Great book to learn from... once you have read it, not sure it's a good book to refer to.

Emptyowe
15 July, 2009

i think it's missing one very import thing

i really don't like knocking somebody's book, i bought it for the jQuery stuff. unfortunately i think he missed something very essential, he doesn't quite fully cover the javascript object! he doesn't talk about creating the var myObj = {}; adding properties to myObj and pushing that object into an array (or into another object). he sees arrays as having object properties, (which they do) but he really missed the power of using the javascript object as a variable. in my opinion that is a giant hole so i have to give his book a B; javascript's superpower is objects / in objects / in objects...

Arial Mari Lancaster
26 June, 2009

Finally! Get the Javascript answers you've been seeking

McFarland's work offers answers to the questions that other instructional sources leave unanswered.

My experience has been that both his Javascript and CSS books contain clear and concise explanations and examples that have helped me quickly learn these new languages.

Sven
26 June, 2009

David McFarland's books are a joy to read

I have read David McFarland's CSS book from cover to cover almost twice and I loved it. I was then ready to move on to JavaScript, so I purchased JavaScript and Ajax for the Web: Visual QuickStart Guide (7th Edition). That was a very bad choice. It was extremely confusing and almost made me feel dumb. It explained nothing.

So I decided to pick up McFarland's JavaScript book and was amazed with the quality of it. David has a talent for writing these books and knows exactly what needs to be explained and when. The order he presents things in is perfect, and makes me feel so encouraged to learn. Anytime I have a question about something that was just written, it is always explained in the next paragraph. He also always includes page numbers when he references a different topic in the book which is very helpful.

The part that explained regular expressions made something that I had been a bit intimidated by a total breeze, as well as every other thing he explains. He also made a really great choice with working with jquery and presents it in a very clear and reasonable way.

I am very thankful that David McFarland is writing web development books and I look forward to his next one.

Nathaniel A. Foldan
27 May, 2009

Webmaster, Website Development

One of the poorest Javascript books I have ever encountered. I RETURNED IT for refund because it was not Javascript application instructive but merely a self-serving and confusing promotion of Jquery website linking. A more accurate title would be: "JQuery-The Missing Manual." Lacking in practical code examples and code application. Very poorly written. Definitely of little or no hands-on use to anyone interested in exploring the depths of practical down-to-Earth Javascript code authoring. I was surprised at the book's low technical informational quality because most O'Reilly books I have ever bought before were good. I commend Amazon on their friendly return policy allowing me to obtain a superior WROX book.

H. Weber
19 May, 2009

Great tutorial

This book had received excellent review so I bought it. I can hardly think of a book that explains this topic in a better way.

Hans Strahle
02 May, 2009

Great JavaScript Book

There are lots of JavaScript books on the market now. Most of the time they are the same as any other book. With the recent influx of JavaScript books focusing on Ajax its difficult to find a book that focuses on the basics as well as showing you how to use a library in effective and practical ways.

JavaScript: The Missing Manual is really 2 books in one. The first part of the book (up to Chapter 5) focuses on teaching the reader the basics of JavaScript. From the basic syntax to conditional statements to objects. Then the book switches gears a bit and talks about JavaScript libraries and the most popular library so far: jQuery.

jQuery is a very popular and powerful library that many commercial websites now use (including Google) and should be understood by anybody wanting to further develop their JavaScript skills. The author talks about jQuery and how it can be used and then shows the reader in a couple chapters how it can be used in practical examples.

Examples are such as automatic pull quotes, event listeners, Page FAQ, effects, adding search in forms, form validation, and much more. I've never seen a jQuery book that the author uses so many practical examples. There are a few jQuery books by Packt publishing, but they are mainly reference books re-stating the jQuery documentation.

This book really goes into detail of how and why jQuery would be useful instead of just showing you how to do something and then moving on.

The author goes into detail about the jQuery UI project and then the last 2 chapters talks about how you can use jQuery with Ajax.

No JavaScript is perfect, but his book comes very close.

A great buy and I highly recommend it.

F. Stepanski
23 April, 2009

This Book is Full of Misiformation

Another book chock-full of misinformation. Examples:-

"What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is a programming language that lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and dynamic visual effects."

--

JavaScript Doesn't Stand Alone
JavaScript isn't any good without the two other pillars of Web design - HTML and CSS.

--

A dissertation on misconceptions of HTML:-
"It doesn't really matter which type of HTML you use. All current Web browsers understand each doctype and can display Web pages using any of the four document types without problem."

--

None of this should come as a big shock, as the author advocates the use of jQuery (one of the largest all-time disservices to the web). At the time of publication, the version of jQuery was so buggy that it was virtually impossible to look at any one function within that library and not find a bug.


The author fails to introduce HTML without serious error and fails to explain the javascript programming language and what a host object is.

My recommendation is to not buy this book.

Garrett Smith
03 April, 2009

Prior Web Experience Needed!

I'm about half way through this book thus far after getting it just the other day, I must say that this book goes into dept in the first few chapter, but not enough to be a good "beginner book" i think is this is more of an intermediate book than anything, I have prior experience with Actionscript 3(Based on ECMAScript) so I was able to keep up without a hitch.

The book dips into jQuery very quickly, and dedicates a great chunk to Regular Expressions (ab+out 15 pages?).

I recommend this book if you know the the some JavaScript, and are trying to get into jQuery, but if you are a beginner stay away from this and look else where...

4 starts because I am enjoying this book for its jQuery (reason I bought it) and not because I wanted to learn JavaScript. 1 star knocked of because of its possibly misleading title.


Recommended Experience for this book:
HTML (int-adv)
CSS (intermediate+)
JavaScript (a bit more than the basics)
knowing Object Oriented programing would def. help.

B. Tellez
31 March, 2009

Misleading Title

I would like to echo the reviewers above. This should be called "jQuery: The Missing Manual." After working through the first few chapters, I needed a new book.

J. Schindler
24 March, 2009

This book should be a template for how technical manuals should be written.

This book is excellent. The author's writing style makes it very easy to read and he effectively teaches you the material. He does kind of take you through baby steps, but he does it in such a way that he keeps your interest. I appreciated that when he referred to something already covered he would give you the page number(s) where he covered it. He also breifly repeats things which I found very helpful. I especially liked that he keeps it simple; unlike many technical authors who seem to put too much emphasis on trying to sound smart with using really big words and long bloated sentences.

This book should be a template for how technical manuals should be written.

A. Solorzano
21 February, 2009

Awesome for Javascript beginners!

This book is great for Javascript beginners! It thoroughly explains things in a clear and interesting way. There are also good examples and tutorials to get some hands on practice. I love this book!

Soledad
02 February, 2009

Any library strong in web page design will find these popular lends

David Sawyer McFarland's JAVASCRIPT provides a structured series of programs designed to help Java programmers customize code. From avoiding common errors to saving time with prewritten code, JAVASCRIPT: THE MISSING MANUAL is a winner. Any library strong in web page design will find these popular lends.


Midwest Book Review
12 January, 2009

A fantastic Javascript / JQuery book !

I must say I am very impressed with this book. I am about half way through, reading it like a novel and going back to do the exercises. I find other computer books quite dry and hard to follow - not this one! One might think because it is such an easy read that it would lack in-depth information but again this is not the case. I find myself consistently having 'ahah!' moments. My background is 5 years in web development and design and I thoroughly recommend it to seasoned developers, designers as well as relative new-comers. The only thing to be aware is that the book focuses on the JQuery library (which is not a bad thing).

Kevin 7
07 January, 2009

Are you still writing your own javascript libraries?

I haven't completed this book yet, so I will come back and update this review once I have, but I wanted to get something out there to convince others who might be on the fence about buying this book. First off, it's more of a jQuery book than it is a Javascript book. Sure jQuery is a library that runs on top of Javascript, but it's important to make that distinction. The first 100 pages or so of the book get you quickly up to speed with Javascript statements, variables, string arrays, functions, regular expressions, etc. The basics are covered quite well with a number of succinct and well-explained examples.

Up next the author covers the basics of modifying the document object model (DOM) or quite simply: adding, changing and removing HTML content on a page. He shows you the basic document object methods and how to do things "the hard way". He doesn't spend much time on the "hard way" and quickly introduces the lightweight, fast and widely accepted jQuery library. When I first heard about jQuery, I was skeptical. I like writing my own code. I like being able to understand the nuts and bolts of what is being interpreted or executed at runtime. Sadly, Javascript doesn't always run the same way on different browsers and different operating systems. Writing cross-browser code isn't impossible, in fact the SitePoint book Simply Javascript was a good tutorial on how to write your own "cross-browser" library, it's just that jQuery adds so much more. It adds in helper methods for selecting HTML elements on your page (the $ CSS selector syntax), cross-browser event handling, plug-in support, and much more. More and more people are starting to use jQuery and Microsoft and Nokia have even given it heavy endorsements.

Getting back to the book. I'm not quite finished yet, but gazing ahead in the chapters I see a lot of great stuff: enhancing forms input, forms validation, dynamic tooltips, sortable tables, interactive images, doing ajax with jQuery and more.

After this one, I'm going to go back to my jQuery in Action book and then tackle John Resig's (one of the primary authors of jQuery) book Secrets of the Javascript Ninja!

Whoever thought Javascript could be this much fun? I certainly didn't! I've always hated Javascript. Give me Windows Forms, WPF, Silverlight, VB6, MFC, anything... I've always despised Javascript programming. Maybe a little less now that jQuery is here... :)

Eric F. Kinateder
18 November, 2008

Good book about jQuery

Well written book. Many samples. Covers a lot of aspects of building responsive web sites with jQuery. Not an advanced book about JavaScript.

Vladislav Loidap
28 October, 2008

Great introduction to Javascript

As Brett mentioned, this book integrates jQuery (a popular javascript library) into examples. More than half of the book teaches you how to use the jQuery library to enhance user experiences. It won't teach you how to write XMLHTTPRequest from scrach. Instead, the book teaches you how to make Ajax requests with jQuery, which greatly simplifies the problem (1~10 lines of code). The book exposes you to real-world problems and the practical way of solving them (that is using javascript libraries such as jQuery).

I strongly recommend this book to those who know nothing about javascript/ajax or jQuery. It serves as a great introduction to both of the topics. After you finish this book, you will be quite comfortable with javascript syntax. And if you want, you can always read other books to further extend you knowledge of plain javascript (the javascript without any library).

Brett gives a 3-star rating. I feel it is worth more than three, but I agree that it would be better if the publisher named the book "Javascript with jQuery" like.

Ming Zhu
12 October, 2008

Another GEM by The Missing Manual!!!

I've been saying for years that The Missing Manual line of books is one of the best publishing lines and 'JavaScript: The Missing Manual' keeps the tradition going. The thing that jumps out at me instantly is how RELEVANT this book is the Web 2.0 world. With heavy emphasis on AJAX, JQuery, interacting with Web 2.0 sites like Google Maps and the like, this book is fantastic for any and all JavaScript developers new and old. Packed with 500+ pages of material, the chapter listing is as follows:

01. Intro
02. Javascript 101
03. Logic & Control
04. Words, Numbers, Dates
05. Dynamically Modifying Web Pages
06. Events
07. Images
08. Navigation
09. Web Forms
10. Interface expansion
11. AJAX
12. Basic AJAX
13. Troubleshooting & Debugging
14. Javascripts next steps

My only complaint with this book is that I wish they had decided to publish this in COLOR. Many of TMM books are published in color and some don't require it but I think this one should have been.

Overall an exceptional book for JavaScript developers today and in the future.

AWESOME!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


Daniel McKinnon
16 September, 2008

Javascript/jQuery

I have David's CSS book and was waiting for this book to come out. I can understand one of the author's reservations about this book being jQuery specific, but if you stop to think of it, is also one of its strengths. There are "n" number of Javascript books out there which are pretty good, but do not take you beyond beginning/inermediate Javascript programming.

Realistically and practically, in order to get anything useful done in a reasonable amount of time, you have to use one of the frameworks. It could be jQuery, Prototype/Scripty, Dojo, Yahoo, any of these frameworks will do. The author has chosen to use jQuery which is an excellent choice.

Actually, my nitpicking is on the other side, i.e., the author should have left beginning Javascript material to any one of the other books and simply focused on Javascript with jQuery. His presentation style is very effective and he obviously knows CSS/Javascript world very well. Even better, he can communicate it equally well.

If you are beyond the introductory phase in CSS/Javascript world and are looking to build something useful beyond the toy pages, this book along with his CSS book becomes very useful.

jQuery, without a doubt, is a superior framework. I prefer it to Prototype and Scriptaculous. I do not know Yahoo or Dojo so I cannot comment on them.

I would buy other books from David again. In fact, I would love to see an "advanced" book where he brings together all of his knowledge and communication skills for creating "professional" web front-ends. Keep the same tutorial format though.

Bharat C. Ruparel
24 August, 2008

May Need a Warning Label

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I thought the author's other "Missing Manual" on CSS was very good and said so. ( CSS: The Missing Manual ) I am not so sure about this one.

This book is meant to be a beginner book and it certainly does treat certain aspects of JavaScript well from that perspective. My problem is that the author has chosen to integrate a particular JavaScript framework, jQuery, into the examples, starting with the introductory chapter.

I have used jQuery and have a high opinion of it, esp. of its CSS-like selector syntax. However, I don't think I ever could have learned the basics of JavaScript using jQuery. jQuery has its own syntax and its own ways of doing things that are different from other JavaScript frameworks and certainly *much* different from generic JavaScript.

A true beginner is going to find it difficult separating what is applicable to the wide world of JavaScript from what will only be applicable in one particular circumstance.

Perhaps the book may be better labeled as a getting started with JavaScript and jQuery text.

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Brett Merkey
11 August, 2008

Wonderful, as are all the Missing Manual Books

I had to wait for this book to be published, then chase it down when it was mis-delivered, but it was well worth the hassle. This book is well written, covers the material clearly and the tutorials allow you to practice the material that was covered in the chapter.
Once again, well done!
The book also covers jQuery in detail, so now I will be updating my resume with jQuery as well. Thanks for the wonderful resource.

KayTheTeacher
07 August, 2008

One of the Best

I'm a self-taught, hobbyist web developer. Therefore, I appreciate lively and, most of all, clear explanations and examples in books that teach HTML, CSS and related technologies. As should be evident from my review's title, books by David McFarland are among the best at teaching someone like me.

I've read the author's Missing Manual books on CSS and Dreamweaver CS3 and have enjoyed their clarity, helpful tips and step-by-step approach. Having gotten half-way through the new Missing Manual for Javacript, I'm delighted to say that David McFarland has "kept up the good work." Having singled, doubled and tripled with these three Missing Manuals, I hope he "completes the circuit" with a PHP/MySQL book next.

Buy, read it and enjoy one of the best writers in the field.

Charles D. Uniman
27 July, 2008