Reads like scrap notes slapped together
This book reads like it was slapped together from a small handful of quick notes. Actually, I would think someone could make better notes than that. The disc does not contain the example codes the book says it does. It's a rather expensive way to waste your time in an attempt to learn something. The explanations are weak and much too brief for a beginner or even someone with programming experience. I thought it would be a fun way to get started before I moved on to more advanced books, but it is incomprehensible and a great frustration to read. Buyer beware, and notice how poorly this book has been rated.
Not up to the reputation of the collection
Javascript for dummies, by Emily Van der Veer, is not up to the reputation of clarity, simplicity and usefulness of the books in the "For Dummies" collection. The explanations of the basic concepts of the language (primary datatypes, objects, arrays, functions, properties, methods, etc.) are garbled and confusing. The examples are badly selected, they don't go step by step, they mix trite and complex elements, and do not really explain things. This book will delay by several years, as it did for me, your understanding of Javascript. I finally understood and began to be able to use the language after having read "Javascript, the definitive guide" by David Flanagan.
Good intro book!
This book is good for a quick introduction to JavaScript. There's lots of general tricks and techniques, plenty of ideas, and code snippets to reuse (on the CD). However, the descriptions of HOW the code worked I found lacking. There were various details about exactly WHAT the Js interpreter was doing to parse the code. The book left me feeling that I had lots of great ideas, but that when I sat down to apply them and make something original--there'd be lots of bugs based on details that I wasn't told about. Good starter, good reference--definitely not "text-book" quality--but it was fun to play with.
There are definitely better books out there.
I've been learning and using JavaScript for quite some time, and of all of the books I've used, this one has by far been the worst. The examples that the author uses are not very helpful, and often concepts are poorly explained. A lot of the code you will need to write will require you to creatively use the skills you've acquired to solve a problem; this book, however, likely won't equip you with the tools you need to be able to do this. If you're looking for a good place to start, I'd start with JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. It does have flaws of its own, but it is a good place to start.
I'll Stick With the Moron's Edition
I have several complaints about this book. Firstly, the author assumes you don't even know how to turn on a computer. Who would be bothering to learn about JavaScript if they don't even know how to power up a PC? Come on! The author should spend less time detailing the basic boot up process on the PC and how to open your text editor, and more time explaining the way JavaScript works, and how it depends on the browser that the person visiting your website is using to work correctly. Also, a lot of the examples given in this book don't work. (Unfortunately, I've found that is common with JavaScript books.) Also, the book seems to waste a lot of time going on and on about useless nonsense. I know it's a "dummies" book, but this book expects its readers to truly be morons.I'm only thankful I purchased the book at a discount bookstore for only $3.99.
(71 reviews)
