Great Book
I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.
How many stars??
Pain has a new name. After looking at the rating for this book I had to look not twice but three times to make sure I was seeing the correct one; I did my best to get through this book but gave up after the author promised to go step by step and then dived into code and terminology without explanation; she would introduce an example, then surround it with code she did not explain or even refer to for the rest of the book! She tries to insert a bizarre sort of humor at strange times that makes you wince, again without explanation. Her explanations are hackneyed and incomplete; after giving up and reading Javascript Goodies, then several chapters of The Javascript Bible, I went back just to see if I could understand some of the code she laid out; I did, but with no thanks to the author; it only made it more clear that she did not adequately explain how the code worked and how it is used. Worse, the chapters do not build in any sense at all on previous chapters. Interesting that the worst reviews for this book seem to have disappeared in the last several months, raising the rating considerably. It was one of the lowest rated. (I thought all reviews were supposed to remain on this website...?) Avoid, or you too may give up learning JS for a year like I did.
Quick Reference Version
Note that this book is not THE JavaScript for Dummies book, but is instead the Quick Reference version of the book. Like a dummy, I accidently ordered this one for a novice friend when I meant to be ordering the original! After browsing the Quick Reference, I decided to keep it for myself, as it appears to be a qood reference work for a more experienced JavaScript programmer.
Excellent reference
I have found this to be my favorite Javascript reference book. It is organized and indexed far better than my larger and heavier tomes and seems to have more USEFUL information in it as well! An excellent book.
By my side at all times.
This book is practically indispensible. It is a fairly complete reference on core JavaScript. There is no banter, no unrelated quips or anecdotes... just the answers to my questions.The sections are organized well: Overview, Objects, Functions, Methods, and Properties. In each section, all related functions, objects, etc. are listed alphabetically, with a concise explanation of its use and syntax, and an example.
I always keep this book within my reach when I need to verify syntax or usage of JavaScript.
The only drawback to the book is that the material is somewhat dated. It doesn't include any information on layers, mouse or keyboard events, or other DHTML features. However, everything in this book is fully cross-browser compliant, and well organized.
