Good Quick Start
This book is as the cover states; "Visual QuickStart Guide....pictures rather than lengthy explanations." It was a great help in getting started with JavaScript. It is not an in-depth tutorial, but then, it doesn't claim to be.
I liked it.
Bo
do not even think about buying it
It's downloads don't work, and the book requires that they be used.
the examples will not run as written in the book.
They do not conform to the w3schools standards.
it cannot be used outside Microsoft products.
Like Firefox.
Excellent Material
This book was well packaged for delivery. I like it for the clarity with which the authors present the various lessons.
I hope to derive a lot from it and to add to my skills.
I am still going through it and so far it has been very exciting. Thank you for the good business. A value for the money.
Useful
This is useful as a reference book or to learn JavaScript. I do not use it often, but when I need it I am very glad to have it on my shelf. Good examples.
Not very good explanations
The authors are not very good at explaining things, even relatively simple things such as the prompt() method or the dot syntax. It could be much clearer and they could do it with fewer words. The authors take a rambling tone that doesn't quite give you the information you need. You can't depend on the authors to give you meaningful explanations. You have to experiment and try different things.
It's possible to learn JavaScript with this book, but it will take much more time than is necessary. In five editions, why couldn't they have improved this book? What are they doing? Other Visual Quickstart Guides are the same way. I hope the Visual Quickstart Guides go out of business and some other company takes over the market share. They've been cavalier toward their customers and don't deserve to be in business much longer.
Other books like JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by Flanagan, and JavaScript: The Complete Reference by Powell and Schneider are better at explaining the language even though they are considered to be more advanced books.
The same authors have published JavaScript & AJAX for the Web, which has almost the exact same content only it has a couple of AJAX chapters thrown in. Check out the review by another customer (at this point it is the only review). His critique is very similar to this one.
On the positive side, the authors manage to get most of the information across and the content is relevant for the majority of users.
If you choose to buy this book, use it as more of a guide and do not depend on it. Purchase other books to supplement it.
(231 reviews)
