The Art & Science of JavaScript
Book is well written and easy to read. Support from Sitepoint for their books is also good. I was able to apply my learning from this book quickly into my own web development.
Art and Science Mashup
As identified by the previous reviewers as one of those people wanting to take my Javascript to the next level, I am finding this book just right.
Just enough code to help me along (note: Not all code is in the book, no CD, but can be downloaded), with enough explanations that leave me space to think, i.e. not all spoon fed. The style is free and easy to read, put down, and come back to later after having thought about it for a while.
I originally bought it because of the Google Maps mashup in the last chapter, but have avidly read the others too. Although some rely on information in previous chapters, most can be read as stand-alone projects.
Solid Learning Experience
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I saw a bunch of things I *wanted* to criticize about this book but ended up being more positive as I began to see the educational value of the chapters. This book is not for absolute beginners by any means, however the material is presented in a smooth way as each script addition is explained separately.
Do NOT expect to come away from the book's chapters with code that can be immediately applied to a typical professional application or Web site. Things like a JavaScripted maze game can be great for learning some cool things but that is all.
Even the practical-sounding features like table column sorting and table column dragging could not be applied to a production situation without considerable modification. For instance, the column dragging scenario depends on all columns having similar width. If not, then the result is pretty messy. And we all know that data tables can be messy in the best of cases!
The index is miserable, but that is pretty much the rule for computer tech books.
The ensemble of authors is top-notch and some, like Christian Heilmann, (Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax: From Novice to Professional) have written excellent books you may want to check out. You really can't go wrong with this book for a solid advance in your script education.
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Artfully scientific
This is a very interesting book for anyone who is interested in going to the 'next level' of JavaScript. It's not a book for absolute beginners, but everything is very well explained without wasting time on trivia.
The chapter on metaprogramming (self-modifying code) is my favourite. Not only because it presents some very useful ideas, but also because it finally made me understand how JavaScript does certain things under the bonnet.
James Edward's Maze game is nothing short of a-maze-ing. It's a fine example of what you can do if you have the ability to think outside the box. (Way outside, in this case!)
The only negative part is the first chapter. Not because it's not useful -- it is! -- and not because it's badly written -- it isn't. The reason is that the code samples use XHTML markup but the JavaScript code will not work if that markup is served as real XHTML. The JavaScript relies on the HTML DOM, e.g., that nodeName properties are returned in uppercase. The use of character entity references is also ill-advised for XHTML.
Unfortunately, there isn't any informtion about this in the text. Someone who isn't well-versed in the fundamental differences between HTML and XHTML would learn some harmful practices.
The sad part is that it would have been so easy to write the JavaScript in a way that would have worked in both the HTML DOM and the XML DOM.
The remainder of the book contains good code examples which don't sacrifice accessibility.
Having said that, I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn how to use JavaScript for something other than validating form input.
Great JavaScript Book
I just received my latest book in the SitePoint collection, The Art & Science of JavaScript.
As always SitePoint has gathered some of the greatest minds in modern JavaScript to collaborate on an amazingly easy to follow book.
The Art & Science covers some great topics including Google Maps and Flickr mashups, building your own fully accessible 3D maze, draggable and sortable table columns, and much more!
SitePoint has always amazed me with the beautiful layout and design of their books. Code is easily readable in a fixed-width font with a blue background. The book also displays Tips, Notes, and Warning icons to help expand upon certain points.
This book is geared towards anyone who is familiar with JavaScript and wants to take their skills to the next level.
(5 reviews)
