demonstrates basic ideas well
Estrella provides a quick introduction to JavaScript. Enough details to understand the basic coding ideas. The illustrations and examples are also well chosen to reinforce this learning.
He demonstrates that JavaScript can greatly enhance the interactivity of your web pages. It complements the static features of HTML, by letting you write dynamic pages, that have behaviour as well as a single visual representation.
The book does not try to give a comprehensive overview of the language. But it should encourage you to seek out more information.
Not for novice programmers
I love the web wizard's series, and had high hopes for using this book in an intro-level course. But the programming concepts come too fast for someone who hasn't done any programming. Chapter 1 throws out a zillion concepts without giving enough concrete examples of how they are used, so they will remain abstract to novices.An example: comparison operators are introduced on page 10, when one has no conceivable use for them. And then on page 20, we get to loops, and on page 21, conditional statements. You just can't pick up javascript this way unless you already know how to program.
This is probably a fine book for folks who already know how to program, but want to pick up javascript. But OTOH, if you already know how to program, aren't you ready for the O'Reilly Javascript books?
I'm not sure what this book's niche is. I thought the web wizard's series was for novices.
Solid Introduction To JavaScript
This book does the job. It teaches concepts not just code. You can get lots of code examples for free on the internet. The only reason to buy a book is to learn how things work not just how to make things happen. One nice feature of the book is that it doesn't delve into every possible method or property. instead the author selected the most practical aspects of the language to teach. It is not the last book on JavaScript you will ever need but it makes a good first book on the topic.
