jQuery core, demystified
jQuery is a fantastic JavaScript framework - not unlike Ruby on Rails, it has brought back the fun into building rich web applications. Whether you are a novice (like myself), or a seasoned JavaScript veteran, you'll find the level of detail just right, which in itself is a great sign of a well structured framework.
Yehuda Katz and Bear Bibeault focus on jQuery core and walk the reader through all the basics of working with selectors, manipulating the DOM, working with JavaScript events, simple AJAX with jQuery, as well as, making use of external plugins. By the end, I felt very comfortable with jQuery - I understood the internals and framework decisions, and had enough breadth to start developing a non-trivial web application. Interactive examples sprinkled throughout the book were very helpful.
Highly recommended read if you're looking for a structured introduction to jQuery core.
Outstanding Guide to jQuery
My introduction to jQuery was working on a web application for a few months a year ago. I learned enough to get along by reading online documentation. Despite that previous experience, however, I learned quite a bit from jQuery in Action.
I found the book's level-of-detail to be just right. The authors neither gloss over important details nor do they belabor the obvious. The book is not an introduction to JavaScript or AJAX, but neither does it assume previous experience with jQuery. One area that did receive extra attention, because it needs it, was the differing event models in Internet Explorer vs. other browsers. I appreciated the fact that jQuery in Action spends half of one chapter explaining these important differences, before moving on to a description of jQuery's event handling mechanism.
Thank you.
I am not a big fan of JavaScript. This book is pretty much perfect for programmers that need to use JavaScript but have not weathered in the trenches with the language. If you have weathered in the trenches, I suspect this book will make your programming that much more productive and enjoyable. The book states on the back cover that you should have some experience with JavaScript and Ajax. True - but I have found that reading through this book actually clarifies many aspects of JavaScript and Ajax via the presentation of the framework. Depends on the reader but I would expect that if you are familiar with another language like Python, have a handy JavaScript reference at hand, and understand the basic concepts of Ajax, then you are good to go. The book is a pleasure to read and the technology is very worthwhile to learn.
Excellent Guide to JQuery
Covers all the major elements to understanding the power behind JQuery. Makes Javascript much easier to tolerate.
Great but why?
My brief research before the purchase of this book lead me to believe, that this is currently (July 2008) the best book on jQuery. After getting started with the book, I still think that's the case. Except if I consider online docs and tutorials as well. Online tutorials benefit jQuery from the fact that you can really try out and see what's happening. Sure you could download the code or type it down from the book, but the fact is that I ended up learning more about jQuery following interactive online tutorials than from reading the book.
Usually, I prefer reading a book on the couch instead of on a computer screen, but that's not how you learn jQuery. You have to try it. You have to play with it. And if you have to sit in front of your PC or Mac anyway, you might as well just follow an online tutorial.
