Reviews for JavaScript: The Missing Manual: The book that should have been in the box

1. At last, real world Javascript answers

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2009

   As some other reviews point out, this book won't teach you much about JavaScript per se, but it will teach you an awful lot about the JavaScript library, JQuery. At first, I was put off by this because I was convinced I needed to learn "raw" JavaScript. This book changed my mind.
   
   "Raw" JavaScript can be quite cumbersome to use and many frequent tasks facing a web developer have to be written from scratch and tested for compatibility across multiple browser versions. Rather than attempt all this yourself, the author advises you to use a JavaScript library (e.g. JQuery) where many of the repetitive tasks facing web developers, e.g. building galleries, validating forms, hiding/showing elements etc. have already been written and tested for you. JQuery is basically JavaScript with most of the cross-browser incompatibilities eliminated and with added, powerful functionality to handle the most common tasks facing web developers.
   
   Having seen the power and convenience of JQuery, I wouldn't worry too much about learning raw JavaScript - unless you had very specific requirements that JQuery couldn't handle. Indeed, this book has made my other purchase - a dry 800 page book about JavaScript - obsolete.
   
   The best thing is that it tackles all the most common tasks you'll face in the "real world" - just take a look at its contents to see what I mean. Indeed, I can't envision a client-side feature that you couldn't implement with JQuery - and this book shows you most of them.
   
   My only gripe is that there is a lot of repetition in the book. Some may welcome this as it certainly does make the text easy to read and understand but it also adds to its thickness :) Personally, I think by the time you get to page 260, you should know that line X is creating a variable or line Y is calling a function etc.
   
   Thoroughly recommended for those who want to add a bit of JavaScript spice to their websites without taking the masochistic route of learning raw JavaScript. An understanding of HTML and CSS is recommended.

2. Great cookbook for some tasty Javascript recipies

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2009

   This book is a great introduction to JavaScript which focuses on producing usable and easy to understand scripts for use with your website. This is the third 'missing manual' by David Sawyer McFarland I have read and he continues his easy, accessible approach, with plenty of hints and tips, some 'advanced notes' and pointers to further reading. The book is aimed at JavaScript beginners, but you will need to have a good basic understanding of HTML and CSS to benefit from it (and there's a Missing Manual covering those ...). You do not need previous programming skills as all programming techniques and logic are explained. The book is also fine for anyone with other programming experience (like me) but you may find you want to skip some sections
   
   The book explains basic JavaScript, then focuses exclusively on using the jQuery library and associated plug-ins which are great for quick and easy fancy effects such as Lightboxes, slide shows, and animated navigation menus, all of which are covered in easy tutorials (in fact this book could easily be called jQuery: The Missing Manual). This should be fine to get you started using JavaScript and possibly all you'll ever need. My main criticism of the book is that it focuses too much on using the library functions and plug-ins, and does not try to show how to achieve something like this using pure JavaScript - in the end there may be something you want to do that is not covered by a plug-in.
   
   To sum up - a great book for the JavaScript newbie (but not HTML/CSS newbie) but don't expect too much in the way of advanced JavaScript programming.
   
   
   

3. As easy as it gets.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2009

   Like the other Missing Manuals this book is clear and straightforward. It assumes a reasonable understanding of (x)html and CSS but the chapters are clearly laid out with hands on tutorials covering the theory. Best of all, the book uses jQuery from an early stage. jQuery seems to be THE javascript library at the moment.

4. Easy to Understand

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2009

   Easy to read and understand. Simply written. Although I'm not a complete beginner to Javascript, I did find this book the best out of the ones I have bought.

5. Learning how to use Javascript the easy way

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2009

   
   The author is excellent and covers all aspects at a measured rate, not too slow or too fast. The increase in the ease of use of Javascript by using the JQUERY library, which is explained in detail, I found very useful, and have used many of facilities already. This is not a book for the complete novice but for an intermediate level developer it is almost a holy grail!