Reviews for Pro JavaScript Techniques

1. Excellently written & packed with working examples

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2008

   This is how I wish many other programming books were written. While the material is sometimes difficult to grasp, the author takes you through in a clear yet non-patronising way. The text is easy and relaxed in approach, the author is undeservedly self-effacing, and most importantly, the book is packed with cool code samples and a good lot of decent external references and acknowledgements. I'm rarely so pleased with a book of this subject matter! Come on Mr Resig, lets see some more books!!
   

2. Good, practical book with a lot of knowledge

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2008

   I think, after reading the two, that the reader would be better served by reading Doug Crockford's "JavaScript - the Good Parts" first. It's a less practical book in terms of giving you examples of real-world applications of JavaScript, but it explains the weirder aspects, and the better aspects of the language in a concise way which just crystallises your understanding of the it, and will enable you to fully appreciate this book. I think that between these two, and using as a reference either the O'Reilly books on JavaScript - the Complete Reference or DHTML - The Complete Reference as your have-by-your-workstation book, you have a chance at getting properly good at writing decent JavaScript code. It's hard to see how else you can get that good without years of bitter experience, as decent JS knowledge documentation on the web is non-existent. I also highly recommend Doug Crockford's series of lectures on JavaScript, which you can get for free off of Yahoo video somewheres. You just won't find the intricacies, traps, and subtleties of JavaScript explained in such detail anywhere else.

3. Great

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2008

   Excellent book. Easily the best book on advanced javascript I've come across, and indeed the only one to give decent coverage to subjects like "closures". Be advised, however, that this isn't the book to buy if you want to learn javascript, the "pro" tag shouldn't be taken lightly. I'd thoroughly recommend this book to people who already know javascript, but want to improve and take their skills to the next level. A knowledge of another OO language such as Java or C# would also be useful, as a level of general technical competence is often assumed by the author.
   
   For best results, use this book in conjunction with Douglas Crockford's articles and videos.