Book Review - Learning JavaScript by Shelley Powers
Category Book Reviews
It used to be that getting a book on JavaScript was one of those things you did when you wanted your web page to display a line or two of dynamic text or to edit a couple fields on your form. But it's much more these days with the popularity of Ajax. Learning JavaScript by Shelley Powers is a solid tutorial on the subject, especially for someone who already has some programming background.
Contents: Introduction and First Looks; JavaScript Data Types and Variables; Operators and Statements; The JavaScript Objects; Functions; Catching Events; Forms and JiT Validation; The Sandbox and Beyond - Cookies, Connectivity, and Piracy; The Basic Browser Objects; DOM - The Document Object Model; Creating Custom JavaScript Objects; Building Dynamic Web Pages - Adding Style to Your Script; Moving Outside the Page with Ajax; Good News - Juicy Libraries! Amazing Web Services! Fun APIs!; Appendix - Answers; Index
Pretty much everything you'd expect from a JavaScript tutorial can be found here... variables, statements, operators, and so on. The information is explained well, so the reader shouldn't have any problems following it. Powers has written the code to be fully XHTML compliant, so the scripting tag looks a bit different with the use of CDATA, but it's refreshing to see a subject like JavaScript keep up with standards. Building on top of the basic language structure, she goes into the browser and document object models, which is where the real power of JavaScript resides. When you start manipulating the actual document being displayed, your web sites can take on a whole new dimension.
If you already know JavaScript and you still end up reading this book, you'll find a few sidebars of interest. The sidebars point out some downloadable tools that can make a dramatic difference in your coding routine. Software like the MouseOver DOM Inspector, Alban's Script Editor, and Strong JS could quickly become one of those "how did I live without this?" tools. I'm also more motivated now to look at some JavaScript libraries available for download, like prototype and Dojo. The book does cover Ajax, but it's pretty high-level. I wouldn't depend on this book to be your complete Ajax tutorial, but it will get you started.
This is a good choice for branching out into the world of JavaScript if you haven't yet wandered down that path. By the time you finish the book, you'll be well-grounded in the fundamentals.
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
It used to be that getting a book on JavaScript was one of those things you did when you wanted your web page to display a line or two of dynamic text or to edit a couple fields on your form. But it's much more these days with the popularity of Ajax. Learning JavaScript by Shelley Powers is a solid tutorial on the subject, especially for someone who already has some programming background.
Contents: Introduction and First Looks; JavaScript Data Types and Variables; Operators and Statements; The JavaScript Objects; Functions; Catching Events; Forms and JiT Validation; The Sandbox and Beyond - Cookies, Connectivity, and Piracy; The Basic Browser Objects; DOM - The Document Object Model; Creating Custom JavaScript Objects; Building Dynamic Web Pages - Adding Style to Your Script; Moving Outside the Page with Ajax; Good News - Juicy Libraries! Amazing Web Services! Fun APIs!; Appendix - Answers; Index
Pretty much everything you'd expect from a JavaScript tutorial can be found here... variables, statements, operators, and so on. The information is explained well, so the reader shouldn't have any problems following it. Powers has written the code to be fully XHTML compliant, so the scripting tag looks a bit different with the use of CDATA, but it's refreshing to see a subject like JavaScript keep up with standards. Building on top of the basic language structure, she goes into the browser and document object models, which is where the real power of JavaScript resides. When you start manipulating the actual document being displayed, your web sites can take on a whole new dimension.
If you already know JavaScript and you still end up reading this book, you'll find a few sidebars of interest. The sidebars point out some downloadable tools that can make a dramatic difference in your coding routine. Software like the MouseOver DOM Inspector, Alban's Script Editor, and Strong JS could quickly become one of those "how did I live without this?" tools. I'm also more motivated now to look at some JavaScript libraries available for download, like prototype and Dojo. The book does cover Ajax, but it's pretty high-level. I wouldn't depend on this book to be your complete Ajax tutorial, but it will get you started.
This is a good choice for branching out into the world of JavaScript if you haven't yet wandered down that path. By the time you finish the book, you'll be well-grounded in the fundamentals.
If you liked this review and found it helpful, please click on the Amazon book link in the review and click the Yes (Was This Review Helpful To You?) button at the bottom of my review. Thanks!
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