Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Simply Put: THE JavaScript Reference
Comment: Remember the days when JavaScript wasn't a "real language"? Man, how times change. (JavaScript and XML and Web Services? You betcha!)
This book is both a user's and reference guide. It is a good learning vehicle because it explains how to accomplish tasks and why things work the way they do - for example, how the History object was originally designed and why that turned out to be a poor decision due to security and privacy issues. And regarding reference, well, he's the guy responsible for Java in a Nutshell - and this book is just as good.
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Summary: Latest edition of this guide
Comment: The last time I bought this was the Second Edition. Boy, a lot has changed since then!
I've mostly avoided Javascript because of platform compatibility issues. These aren't entirely gone now, but it certainly has gotten bette, and this book shows how to get around what remains.
I liked the "no-fluff" writing. David Flanagan covers everything concisely - some reviewers here have complained about lack of examples, but I felt that those given were sufficient.
The basic structure is as it was before (language overview in part I, client side use in browsers in part II) but many subjects have been expanded and there are entire new chapters.
Definitely definitive :-)
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Summary: Flanagan Deserves a Medal!
Comment: This review refers to the fifth edition of a book that was first published a decade ago. The fact that the book has remained popular for ten years and has gone to a fifth edition is testimony to its greatness.
If there were such a thing as a medal for lifetime achievement in technical writing, David Flanagan would surely be a leading contender.
Various editions of the book have been reviewed by key players in the JavaScript community, including Brendan Eich (inventor of JavaScript and CTO of Mozilla), Douglas Crockford (creator of JavaScript idioms for inheritance and scope), and Norris Boyd (creator of the Rhino JavaScript interpreter).
The best Ajax book on the market ("Ajax IN ACTION," Dave Crane et. al., Manning, 2006) contains an appendix on JavaScript that refers to this book as "the definitive work."
The book is divided into two broad sections: discussion and reference. Each section has two parts: core and client-side.
The core chapters cover language features such as data types, variables, expressions, operators, statements, objects, arrays, functions, classes, constructors, prototypes, modules, namespaces, and pattern matching.
The client-side chapters cover the use of JavaScript running in a browser to script browsers, HTTP (Ajax), documents (DOM), CSS, DHTML, graphics, Java Applets, Flash movies, and Java.
As the above indicates, JavaScript is not only an important technology in itself, it is also the key enabling technology for Ajax, DOM scripting, Dynamic HTML (DHTML), and Adobe Flash. And this book is THE BEST source for laying the necessary JavaScript foundation.
Furthermore, beginners need not be intimidated by the size of this book. Chapters 1 and 13 combine to make an excellent JavaScript primer or introduction. The remaining chapters are ready and waiting for when you're ready to dive into deeper waters.
This is THE BEST JAVASCRIPT BOOK FOR ALL LEVELS - beginner to advanced. PERIOD.
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Summary: New Edition: Guide for the expert; Reference for all
Comment: §
The new edition of The Definitive Guide represents one more step in the continuing increase in the availability of material on the new ways JavaScript is being implemented.
In the words of the author, "For today's web applications, JavaScript developers are writing programs that are an order of magnitude longer than the scripts that most of us were writing five years ago. The new material on classes and namespaces explains how to structure JavaScript programs and offers techniques for successfully using JavaScript for programming..."
The book is a reference that can be of use to anyone working in JavaScript but it is not a beginner how-to. The book should be seen as a guide for the experienced Web worker, especially those involved in making Web applications.
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best JavaScript book
Comment: I'm purchasing all editions of this book as soon as they are published. It's a best JavaScript book I ever read. I enjoy its clear, precise academic and inspiring style. Especially if you like C++ or Java, if you enjoy reading Stroustrup's classic book you're going to like this one too. It's not a "cookbook", it teaches you you a language.
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