Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Granddaddy of Them All
Comment: This book truly is the grand daddy of them all! The depth of Javascript resources is immense. I cannot even begin to think of the number of times this book has saved my bacon when working on a particularly sticky issue. Also, having the complete list of methods and properties in one place is extremely helpful.
Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The 5th Edition was well worth the wait
Comment: First off, this is a review of the 5th edition, released August 1, 2006. All other reviews prior to that date are talking about previous editions of this book, which are considerably different than the current one.
The reason the various editions of this book have been so good over the last ten years is probably because they have all been written by the same author, David Flanagan, who seems to really know his audience. Part one of the book is pretty much the same as in the previous edition. It acts as a complete tutorial on the language, taking you all the way from basic language constructs into object-oriented programming and finally basic scripting.
Where things get really interesting and cutting edge is in part two of the book, "Client-Side Javascript". Most of the examples we've seen so far, while legal JavaScript code, had no particular context - they were JavaScript fragments that ran in no specified environment. Chapters 13 and 14, "Javascript in Web Browsers", and "Scripting Browser Windows" provide that context. This begins with a conceptual introduction to the web browser programming environment and basic client-side JavaScript concepts. Next, it discusses how to embed JavaScript code within HTML documents so it can run in a web browser. Finally, the chapter goes into detail about how JavaScript programs are executed in a web browser.
Next, the book turns its attention to the Document Object Model (DOM). Client-side JavaScript exists to turn static HTML documents into interactive programs. It is the Document object that gives JavaScript interactive access to the content of otherwise static documents. In addition to the properties that provide information about a document as a whole, the Document object has a number of very important properties that provide information about document content. Chapter 15 explains all of these issues.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a technology intended for use by graphic designers or anyone concerned with the precise visual display of HTML documents. It is of interest to client-side JavaScript programmers because the document object model allows the styles that are applied to the individual elements of a document to be scripted. Used together, CSS and JavaScript enable a variety of visual effects loosely referred to as Dynamic HTML (DHTML). This is the subject of chapter 16, "Cascading Style Sheets and Dynamic HTML".
Interactive JavaScript programs use an event-driven programming model. In this style of programming, the web browser generates an event whenever something interesting happens to the document or to some element of it. For example, the web browser generates an event when it finishes loading a document, when the user moves the mouse over a hyperlink, or when the user clicks on the Submit button of a form. If a JavaScript application cares about a particular type of event for a particular document element, it can register an event handler - a JavaScript function or snippet of code - for that type of event on the element of interest. Then, when that particular event occurs, the browser invokes the handler code. All applications with graphical user interfaces are designed this way: they sit around waiting for the user to do something interesting (i.e., they wait for events to occur) and then they respond. Chapter 17, "Events and Event Handling", discusses these issues.
The use of HTML forms is basic to almost all JavaScript programs. Chapter 18, "Forms and Form Elements", explains the details of programming with forms in JavaScript. It is assumed that you are already somewhat familiar with the creation of HTML forms and with the input elements that they contain. If not, you may want to refer to a good book on HTML.
The Document object contains a property named "cookie" that, on the surface, appears to be a simple string value. A cookie is a small amount of named data stored by the web browser and associated with a particular web page or web site. Cookies serve to give the web browser a memory, so that scripts and server-side programs can use data that was input on one page in another page, or so the browser can recall user preferences or other state variables when the user leaves a page and then returns. Thus, the cookie property controls a very important feature of the web browser and is important enough to warrant a complete chapter of its own, "Cookies and Client-Side Persistence".
Internet Explorer on Windows, Safari on Mac OS-X, Mozilla on all platforms, Konqueror in KDE, IceBrowser on Java, and Opera on all platforms provide a method for client side Javascript to make HTTP requests. From humble beginnings as an oddly named object with few admirers, it's blossomed to be the core technology in something called AJAX. The object in question is called the XMLHTTPRequest object, and it is not limited to being used with XML. It can request or send any type of document, although dealing with binary streams can be problematical in Javascript. This chapter, "Scripting HTTP", covers these issues. Since AJAX actually stands for "Asynchronous Javascript and XML", the next chapter discusses Javascript and XML working together.
The final two chapters of part two of the book are very cool and interesting to me, but might not be of interest to the standard professional Javascript programmer, since it deals with client-side graphics and movies using Javascript. This includes working with VML, SVG, graphics and Java, and finally using Javascript with Flash 8. Parts three and four form a reference section for Javascript, including the various methods and their usages.
The source code is well commented and explained, as in all previous editions, and is available for download from the book's website. This book is a great instructive textbook and reference on Javascript. I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A programmer's JavaScript reference
Comment: If you've been in web programming for a while, you're undoubtedly familiar with JavaScript, but may have dismissed it as a "toy language" for flashy graphics effects without much substance. Although JavaScript is certainly the web professional's tool of choice for flashy graphics effects without much substance, the language itself is surprisingly substantial. I had been meaning to learn more about it for years and tried off and on by looking at example scripts and reading online documentation here and there. I finally decided to break down and buy a book on JavaScript, and I'm glad that it was this one. I can't recommend it highly enough - it's especially targeted at people with programming experience. This book doesn't waste your time with basic constructs or meaningless metaphors; it gets to the point, describes JavaScript, and lets you get on about your business.
As the book itself clarifies, JavaScript itself is just a programming language and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with web browsers per se. However, since virtually all JavaScript programming is done for the purpose of controlling web pages, the author specifically dedicates one third of the book to the core JavaScript language, and another third to a thorough description of the bindings between JavaScript and the browser. (The final third is a well-indexed reference that you'll find indispensable).
Since you're probably most interested in the JavaScript-browser bindings (the core language is fairly well documented online), let me say that this books coverage of it is excellent. It covers the entire history of JavaScript, detailing compatibility issues between Netscape, IE, and Mozilla (all the way back to the very first release of Netscape) and detailing exactly the sorts of uses that JavaScript is typically being put to these days. An example in the section on event handling shows how to implement drag and drop on a web page in JavaScript (bet you didn't know you could do that!) and there's even a lengthy section on the relationship between JavaScript and CSS.
I couldn't be happier with the book - it lived entirely up to my expectations and was well worth the money I spent on it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than a reference
Comment: JavaScript the definitive guide is not only the reference, it is built following a logical pattern, is full of useful tips, warnings and recommendations ; it is made by somebody who is well aware of JS strengths and weakenesses, someone used to programming languages able to find out what is behind this interpreted code.
Unfortunately, JavaScript is not like C++ or Java, its implementation depends on the browser, and this book enhances differences between implementations - reading the book help preventing headaches due to the differences between browsers.
The "icing on the cake" is the 45 pages intuitive index.
A must-have.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Way out-dated; new edition coming out Aug 2006
Comment: This 4th edition of Javascript was published in 2001 and is by now way out-dated. Granted, a lot has *not* changed with Javascript, but new techniques and formats have become available. Luckily, a new edition (5th ed.) of this book will be available in August 2006. Better hold off your purchase until the new edition. Then this book will deserve 4 stars.
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