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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good - but examples use Internet Explorer extensions
Comment: JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is an excellent reference book. Unfortunately many (if not all) of the examples use Internet Explorer extensions instead of standard methods/properties. For a newbie this can be frustrating when the example in the book does not work. And even then I discovered I had to make changes to some of the examples to work on Internet Explorer 6.0. If the examples used the standard (and only the standard) methods and properties this headache would be reduced and, maybe, eliminated.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another great one from Flanagan
Comment: If you're already an experienced programmer, it can be frustrating trying to find a good book on JavaScript (aka JScript, aka ECMAScript, aka ECMA-262). A lot of books out there are aimed at HTML developers, maybe even graphic designers. Many such users have little or no real programming experience, and maybe no real interest. Books for that audience are user-friendly, filled with useful examples, and low on scary-sounding technical terms. In other words, almost useless.
Flanagan has good credentials as a technical writer, and as a highly technical writer. He really knows what software engineers look for - trust me, it's not what a graphic designer looks for.
This starts with a clear, methodical description of the language. Flanagan goes through all the language basics, pointing out where JavaScript differs form languages like Java, C#, or C++. The differences are numerous. For example, JavaScript has typed data, but not typed variables. It's object oriented, but doesn't have classes. It's an interpreted language, not compiled, and that opens up generative programming possibilities that reflection APIs can't approach.
After the language itself, Flanagan presents it in the client-side HTML context, where it appears most often. That's about 20% of the book. It goes over all the common HTML features, and shows how JavaScript can add dynamics or configurability to most HTML features. The last part of this section discusses XML and the DOM model. It does not yet discuss the E4X standard, ECMAScript for XML, the new ECMA-357 standard. As of this writing, the standard has only been out for three months, though. I'm sure Flanagan will catch up to it soon.
The book's remaining three sections cover the language's basic APIs, the APIs needed in the client-side HTML context, and the DOM model. The first two are fundamental to any non-trivial use of the language, the last is the programming model that gives access to XML or XHTML in a rational, predictable way.
JavaScript has a number of very different user communities, with different needs when it comes to language documentation. This isn't a cut&paster's book, and is nothing at all like a training guide. It's a reference manual. If you're a serious techie, then this is the book for you.
//wiredweird
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best reference on JavaScript I have ever seen
Comment: I have read many books on JavaScript before but this is by far the most comprehansive guide to the scripting language. This book is not for beginners.
I use it as a reference guide. If you know the object's name or the method's name on either client side or server side, you can just look it up in this book's index section and it will reference you to a particular page with detailed explonations and more often then not with examples.
Absolutely love this book
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must have for learning and reference
Comment: As a long time C++ programmer, I found this book to be neither too hard or too easy. Readers with no programming experience at all might have a harder time with the text, but if you have any kind of programming background, the text will serve you well. As a reference, the text is second to none. Even the DOM reference is one of the best out there.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent Definitive Guide
Comment: This a very decent reference and so-so tutorial of JavaScript. If you're doing JavaScript you definitely need this definitive guide, definitely.
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