Beginning JavaScript

For years I'd gotten by with learning/copying JavaScript from existing websites, and used "JavaScript for the World Wide Web visual Quickstart guide" as my meager handbook. I finally decided to get serious about it. Paul Wilton's book is very well-written and easy to follow. Even skimming the stuff I thought I knew I'd find cool new things I'd never heard of. As a bonus, his section on Regular Expressions, another topic I'd found difficult for years, is a real eye-opener. He goes through the RegExp thought process step by step, gradully revealing more powerful options, with useful examples. I'm finally going to USE Regular Expressions! And I'm not the only one who found this enlightening. Wilton was hired to cover Regular Expressions in a few other books as well. In short, I doubt I'll ever need another JavaScript book, and this was money well spent.

I bought the first edition of this text five years ago when I was just beginning to learn JavaScript, and I still refer to it on a regular basis despite having several other more advanced texts on Javascript, because the information in this text is so complete and well-explained. I am writing this review today because the book is here on my desktop as I am working on a script, and it occurred to me that I should take a moment to acknowledge what a valuable resource it has been for me. The first edition is dated, of course, due to browser changes mainly. The transition from Classic ASP to ASP.NET is another area where the technology has changed, but the basic information on the language itself is as relevant as ever. That notwithstanding, I'll have to purchase the 2nd edition now that I'm aware of it's existence. This book will gently but firmly take you from knowing nothing about Javascript to programming at an advanced beginner to intermediate level, and once you have worked through the entire book, you'll find yourself using it as a reference for the details of syntax or the useful little tricks, as well as the excellent documentation of the Javascript core and the various object models. If you are looking for information on more advanced techniques, such as object-oriented construction or extension, or very advanced DHTML, you might consider a text such as Danny Goodman's, or the Wrox Professional JavaScript 2nd Ed., or the Javascript Developers Dictionary which is available new for just a few bucks and is not bad at all.

All of the reviews of this book from April 2004 and earlier are based on the 1st edition, not this new second edition which didn't publish until the end of April 2004. The second edition adds some new great coverage of dynamic HTML in more recent browser versions and a new chapter on JavaScript and XML. Throughout the book there are many new examples and all of the code is now updated to be sure it works with the latest browser versions.

Beginning JavaScript by Paul Wilton is a great book !!! I have 31 computer related howto/learning books on my bookshelf at the present time, on subjects such as C/C++ Programming, Windows Programming, Linux Programming, Perl, Emacs, etc. etc., so I have some experience with different writers and different styles and methods of presentation/teaching. This book may be the best of the lot. Programming Windows95 by Charles Petzold is the only one that is probably better -- but not by much.The book is laid out in a logical, orderly, consistent manner from beginning to end. First you are presented with a concept. Secondly, you are given an example of fully functional code. Thirdly that code is fully explained, line by line. The book starts out with simple concepts and builds on them almost effortlessly. First you learn the core language, then you learn how to attach the JavaScript code to the base HTML document. Later you learn how to dynamically change the HTML document "on the fly" using JavaScript. Next,you are presented with -- interaction with the user through forms, string manipulation using regular expressions, Date objects and methods, Time, and Timers, Cookies, Dynamic HTML, Databases and server side scripting. I appreciated the fact that the examples given in the first 9 chapters work in both major browsers, so you are not immediately presented with confusing browser incompatibilities that complicate the learning process, but you are made aware of the incompatibilites later in the book when you are more able to understand them. As an aside, if I am a "little shaky" on one of the properties' or methods' syntax, and want to go back and review the concept, the material is quite easily found. The index is good as are the appendices where the DOM's and BOM's are laid out in detail.The book is exceptionally "meaty". Don't skip over any text or explanation of code, because you will miss myriad little tidbits of information and programming techniques that will prove most valuable. Some of the reviewers have complained about mistakes and typos. I have found most of the mistakes to be typos and the typos to be trivial matters, easily recognized. Of the 70+ examples give that I have done and experimented with up to chapter 10, only one didn't work as laid out in the book. (ch7 GlobalFunctions.htm) And from the thorough instruction given up to that point, I was able to correct the mistake and get that example to work also. In short, using this book, you can go from knowing nothing about JavaScript to building almost any kind of website you've ever encountered, from storefronts, to "virtual amusement parks". My hat's off to Mr. Wilton.

I've tried several tutorials on Javascript, and Wilton's is by far the best. If you know a little HTML, you can learn Javascript. If you know a LOT of HTML, his instructions directed at the new web designer are easy to skip over. Wilton very quickly moves the student into actual production of working Javascript pages, and weaves explanations throughout the examples so smoothly you don't realize how much you've learned until you look at your work. The real-world examples, which include online quizzes and a script for checking the browser version, are also highly motivating (versus books that push novices through endless versions of "hello world"). About the only thing I would add in a future edition is a troubleshooting chapter (the first example, of all things, wouldn't load for me initially, and I'm still not sure how I fixed it), and my only quibble is that the first time Javascript code is cited, the reader isn't immediately directed to Appendix C for a brief discussion of other tags. However, these are very minor critiques of a well-written, well-organized book that makes Javascript attainable--and fun to learn.