Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been developed and released in a hurry before it could be refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more reliable, readable, and maintainable than the language as a whole-a subset you can use to create truly extensible and efficient code. Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas, like a programming model based on global variables. When Java applets failed, JavaScript became the language of the Web by default, making its popularity almost completely independent of its qualities as a programming language. In JavaScript: The Good Parts, Crockford finally digs through the steaming pile of good intentions and blunders to give you a detailed look at all the genuinely elegant parts of JavaScript, including: Syntax Objects Functions Inheritance Arrays Regular expressions Methods Style Beautiful features
The real beauty? As you move ahead with the subset of JavaScript that this book presents, you'll also sidestep the need to unlearn all the bad parts. Of course, if you want to find out more about the bad parts and how to use them badly, simply consult any other JavaScript book. With JavaScript: The Good Parts, you'll discover a beautiful, elegant, lightweight and highlyexpressive language that lets you create effective code, whether you're managing object libraries or just trying to get Ajax to run fast. If you develop sites or applications for the Web, this book is an absolute must.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Underwhelming:
There just isn't enough unique content in this book for it to stand alone and be sold at the book's cover price. To be fair, there's some good content in the book (some), but just not enough to be worthwhile. This entire book could've been a series of blog entries, or perhaps a section in an updated edition of the Rhino book. I wouldn't recommend buying this book. However, if you're intent on getting a copy, look for used copies or copies at bargain prices (less than $10).
A good book:
It is easy to write bad code in javascript. This book helps you to avoid potential pitfalls and write clean and structured code.
Not much there:
I was very disapppointed in this book. For the price of the book there was very little content. I am returning this book and buying something with more substance.
Second best book on JavaScript:
This is an excellent book, as it concisely illustrates a number of details that would be impossible to find in other books. Moderate/advanced JavaScript programmers will gain the most from this book, it is not particularly geared towards the beginner. The book has a very specific focus, so do not be deceived into thinking this book covers the entire language. For information like that, Flanagan's JavaScript The Definitive Guide will be better. This book, however, is an excellent discussion of the... more info
