The Book of JavaScript teaches readers how to add
interactivity, animation, and other tricks to their web
sites with JavaScript. Rather than provide a series of
cut-and-paste scripts, thau! takes the reader through a
series of real world JavaScript code with an emphasis on
understanding. Each chapter focuses on a few important
JavaScript features, shows how professional web sites
incorporate them, and takes readers through examples of how
they might add those features to their own web sites. This
thoroughly updated 2nd edition includes new chapters on
Ajax, revised appendices, and new examples throughout.
Summary sections and assignments close each chapter, making
the book perfect for use in college courses or independent
study. CD includes code and images for every example,
answers to assignments, script libraries for hard-to-program
applications, and many useful software programs.

The Book of JavaScript teaches readers how to add interactivity, animation, and other tricks to their web sites with JavaScript. Rather than provide a series of cut-and-paste scripts, thau! takes the reader through a series of real world JavaScript code with an emphasis on understanding. Each chapter focuses on a few important JavaScript features, shows how professional web sites incorporate them, and takes readers through examples of how they might add those features to their own web sites. This thoroughly updated 2nd edition includes new chapters on Ajax, revised appendices, and new examples throughout. Summary sections and assignments close each chapter, making the book perfect for use in college courses or independent study. CD includes code and images for every example, answers to assignments, script libraries for hard-to-program applications, and many useful software programs.

Thau! has been creating Internet applications since 1993, starting with bianca.com, the first web-based community on the Internet. He was Director of Software Engineering and Senior Scientist at Wired Digital, and has taught programming languages to hundreds of artists, engineers, and children. He is currently creating data sharing platforms for people studying biodiversity and working towards a PhD degree in computer science at UC Davis.

The Book of JavaScript teaches readers how to add interactivity, animation, and other tricks to their web sites with JavaScript. Rather than provide a series of cut-and-paste scripts, thau! takes the reader through a series of real world JavaScript code with an emphasis on understanding. Each chapter focuses on a few important JavaScript features, shows how professional web sites incorporate them, and takes readers through examples of how they might add those features to their own web sites. This thoroughly updated 2nd edition includes new chapters on Ajax, revised appendices, and new examples throughout. Summary sections and assignments close each chapter, making the book perfect for use in college courses or independent study. CD includes code and images for every example, answers to assignments, script libraries for hard-to-program applications, and many useful software programs.

I’m glad I bought this book
I just needed a hand to automate some forms and this book did it for me quickly and painlessly. There may be better Javascript books around but this one makes it easy. He presents the information in a simple way that you can start using right away. The biggest problem for people starting out is too much detailed explanation that you can learn later as you get the hang of the language. This book is organized in a logical and practical approach. You can start writing code almost right away and you don’t have to be a rocket surgeon. The back of the book has projects, a language reference section and a good index. The proof is in the pudding; it works.

Very Decent Book, but Publisher Is Being Cheap!
First off, ***very*** disappointed that No Starch Press has decided to cheapen the book’s look and feel by reprinting the current batch with thinner paper (~24 or 28-lb. paper, a bit heavier than plain copier paper) compared to the nice "hardcover-book-quality" 60-lb. paper stated in the colophon, even though the colophon still lists the paper used as being 60-lbs. A previous printing of the book also had blue-colored text, which really added a welcome "visual comfort" that’s now sadly lacking. Look at a copy from the older print run in your local public library and you’ll see what I mean. It simply looks and feels like a cheaper product now.

Even worse, the typos and errata documented have not been corrected! So they cheapened the physical product while leaving intact content errors!! (And what’s up with different errata observed between the book’s own website and the publisher’s website??? The webpage devoted to this book’s errata on the publisher’s site is much more extensive than what’s available on the book’s own website -- and they’re different errata, too!!)

Having said all that, I think this is a good book for a fairly "traditional textbook" approach to learning JavaScript. By "fairly traditional" I mean that its pedagogy is straightforward and the material is covered in the way you’d expect (nothing like "Head First JavaScript," which I also recommend as a good companion learning tool to this title [since you really can’t expect to learn with just one book, especially if you’re a newbie to programming]). I especially like how an English-Italian translation program is developed in the later parts of the book, tying together the various JavaScript and Ajax concepts explored.

However, be aware that this book employs some older conventions of scripting which are no longer necessary (the "