"exhaustive update to the Bible series." (.net, August 2007)

"exhaustive update to the Bible series." (.net, August 2007)

A major new edition of the definitive guide to JavaScript!

Make your Web pages stand out above the noise with JavaScript and the expert instruction in this much?anticipated update to the bestselling JavaScript Bible. With renowned JavaScript expert Danny Goodman at your side, you?ll get a thorough grounding in JavaScript basics, see how it fits with current Web browsers, and find all the soup?to?nuts detail you?ll need, whether you?re a veteran programmer or just starting out. This is the JavaScript book Web developers turn to again and again.

• Master JavaScript fundamentals and write your first practical script

• Develop code for both single? and cross?platform audiences and evolving standards

• Get the essentials of document object models and HTML element objects

• Write scripts that dynamically modify Web pages in response to user actions

• Learn the power of new Ajax technologies to create efficient Web page user interfaces

• Apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques

• Create interactivity with sites like Google Maps

Featured on the CD?ROM

You?ll find a gold mine of extras on the CD?ROM, including 23 bonus chapters on dynamic HTML, data validation, techniques for developing and debugging professional Web?based applications, and much more. Also on the CD:

• The Evaluator, an interactive workbench and JavaScript Bible exclusive that lets you try out an object model or language feature and see instant results

• 10 full?fledged JavaScript real?world applications

• 300 ready?to?run scripts

• Entire book in PDF

See the CD appendix for details and complete system requirements.

Danny Goodman is the author of numerous critically acclaimed and best?selling books, including The Complete HyperCard Handbook, Danny Goodman?s AppleScript Handbook, Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, and JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook. He is a renowned authority and expert teacher of computer scripting languages. His writing style and pedagogy continue to earn praise from readers and teachers around the world. To help keep his finger on the pulse of real?world programming challenges, Goodman frequently lends his touch as consulting programmer and designer to leading?edge World Wide Web and intranet sites from his home base in the San Francisco area.

Michael Morrison is a writer, developer, toy inventor, and author of a variety of books covering topics such as Java, C++, Web scripting, XML, game development, and mobile devices. Some of Michael?s notable writing projects include Faster Smarter HTML and XML, Teach Yourself HTML & CSS in 24 Hours, and Beginning Game Programming. Michael is also the founder of Stalefish Labs (www.stalefishlabs.com), an entertainment company specializing in unusual games, toys, and interactive products.

Make your Web pages stand out above the noise with JavaScript and the expert instruction in this much-anticipated update to the bestselling JavaScript Bible. With renowned JavaScript expert Danny Goodman at your side, you’ll get a thorough grounding in JavaScript basics, see how it fits with current Web browsers, and find all the soup-to-nuts detail you’ll need. Whether you’re a veteran programmer or just starting out, this is the JavaScript book Web developers turn to again and again.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

• Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
• This mammoth reference-tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
• Key components of the book include a core language reference, document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X Widgets
• Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end goals
• The amazing CD-ROM offers 23 advanced JavaScript bonus chapters, nine full applications, and 300 ready-to-run scripts

• Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
• This mammoth reference-tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
• Key components of the book include a core language reference, document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X Widgets
• Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end goals
• The amazing CD-ROM offers 23 advanced JavaScript bonus chapters, nine full applications, and 300 ready-to-run scripts

* Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
* This mammoth reference-tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
* Key components of the book include a core language reference, document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X Widgets
* Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end goals
* The amazing CD-ROM offers 23 advanced JavaScript bonus chapters, nine full applications, and 300 ready-to-run scripts

• Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
• This mammoth reference—tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
• Key components of the book include a core language reference, document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X Widgets
• Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end goals
• The amazing CD-ROM offers 23 advanced JavaScript bonus chapters, nine full applications, and 300 ready-to-run scripts

• Updated to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications as well as an exploration of its interaction with XML data in Ajax
• This mammoth reference—tutorial-nearly 1,300 pages long-serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills for newcomers as well as a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers
• Key components of the book include a core language reference, document object reference, and coverage of Ajax, Firefox, and Mac OS X Widgets
• Examines how to write scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validations, master JavaScript and DOM concepts, apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques, and various deployment strategies that best suit end goals
• The amazing CD-ROM offers 23 advanced JavaScript bonus chapters, nine full applications, and 300 ready-to-run scripts

This new edition of the definitive guide to JavaScript is revamped to include the latest coverage of JavaScript, including how it fits into current Web browsers and applications in addition to it’s interaction with XML data in AJAX. Part tutorial and part reference, the book serves as both a learning tool for building new JavaScript skills and a detailed reference for seasoned JavaScript developers. All JavaScript users across the skill spectrum will find the book indispensable. Key components of the book include:

• JavaScript basics with an updated, standards-intensive tutorial tailored for newcomers
• Writing scripts for mouse rollover effects and powerful client-side form validation
• How to master JavaScript and DOM concepts with the exclusive interactive workbench: The Evaluator
• Apply the latest JavaScript exception handling and custom object techniques
• Use in Web 2.0 Applications in the form of AJAX and interaction with sites like Google Maps
• Cross-browser Dynamic HTML applications for Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox, and Camino
• The latest in cross-browser compatibility techniques
• Deployment strategies that best suit your content goals and target audience

Javascript Bible
I seldom extol the virtues of computer technology books but I have to say that this book because of its clarity and content has been and continues to be, a delight to work with.

I am what you might call an ’old hand’ in the industry and needed to adapt my skills to embrace browser based technology for the first time.

This book explains clearly how the DOM components work together and the relationship bwtween those components and the scripting language.

I will certainly be looking out for any other books that may have been written by the author.

Gets 4 stars when I get usable "Bonus Chapters"
I’m very new to javascript (though a long time programmer in other languages) and agree that there is some additional reference material and tutorials on common tasks that might have been included. If you’re already quite familiar with object languages, this will probably not be a drawback. If you’re not, you will still have to struggle with many of the scripts to figure out the precise nature of its syntax and how/why object concepts and methods are rendered as they are. It might also have included a little more line-by-line explanation of exactly what some of the code syntax is doing and why it is rendered as it is. That would have helped us beginners (and probably not bothered more advanced users- they could have just skipped that material.)

So, why did I give it only 1 star? Because the main drawback is entirely unnecessary and very frustrating. There are 23 "Bonus Chapters" that do not appear in the book, but only on the e-book pdf. The e-book is great for searching specific topics and items - and for usable samples in the first 31 chapters. But it is UNPRINTABLE and CANNOT BE COPIED. This is especially troublesome for the 23 bonus chapters which do not appear in the book. Indeed, most of the practical applications are demonstrated in these chapters. The pdf permissions don’t allow printing/copying even though the text contains some complex instructions and explanations and much other useful material. Without being able to have some of that material at hand in hardcopy it loses much of its value. Even the debugging tools in chapter 45 have complicated (for the novice) use instructions that are almost worthless unless you can print them and have them in front of you while you install and learn to use it.

This is just frustrating and thoughtless from the customer’s point of view (and probably of no use in preventing piracy to a determined hacker - which I presume is the reason the locked permissions were done). I’ve written Wiley to request a printable/copyable version of at least the 23 bonus chapters. If they send it to me, I’ll revise my opinion to three-stars, and if they make those chapters available to all customers who purchased the book (cd holders), in a printable version, I’ll go to four or maybe even five stars. Till then, I’m stickin’ to my opinion.

The best javascript book available
books on changing technologies are always out of date by 6 months to a year (a book this size is probably closer to a year). i Google when i need the latest info, just like the rest of the planet apparently.

i understand other reviewer gripes about this book, but it is still the best printed resource available. the book weighs in at a hefty 35 chapters and 5 Appendices in about 1200 pages (and yes the print is small). i found the information well organized, with a decent layout and a useable contents and index. this book tries to serve both the novice and the professional, and frankly does a pretty good job. a book this size obviously has errors, but nothing i would categorize a lethal (it’s not a cookbook but has some decent template scripts to get you going). no one could write a book this size and comprehensive from scratch, this book is clearly an evolution and uses "revised" content from previous editions. i got the feeling reading this book that the authors write real code for real world apps. i thought about docking a star because it is has so much information. i seem to have got conditioned over the years to have a slight sense of dread when i have to open a large book to look something up. However, IMHO, the real value is searchable CD version of the book, hence back to 5 stars. this has 23 Bonus chapters! yes that’s 23 bonus chapters which add over 500 pages. a nice touch was having references to the CD version (marked with a BC prefix) in the index of the print edition.

from a purist point of view some of the recommendations are wrong, but from a pragmatic point of view no one is going to be impressed with your W3C compliant script that runs 10-20x slower than the non-compliant one (and that’s not just in IE).

inevitably a little dated but still the most comprehensive javascript book available.

This book is not up to date
I have a few javascript books already, but they are out of date. I bought this book, which claims to be published in 2007, to learn to be more DOM and W3C compliant. However, from reading this book so far, I find that the material in it are as outdated as my older books. For example, the book still encourages the use of the "innerHTML" method, which is neither a W3C recommendation, nor is it encouraged anymore. Furthermore, the book shows you to convert a "number" type to a string by doing this:

var num = 100;
num = "" + num;

That’s just silly. What happened to the toString() method? How about doing this?

var num = 100;
num = num.toString();

Also the book doesn’t encourage separation of structure from functionality. The book’s examples have javascript all mixed together with the markup. This is clearly not the modern, correct, and recommended way to script a web page.

So far, these are the gripes I have about this book... and I’m only on chapter 6. It makes me feel like I don’t want to finish this book, because I might adopt these outdated methods of scripting.

I do not recommend this book.

Good Reviews?
Just got started and got to Ch 3 and ran into a snag...page 22...lines 19 and 20 are duplicate as such:

Let’s Script...

---

Thus, you see there is no closing tag for "

---

" yet the book states it complies with DHTML that all tags will be closed. Also, the "Let’s Script" appears twice if you use the book example.

Additionally, the enclosed CD-ROM for "ch03.script1.htm" link is wrong as it should be "ch03.script1.html." If you are new to JavaScript, the work around is to access "My Computer," then your DVD/CD drive and "Content," then "Chap03," then "script1.html."

I think the editors and proof readers assumed .htm was the norm and overlooked "script1.html."

First script, first impression...not looking too good.

I’ll keep you posted as I advance through the book.

Additionally, I tried to communicate with Wiley Publishing, Inc...but got caught in a loop as I posed a question to them and unknown to me they only allowed 80 characters, but I went over the limit and in their text block they allowed me to keep typing.

Excellent Book
The content of this book is Excellent, the wait was worth it. I’m glad someone finally consolidated all the JavaScript information into a publication, which brings me to a criticism, not about the content. The print is too small. I believe it would have been better to turn this into a two book publication and make the bigger (and blacker), the paper could also be whiter for better contrast and a heavier weight. Yes it would have been more expensive, but you wouldn’t go blind trying to read it.