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By?David Flanagan
Third Edition June 1998
Pages: 784 (More details)
(Average of 17 Customer Reviews)
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This third edition of the definitive reference to JavaScript covers the latest version of the language, JavaScript 1.2, as supported by Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer 4. JavaScript, which is being standardized under the name ECMAScript, is a scripting language that can be embedded directly in HTML to give Web pages programming-language capabilities.
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Book details
Title:
Javascript: The Definitive Guide
Third Edition: June 1998
ISBN 10: 1-56592-392-8
ISBN 13: 9781565923928
Pages: 784
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 17 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2001-07-07 23:44:04
Qiang
[Reply | View]
As a ten-year experienced programmer, I 'd like to say this book is a must have one and definitely deserve my highly recommendation. However, I may say that it is high welcomed if ALL online examples have a executable version. Sometimes I may think it wastes my time to plug the examples in my frame to see the result of execution.
However, a excellent one, a must have one, a example of technique book. Thank you David and our editors.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2001-06-23 00:55:43
KhanAzar
[Reply | View]
This book contains a lot of information about JavaScript. It is very good book, it useful for, who already have some programming background and wants to know the javascript functionality clearly. In this book the eg. given for opening a new browser window and writing some contents into the window from an applet, is not working properly. In IE it is giving class cast exception. The object returned from method "main_win.eval("self.open(''...........) " is a String object, it is not JSObject. In Netscape it is JSObject only, but it's not writing the data into the newly opened window. If anybody got solution for this please let me know, my email id: khan_shree@yahoo.com.
Thank You.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2001-03-28 15:51:31
Laszlo Hazy
[Reply | View]
An excellent book!
I have been doing JavaScript programming for a few years and learned most of it off the Internet, from Netscape's DevEdge. However, I recently needed some advanced features and there was just no easy way to dig them up from the web. Then I got this book. It is well organized, comprehensive, thorough and it has all the details, tricks, and pitfalls of the language one may need to know in order to write a JavaScript program. Also, the care with which all the features of the language are documented for both IE and Netscape, as well as for the various browser/language versions is truly outstanding. I strongly recommend it as a reference. However, make no error, it is certainly not a beginner's book.
I sometimes wonder how does O'Reilly manage to keep up such a high standard in computer book publishing. They have all my appreciation.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2001-02-18 16:07:37
Bruce Judd
[Reply | View]
My thanks to Mr. Flanagan for a job very well done. This reference has been most helpful as I have started using JS in my internet and intranet pages. Experience with C, PERL, and other languages helps, especially when the author compares JS behavior with these other languages. I also appreciate the repeated notes regarding the differences between JS versions and the different levels of support by NS and IE - very helpful to ensure the resulting pages will work correctly for the maximum number of visitors. It appears the book is written for the reader with a good foundation in programming and HTML - perfect.
The quality of the book and its included JS reference is excellent - on a par with Larry Wall's Perl Reference or M. Strebe's Win NT reference.
View the results at My company site<g>
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2001-01-11 17:31:27
Mike
[Reply | View]
This book is deceitful: it looks too big to be useful. Yet there
is no other source of information that so concisely addresses
JavaScript language. The comparisons the author frequently
makes to C/C++/Java/Perl are most welcome. After reading this book
I wrote a non-trivial javascript web application that I could not
have imagined writing prior to reading this book.
This book is a unique resource just as JavaScript is a unique
language from the usual mix of C/C++/VB/Java/Perl. This book
describes a language to control both IE and Netscape in ways
that nothing else can.
I highly recommend it.
-------------
Mike
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2000-12-30 19:29:18
Bruno Mairlot
[Reply | View]
A MUST HAVE
The title of the book says all ! This is the defenitive one-and-only book to have if you are serious about JavaScript. If you're not, then you should still have it.
It is precise, plainly written, and extremely accurate.
Macromedia use it as their reference for DreamWeaver and UltraDev references.
I have never encountered a problem that wasn't explained or solutioned in this book.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2000-12-29 06:07:41
Perry Sakkaris
[Reply | View]
If you ever want to be a serious JavaScript programmer this is the book that you must read. It has a wealth of information both for the core language and also for the client-side part of the language. It has a lot of examples which are the building blocks for truly understanding a subject. The part that I love most is that the writer compares JavaScript with other languages so when you are through with the book you also have an idea of how Java and C++ work.
The only down side of this book is that it has no excersises (which I think are necessary for truly mastering a language) so if anybody knows where I can find some good exercises please e-mail me at perry_sakkaris@hotmail.com.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2000-09-21 23:34:22
Eli Lato
[Reply | View]
Excellent book! We all use it at the office, and I use it at home to teach my son javascript.
It's well-written, useful, and Flanagan's knowledge is awesome. It's one of the few technical books I've seen that has well-written code.
One microscopic criticism: I needed an example of javascript assigning an onSubmit handler, and couldn't find the format of the handler.
A must-buy!
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2000-09-21 21:35:38
Tom Besser
[Reply | View]
This book cuts right through the hype surrounding most JavaScript texts and gives you the essential tools to put your own creativity to work. I strongly recommend it.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
Rating:
2000-09-04 19:01:19
Paul Hirth
[Reply | View]
The first half of the book is very readable and well sprinkled with examples. If I had a complaint about the book it would be that the author presumes the reader knows a fair amount about sophisticated javascript techniques in his examples. However, in working through the examples, I have learned quite a bit.
The second half of the book is an excellent reference manual that I find myself consulting when ever I need in depth knowledge of options.
I am a lower level journeyman writer of Javascript, but would recommend this book to beginners, journeymen, and experts.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
2000-03-02 00:00:00
Tracey Uhler
[Reply | View]
Being that I am not a programmer, but have become hooked on JavaScript, I was looking for a good book on the subject that was not over my head. This one fits the bill. It clearly explains the language so that anyone can understand.
My only problem has been with the example of a loan payment calculator (figure 1-3) on page 16. I went ahead and typed it up so that I could play with it and hopefully learn by example. I adapted it and came up with a mortgage calculator that works great in explorer but returns an infinity value in Navigator. I have looked at the code until my eyes cross and just can't figure out why it works on one platform and not the other. (It probably doesn't help that I failed high school math.) There is an example of my calculator at https://www.geocities.com/padme67/uhlercalc.html
I have several of the O'Reilly books now and have yet to be dissapointed!
Thanks
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1999-07-19 00:00:00
Janne Hyötylä
[Reply | View]
This book is FANTASTIC! I had only a little programming exprerience with Visual Basic. But I never had problems to understand things that David explained in the book. And the Reference Section has to be on every JavaScript serious programmer's table!
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1999-06-27 00:00:00
Dave Demko
[Reply | View]
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is outstanding. If you have some programming background (even a little) and you want to understand how JavaScript works and what it can do, this is the book of choice. Unlike so many "steal this code" type JavaScript guides, this book combines clear explanations of the basics, notes on JavaScript versions and browser compatibility, and a superb reference section.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1999-06-12 00:00:00
Adam Dingle
[Reply | View]
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide is just fantastic. It is the only JavaScript book I've seen which clearly separates the definition of the language itself (covered in Part I) from the classes used to embed JavaScript in Web browsers (covered in Part II). It also covers many subtle points of JavaScript programming very clearly, including prototypes, the scope chain, nested functions and garbage collection. Furthermore, the book points out a number of bugs in existing browser implementations and has an excellent reference section. I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone who already has a fair amount of experience programming in other languages and wants to learn JavaScript.
If you are learning JavaScript as your first programming language, however, this is probably not the best book for you, since the writing style is probably too technical for beginning programmers and the book pays a lot of attention to subtle details which may be overwhelming to those without programming experience.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1999-05-19 00:00:00
Mark Bosley
[Reply | View]
If you are a serious VISUAL BASIC programmer and you want to make the jump to client-side web programming, you need to study this book.
Just in the area of functions alone, you will never understand how functions in JavaScript differ from functions in VB (e.g functions as a first-class data type, function literals, etc.) by just reading tutorials or looking at code here and there.
You won't understand these things, unless you have David Flanagan explain it to you.
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1999-03-10 00:00:00
O. Toivola (Finland)
[Reply | View]
I have read half of the 3rd edition now and I think
it's excellent! Earlier I read some of my programming
books in Finnish and they left a lot of holes in my mind. ;)
After this I will never do it again! That's for sure! Thanks, David!
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition Review
1998-02-17 00:00:00
Tracey Uhler
[Reply | View]
I just wanted to commend the O'Reilly company and David Flanagan. After writing the comment below about a problem I was having with a script, some of the O'Reilly staff notified David Flanagan who then emailed me with the solution to my problem. I was absoutely thrilled and surprised. If you haven't bought this book yet, what are you waiting for!
Thank you again to David :)
Media reviews
"an excellent programmer's guide and reference manual ." --fatbrain.com
"Interested in learning JavaScript? This book teaches it in a clear and concise manner." --Wendy Willard, A Web-Design Teacher's Recommended Reading List, May 2001
Javascript: The Definitive Guide Top Computer Books for 2000 --amazon.com
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