Product Description

• Responding to reader feedback, the author has thoroughly revamped the book with more step–by–step coverage of JavaScript basics, an exclusive focus on Internet Explorer, and many complete sample scripts
• Updated to cover JavaScript 1.5, the latest release of this popular Web scripting language
• Using lots of examples, including a sample working Web site, the book shows how to create dynamic and interactive pages, build entire sites, and automate pages

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105200 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From the Back Cover
Now with more about JavaScript for Internet Explorer

Here′s the secret to building dynamic Web pages that get your visitors involved

Want the script for cool Web pages? With this handy guide by your side, it′s easy to follow! Completely revised, this edition gives you all the JavaScript basics as well as step–by–step instructions for getting your scripts onto the Web. Before you know it, you could be building interactive Web sites for fun — or profit!

Discover how to

• Write, test, and debug JavaScript scripts
• Detect a user′s browser
• Format and display times and dates
• Store information with cookies
• Create hot buttons, clickable images, mouse rollovers, and more

All this on the bonus CD–ROM

• All sample code listings covered in the book
• Trial versions of Web Weaver®, and Dreamweaver® MX 2004, including HomeSite®
• SmartMenus DHTML, plus other scripts and examples you can use

Please see the CD–ROM appendix for details and complete system requirements.

About the Author
Emily Vander Veer is an experienced Web developer with a talent for making technology understandable. She′s the author or coauthor of eleven books on Web technology.

Customer Reviews

Don't try to learn from this book
While all of the information is in there somewhere, I found this book to be poorly organized and hard to follow. The author repeatedly introduces in-depth concepts without having yet explained the base concepts. Even though I have other programming language experience, I couldn't follow this book.

Javascript Professionals learn by doing, not reading!
I, as well was not too impressed with the book. Fortunately, I know some Java so that JS was not too difficult. But, if you are a total novice and know nothing about object-oriented or object-based programming, then you are going to be totally lost. I think that the author dives into functions and object methods way too early. There are some useful scripts in the book, especially for client-side form validation. But, if you are not familiar with Javascript you're going to be lost. My suggestion to the author is that she also have exercises to test the reader's knowledge - you can only learn this stuff by doing. If any novice is reading this review, my suggestion would be to first visit Joe Burns' javagoodies (http://www.javagoodies.com)site and go through the 30 javascript primers that are there. The best thing about them is that they're free! Also, if Joe's new book on Javascript (Javascript Goodies) is anything like his web tutorials or his HTML Goodies book, then I would save your money and wait for that one to come out.

Beginners will struggle, but persistence pays off!
I am a complete beginner when it comes to programming. I found the flippant style half amusing and half irritating but I guess it helped maintain my interest.

Most of the book is quite clear, but there are concepts which are not well explained. For example, if you are not familiar with Functions and Arguments, you're left wondering how exactly this all works and why all of a sudden a function call is using arguments with names different to those the function was initially declared with. It all becomes very confusing.

Contrast the examples in Javascript - Annotated Archives, (ISBN 0078823641) where each single line is carefully explained. Now I am not suggesting this is the right book to start trying to understand Javascript with, but the two together did it for me.

Vander Veer's basic problem is that she can't be bothered to fully explain; and this is not helped by examples which are just fragments. There comes a point when you need to explain the whole thing, in one go and not just make promises (and there are plenty of them) that you will explain later in the book. Are readers supposed to put pen to paper and keep a list of things which will be explained later? By the time later comes round, you've forgotten what it was the authro promised to explain 'later'. Even more disappointing, is when the author does not keep her promise and explain... especially because when she can be bothered, she is quite good.

If this is Javascript for Dummies I probably needed Javascript for Amoebas...