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Professional JavaScript with DHTML, ASP, CGI, FESI, Netscape Enterprise Server, Windows...
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by Sing Li, Nigel McFarlane, Mark Wilcox, and Cliff Wootton
Sales Rank: 929197
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List Price: $49.99
$36.49
At Amazon
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Paperback: 1149 pages
Publisher: Peer Information; 1 edition September 1999
Language: English
ISBN-10: 186100270X
ISBN-13: 978-1861002709
Product Dimensions:
9.1 x 7.2 x 2 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
Book Description
JavaScript is the language of the web, used in programming all the major browsers. It is a powerful scripting language that lets web developers produce more powerful, more user-friendly and more interactive web pages, and with the release of the Version 5 browsers its power will become even greater. JavaScript is not just for client-side, however; it's increasingly finding favour as a server side programming language- in Microsoft's ASP technology- and as a programming language for administration tasks with applications such as the Windows Scripting Host.
This book covers the broad spectrum of programming JavaScript - from the core language to browser applications and server-side use to stand-alone and embedded JavaScript. It includes a guide to the language - when where and how to get the most out of JavaScript - together with practical case studies demonstrating JavaScript in action. Coverage is bang up-to-date, with discussion of compatability issues and version differences, and the book concludes with a comprehensive reference section.
Book Info
Covers the broad spectrum of JavaScript programming, from the core language to browser application and server side use to stand-alone and embedded JavaScript. Includes a guide to the language, when, where and how to get the most out of JavaScript. Softcover.
Customer Reviews & Comments
Professional JavaScript is great as a reference and one can find some good nuggets in some of the non-reference chapters. However, if you do not already have formal programming training, and possibly some good familiarity with JavaScript itself, the book may do you better just as a reference tool. Also, because it was written by so many people (each one responsible for a different chapter) the text reads more like a disjointed collection of essays. The first 750 pages or so of the book comprises the main content of the book. It is divided into 20 chapters, covering just about every aspect of the language. Some of the more advanced chapters, which I did not get a chance to read, are integrating JavaScript with Java, Server-side JavaScript, and stand-alone JavaScript via Windows Script Host. There are also chapters on integrating JavaScript with ASP, and detailed looks at a couple of fairly complex JavaScript systems including a family tree and an ecommerce tool. The problem is that there's little ramp-up. There are lots of code examples throughout the text, but they are primarily small snippets. So it's like shock therapy when you are presented with such major applications of coding without anything in between! But this has to do more with the aforementioned nature of the book in that so many different authors with different styles and topics wrote it. Some of the chapters are great; they have some really good information that any level of programmer can use. The chapters on Forms and Data, Multimedia Plugins, Debugging and Disappearing Data, and Windows and Frames were all extremely helpful. Other chapters for me were completely useless to me - they droned on and on about theoretical issues without getting into practically any coding. I had great hopes for the chapter on Privacy, Security and Cookies, as well as the one on Rapid Application Development, but neither was helpful at all. The last 300 pages or so comprises the reference section. The reference section is great, it goes into every aspect of the language, including the core language attributes, objects and methods, and there are a ton of JavaScript/browser comparison charts that give you a great idea of what functions and features will be available to you in Netscape and IE from the earliest version to the latest. Ultimately what you get out Professional JavaScript really depends on your level of expertise when it comes to programming. I do not personally have any formal training - it's all been self-taught, so some of the more advanced stuff, though I'm sure I could learn it given the need, was not presented in a way that instructs people who do not have a familiarity with advanced programming techniques. There seems to be a lingo that some programmers use when talking about programming and for people who don't have formal programming training (or haven't been programming since they were nine) is just completely baffling. Most O'Reilly books seem to be full of this, but then they are written for the professional programmer. Professional JavaScript, as the name implies, probably is as well, however, there is enough great information here for any kind of programmer, and you just have to be selective as to which chapters you try to tackle.
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Professional JavaScript with DHTML, ASP, CGI, FESI, Netscape Enterprise Server, Windows...
List Price: $49.99
Available from Amazon
Price: $36.49
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