- Paperback: 936 pages
- Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 4 edition (26 Nov 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0596000480
- ISBN-13: 978-0596000486
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.8 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 415,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Since the earliest days of Internet scripting, Web developers have considered JavaScript: The Definitive Guide an essential resource. David Flanagan's approach, which combines tutorials and examples with easy-to-use syntax guides and object references, suits the typical programmer's requirements nicely. The brand-new fourth edition of Flanagan's "Rhino Book" includes coverage of JavaScript 1.5, JScript 5.5, ECMAScript 3 and the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 standard from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Interestingly, the author has shifted away from specifying--as he did in earlier editions--what browsers support each bit of the language. Rather than say Netscape 3.0 supports the Image object while Internet Explorer 3.0 does not, he specifies that JavaScript 1.1 and JScript 3.0 support Image. More usefully, he specifies the contents of independent standards such as ECMAScript, which encourages scripters to write applications for these standards and browser vendors to support them. As Flanagan says, JavaScript and its related subjects are very complex in their pure forms. It's impossible to keep track of the differences among half a dozen vendors' generally similar implementations. Nonetheless, a lot of examples make reference to specific browsers' capabilities.
Though he does not cover server-side APIs, Flanagan has chosen to separate coverage of core JavaScript (all the keywords, general syntax and utility objects such as Array) from coverage of client-side JavaScript, which includes objects, such as History and Event, that have to do with Web browsers and users' interactions with them. This approach makes this book useful to people using JavaScript for applications other than Web pages. By the way, the other classic JavaScript text--Danny Goodman's JavaScript Bible--isn't as current as this book, but it's still a fantastic (and perhaps somewhat more novice-friendly) guide to the JavaScript language and its capabilities. --David Wall
Topics covered: the JavaScript language (version 1.0 through version 1.5) and its relatives, JScript and ECMAScript, as well as the W3C DOM standards they're often used to manipulate. Tutorial sections show how to program in JavaScript, while reference sections summarise syntax and options while providing copious code examples.
MIX, Feb 2001
Learning JavaScript is fast becoming a prerequisite to developing powerful Websites... this is a great resource.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I don't have enough knowledge of the subject independently of this book to rate its coverage in detail. I am a programmer experienced in other languages who had previously done some simple Javascript programming learnt "on the job". I found it a complete eye-opener as to the complexity and power of this deceptively simple language (i.e. not simple at all when you go below the surface). The book contains very useful and seemingly comprehensive reference material. It is written extremely clearly and well, to a standard that I have never before seen in computer manuals, and with lots of good examples. None of the tiresome jokeyness and dumbing-down shown by many US-written manuals! It could almost be nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature (of its kind, at least). The author has done a brilliant job. Full marks! I have not previously bought this publisher's books, but I will always look out for O'Reilly manuals from now on, in the hope that they will all come at least somewhere close to the standard of this book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is better than Danny Goodman's JS Bible and Danny Goodman's Dynamic DHTML - The Definitive Guide (although a very good book in its own right). If you know some JavaScript but wish learn it properly then by this book, you will not be disappointed.
Despite other peoples comments about it being dry and only good as a reference, I have to say I disagree. It's a book you can't put down once you start reading it and the best reference for JavaScript I have read.
Probably not the ideal book for total newbie's but as long as you know the basics of JavaScript or have some experience with a similar scripting language such as PHP this book will set you on the right road.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I used to think of JavaScript as only good for adding fancy little effects in web pages, like image roll-overs. In fact it is a fully-fledged programming language capable of complex actions both in web pages and in other environments. As you learn the language you start thinking of serious uses for it. For example, we used to ship a product on DVD consisting of a database of images and video clips. Now we have replaced the whole database with some HTML pages, with embedded JavaScript to provide all the searching and sorting capabilities that used to require a heavyweight proprietary database run-time package.
This book starts by explaining the whole language in detail; then there is a comprehensive reference section, a general index and an index of built-in classes, properties and methods. If you are completely new to programming, and unsure about variables, functions, statements, expressions or objects, then you might want to find a gentler introduction than this. But if you already have some familiarity with programming in general and a working knowledge of HTML and CSS, then this book will be all you ever need on the subject. (Marini's book on the Document Object Model might offer some extra detail on manipulating structured documents.)
Comprehensive, well written and presented, good value.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An excellent introduction and reference for Javascript
Probably the only Javascript book that you'll need for a long time. If you have programming experience and some understanding of object models then there should be almost... Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2005 by J. Brand
Very out of date now
I'm giving this two stars to balance things out a bit and to act as a warning. I'm a complete newcomer to JavaScript and bought this book thinking it would be "definitive" and tell... Read more
Published on 26 April 2005 by David Griffiths
Worth 'upgrading' to
I own the 3rd edition, this 4th edition has another 200 pages I don't do that much with javascript (my motto being: use the right tool for the job) - So I put off the purchase but... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2004 by S J. West
Standard Reference, but 4th Edition Weak
This is the standard reference work for JavaScript... to the extent that there is even a version of JavaScript named after the Rhino on the front cover! Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2003 by Tsuchan
I loved this book
Having spent 6 months working on JavaScript, I found this to be the best book I read on the language, even better than Goodman's "JavaScript Bible". Read more
Published on 30 July 2003 by "meyrickkirby"
Does what it says on the tin... more or less
This book is quite unusual; it claims to be a definitive guide and it pretty much is. JavaScript itself continues to mature into a highly capable scripting language, with wider... Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2002 by C COATES
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