book for learning Javascript

[Helpful person]

I have written my web site using FrontPage and have disvovered that
apart from producing code that does not validate it also creates a
horrible structure. I have been teaching myself HTML reasonably
successfully and have almost completed rewriting my web. However, a
major gap in my knowledge is javascript.

I am completely new to javascript and wish to learn this language. I
am looking for a book suitable for a beginner javascript user. (I
have extensive experience in other languages.) I paticularly need a
book that defines the syntax (It's driving me crazy trying to figure
it out without a good reference).

Your suggestions will be appreciated.

www.richardfisher.com (awful frontpage version)

[Randy Webb]

Helpful person said the following on 9/23/2007 10:51 PM:

I have written my web site using FrontPage and have disvovered that
apart from producing code that does not validate it also creates a
horrible structure. I have been teaching myself HTML reasonably
successfully and have almost completed rewriting my web. However, a
major gap in my knowledge is javascript.

I am completely new to javascript and wish to learn this language.

<URL: http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html>
<URL: http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/>
<URL: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.javascript/topics>

Are going to be the best three places to start.

--
Randy
Chance Favors The Prepared Mind
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
Javascript Best Practices - http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Peter Michaux wrote:

Randy's advice is very good.

Indeed. Yours isn't.

David Flanagan's book is the best option I know of for your needs. I
use it regularly as a first reference.

You should use it as second reference instead, after this newsgroup and the
online material referenced in its FAQ. The former has proven here to be
factually incorrect, and to propose bad practice. Probably not as much as
other books do, but there you are.

[...]
comp.lang.javascript is definitely the best resource on the web for
discussing JavaScript.

It isn't on the Web, but only mirrored there (e.g. on Google Groups); it
does not even really belong to the Internet (some people still use UUCP).

Subscribers are strongly advised to post directly to a well-maintained
Usenet server instead, using a locally installed newsreader application.
I can recommend Mozilla Thunderbird for Windows and KNode for GNU/Linux.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
PointedEars
--
"Use any version of Microsoft Frontpage to create your site. (This won't
prevent people from viewing your source, but no one will want to steal it.)"
-- from <http://www.vortex-webdesign.com/help/hidesource.htm>

[Randy Webb]

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn said the following on 9/26/2007 2:47 AM:

Peter Michaux wrote:

>Randy's advice is very good.

Indeed. Yours isn't.

His advice is more constructive and helpful than yours is. If his isn't
good then what does that make yours? Don't answer, it was rhetorical.

>David Flanagan's book is the best option I know of for your needs. I
use it regularly as a first reference.

You should use it as second reference instead, after this newsgroup and the
online material referenced in its FAQ. The former has proven here to be
factually incorrect, and to propose bad practice. Probably not as much as
other books do, but there you are.

Everything on the web and in print has errors. You deal with it. Even
your matrix has a flaw in it. Perhaps you should read some of my
discussions on createTextNode and you can determine what the flaw is.

>[...]
comp.lang.javascript is definitely the best resource on the web for
discussing JavaScript.

It isn't on the Web, but only mirrored there (e.g. on Google Groups); it
does not even really belong to the Internet (some people still use UUCP).

Don't count on it. Google Groups has become an animal of it's own. You
have two choices:

1) Deal with it and move on.
2) Whine about the users.

There is nothing wrong with posting from Google Groups as long as you
understand the pitfalls of using it.

<snip>

PointedEars

Subscribers are also "strongly advised" to use a properly delimited
signature.

--
Randy
Chance Favors The Prepared Mind
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
Javascript Best Practices - http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/

[Helpful person]

Thanks for the information. However, only one book has been
mentioned, that by Flanagan. Is this book a general reference or does
it also contain chapters on syntax, variable types, conventions etc.

Thanks.

www.richardfisher.com
(It's amazing how google picks up on these links and gives one a very
high position in page searches.)

[timsamshuijzen]

On Sep 26, 9:34 pm, Helpful person <[e-mail]:

Thanks for the information. However, only one book has been
mentioned, that by Flanagan. Is this book a general reference or does
it also contain chapters on syntax, variable types, conventions etc.

Thanks.

www.richardfisher.com
(It's amazing how google picks up on these links and gives one a very
high position in page searches.)

The following link really helpt me:

http://www.nexes.org/sun/javascript/...ction_ApB.html

I just stumbled across it when learning Javascript myself. I know it
is not a book but I felt I understood Javascript a lot better when I
read this text. (At least a lot better than the book I read, which
just rambled on and on about browser differences). At the bottom of
the text these books are suggested:

- David Flanagan's javascript: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly, 2001)
(already mentioned)
- Nicholas Zakas's Professional JavaScript for Web Developers

[Peter Michaux]

On Sep 26, 12:34 pm, Helpful person <[e-mail]:

Thanks for the information. However, only one book has been
mentioned, that by Flanagan. Is this book a general reference or does
it also contain chapters on syntax, variable types, conventions etc.

Flanagan's book covers the JavaScript language (syntax etc) and the
browser scripting environment (DOM, events, Ajax, vector graphics and
even a little ActionScript). There is errata (some listed on the
O'Reilly site) but it is a good book and I think the one you want. I
can't say I like Flanagan's JavaScript programming style in all cases.
He has written books on Java and that language has affected his
JavaScript style a bit too much, I believe. Style is subjective, of
course.

Peter