Book Review:JavaScript Sourcebook

Intrepid reviewer Rick Franchuk has returned with another review, this time of the JavaScript Sourcebook. Yes, in full living text, read about how organization can sink or make a book. And, maybe, you can learn how to the mouseover as well. So, click below to read Rick's incisive review.

Another Slashdot denizen wrote to me and asked if he could do the honors of reviewing the next book I had on my list, which was to be TCP/IP Network Administration, another O'Reilly treasure trove. (Can ORA produce bad books? Yes, but I haven't bought any of 'em so I can't write about 'em!)

Since Eric will be doing the write-up for TNA (gotta love that acronym ;), I thought I'd mention a book that I wasn't too impressed with, the JavaScript Sourcebook.

REVIEW: JavaScript Sourcebook Gordon McComb (Wiley Computer Publishing ISBN 0-471-16185-3) Nutshell Review: Gordon is a talented coder and packs a wad of code gems into his work, but the organization of the book leaves a lot to be desired. Rating: 5/10 Rick Franchuk - TranSpecT Consulting

The Scenario

There's been some projects I've put together which required a little Jscript knowing, so I did what I usually do... head to the book store (deductions, deductions, deductions! ;). JavaScript was (is?) a very trendy technology, so naturally there were 6.02×10²³ different titles to choose from.

I pulled it off the shelf and gave it a quick thumb test, flipping through the pages to determine if the book would contain the information I was interested in knowing. It seemed complete, CD included all the source code (not that I've ever used a CD from a book), and appeared to cover the topics I was seeking enlightenment on.

At the time I bought it, I knew very little about Jscript (experience with the standard, packaged image-replacement onmouseover scripts and whatnot), so I was looking for a book that could achieve both the task of teaching me Jscript fundamentals and provide specifics about my area of interest. I'd already had considerable exposure to OO Programming, so thinking in terms of objects and methods wasn't foreign.

What's Bad?

Where everything here falls down is organization. The book feels as though it was thrown together by a novice editor. The index is not nearly as complete as it could be, given the bulk of data within the pages, and I found it frustrating trying to work my way through the book as a novice Jscriptor. Eventually, I picked up everything I needed to know from the steaming pile of examples strewn throughout... Computer novices and non-coders would probably have a harder time of it, and could easily get discouraged from Jscript altogether.

To make things more interesting, some of the code samples don't work quite as advertised, particularly if using any flavor of MSIE. That's not surprising, a lot of Jscript features were broken or left out of earlier MSIE revisions, and the book does suffer from that curious outdatedness common to all published computer texts. Some mention is made in the end of 'new' features in Netscape 3.0, which should give you an idea of when it was printed (for you 'Net newcomers, that's 1996.)

What's Good?

The book does pack a lot of handy codelettes in, all the way up to a primitive jscript-based adventure game engine. In fact, there's far more examples in there than the average webtech would probably ever find a use for. A full reference of the Jscript language particulars is included (up to date as of its printing) which also helps a would-be scriptor along.

So What's In It For Me?

I still use the book from time to time, primarily for looking up methods within the Jscript class information or to see how Gordon would tackle a particular or similar problem. However, other texts could give you a more complete examination of the language (like the JavaScript - The Definitive Guide from ORA, which apparently now has a 3rd revision printed in 1998) or a more down-and-dirty answer book (say perhaps The Netscape ONE Reference from SAMS). You might want to save your money and buy one of these other texts.

However, you can grab this at Amazon.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing JavaScript
2. What JavaScript is All About
3. Stuff You Should Know: Basic Programming
4. Overview of JavaScript Programming

   Core JavaScript

5. Objects
6. Properties
7. Methods and Functions
8. Expressions
9. Statements
10. Variables
11. Events

    JavaScript in the Real World

12. Defining Functions, Objects, and Methods
13. How Do I?
14. "Plug-and-Play" Routines
15. Fixing Broken JavaScript Programs
16. Using JavaScript in Frames
17. Using JavaScript and Forms

    Extending JavaScript

18. Using JavaScript with Advanced HTML
19. Using CGI with JavaScript
20. Working with Java and Netscape Plugs-Ins
21. Using JavaScript for Sound, Animation, and Graphics
22. All About HTML
23. JavaScript Additions in Netscape 3.0

    Appendix A
    Appendix B