Beginning JavaScript by Jeremy McPeak

by Jeremy McPeak

"Beginning JavaScript" 5th edition continues the excellent tradition of the first four editions, which combined have sold more than 85,000 copies, and earned more than 75 very positive Amazon Change the coding style to reflect modern JavaScript programming practices.- Remove XHTML-based markup in favor of HTML5 markup.- Remove information that covers technology that is no longer mainstream and relegated to edge use-cases. This includes frames and plug-ins.- Focus on standards compliance and standards-compliant browsers. This includes IE9+, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.- Remove coverage of XML not appropriate at the beginner level. Expand coverage of JSON as a data format.- Introduce a new chapter on functions. This new chapter will also cover the topics of scope, the scope chain, and identifier lookup.- Introduce a new chapter on events. This new chapter will de-emphasize old event usage (HTML attributes and DOM Level 0 events) while providing up-to-date and thorough information on the standard event model and the legacy IE event model.- Teach feature detection and explain why it is usually better than browser detection.- Add information regarding new DOM APIs and browser features; such as new element selection methods, geolocation, localStorage, and the new drag and drop API.- Cover new HTML5 elements and the API used to manipulate them. This includes new form controls and the native media elements.- Expands coverage of JavaScript programming with the jQuery framework.This edition improves on the current edition in several waysThe companion website provides downloadable code for all examples in the book. The book also include exercises and solutions, making this book ideal for students as well as practitioners.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science

Unknown Binding

First published February 18, 2015

Reviews

[智威 傅 · Rating 5 out of 5]

不要骂我，我直接贴我写的中文书评，懒得翻译成英文了。。。。

读过其它推荐的经典书籍之后，我愿意给这本书一个高分。

这本书作为零基础入门真的值得推荐，我原本是打算学《Javascript高级程序设计》（Professional JavaScript for Web Developers）的，看到它的前言推荐新入门先看这本，于是买了，推荐的时候才第三版，我买的时候已经第五版了，可见这本书更新速度还是挺快的。我大概花半个月时间（全天）学完。

要吐槽的是，代码占篇幅太长，很多是可以省略的，每个示例都要把这样的代码都加上，实在是有凑页数的嫌疑，这也招致这本书超级厚，接近700页，对于一个初学者来说，压力挺大，我想如果精简掉冗余的示例代码，节省100页应该不是问题。另外的槽点是，虽然javascript知识点都是最新的，浏览器兼容性也做的很好，不过，html代码方面却有点问题，用到了html5已经废弃的属性，这个不太好，虽然用得很少。另外一个小疑问我已经在读书笔记也写了，这里就不重复了。

好的地方嘛，就是紧跟最新的技术，兼容性也做得很好，相比后面看的《javascript权威指南》《javascript高级程序设计》还要提及IE5甚至更早版本的ie浏览器的兼容性，这本书几乎是从IE9开始的，只在个别地方对更早版本IE的特别之处做了说明以及给出的相应的示例，比如事件监听和Ajax，我觉得对于初学者这样做真的很棒，尼玛那些老旧浏览器的兼容性问题处理起来实在是头大，不符合规范，对于初学者来说在这上面碰壁根本没必要，加上用的人越来越少，只会加速被淘汰，等深入学习的时候在涉及这一块比较好。

然后就是真正把你当初学者，讲解难度不高，但是涉及知识面又很广，因此学完这本，再看后面的经典书单，就没那么累了。

另外中文翻译也不错，阅读无障碍，唉，这都要被当作优点来提及，其实挺无奈的，等我看《Javascript权威指南》的时候深深地体会到好的负责人的翻译是多么重要。。。

总之，真心推荐给希望零基础入门的同学，不是零基础的话还是不要推荐了吧，可以直接啃高级程序设计或者权威指南。
PS：我本来想读的是Headfirst Javascript Programming，美亚评价相当好，可惜，英文不好，中文迟迟不出来。。。

It's very good for beginners but...
Page 560(Chinese Edition)the answer to Chapter 4 Exercise 2
while(timesTable!=-1){
//......
if(timesTable==-1){
break;
}
//......
}


Are you kidding me?

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so clear, so straight forward. The examples are great; yes, there are some not so advised practices when at the beginning of some topics, although the author clears out that those are used for illustrative purposes only and should be avoided in practice, still feels weird and not right sometimes.
Other than that, it's a great book, covers a lot, even some popular JS libraries. As mentioned before, the examples are clear and many, and the exercises challenging enough to make you feel proud of yourself once completed.
Totally satisfied and confident to address a more advanced book on the topic.

[Nina · Rating 2 out of 5]

can be more complicated? for beginner i do not recommend this book because you start with very hard fregments of javascript to understand .. then you ask yourself should i must to know math first? i think js can be explained on very easier way than to just jump cross over the book with new elements and not explaining them individualy enough.

[atom_box Evan G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book; its Fifth Edition status affirms that. It's too long to actually work through linearly, so I recommend skipping around to what scratches your itch. Well indexed, lacking an overall narrative arc, it has the comprehensiveness and atomization of a textbook. In fact, each chapter ends with a list of exercises.

If you are a beginner and are burned out on taking courses online, this book is an important complement. I can't imagine taking an online course without having at least one book like this sitting on my desk.

There are several categories of Javascript books, such as shorter ones which act as a companion as you build several purposeful things, and longer ones which are not companionable and offer a comprehensive reference work. This is the latter. Check out the Table of Contents; if you like that you'll like this book. Since JQuery is still useful but falling a little out of favor and Wes Bos' 30 days is more ascendant, I am glad that McPeak limits his JQuery to a single chapter.

[Cat ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is structured in a clear and nice logical way. It starts with a very general overview and then presents the same introduction in a more expanded form, which helps build the bigger picture, which is nice.
Yes, the book is old and some of the shown methods (such as using document.write("")) are outdated, but it can still be useful today because it's focused on the fundamentals and also shows how things used to be.
I personally found it pleasant to read, however, if you use it for learning, it's important to look for additional, more up-to-date resources or treat it as a supplement rather than a standalone guide.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, comprehensive systematic introduction to Javascript. However it uses some Html in its examples which are obsolete like frames. I believe it's getting a new edition soon, if it replaced those sections it would be 5 stars.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good starter JS book which gets the reader familiar with the core concepts of JavaScript and other related areas. This is a true beginner book, so don't expect intermediate to advanced topics that some other 'beginner' books get into such as closures and such.