Anyone who maintains a website, for whatever reason, soon learns that knowing HTML is not enough. Good (as in "interesting" or "useful") websites, especially ones designed for e-commerce or for any kind of user interaction, require some ability to process information. Data can be processed on the server side (as is done with PHP) or it can be handled by the browser (on the client-side) using JavaScript.
JavaScript in Easy Steps, by Mike MacGrath is one of many books McGrath has written for the Easy Steps series. Books in the series are intended mostly for people who wish to learn on their own, although they could be used as supplements in a formal course.
A Simple Introduction to JavaScript
The book is divided into 14 chapters. Each chapter is short--only ten or so pages, which makes for easy to digest chunks of information. Each chapter is logically organized around a topic such as Performing Operations, Using Arrays, Doing Mathematics, Working With Strings, Form Properties, and JavaScript in e-commerce (to name a few).
Tables, lists or descriptions of keywords, syntax rules and math constants are available for easy reference. The book is a little weak on functions, and it suffers from the fact that all the examples are short and out of context with everything else that would normally be going on in a web page. For that reason, the scripts given as examples seem like mere fragments of larger ideas and it is difficult to get an overall picture of how useful and powerful JavaScript really is.
Not Quite for Beginners
As one gets further into the book, the success rate of applying the examples diminishes. This is because some important information on how to get the scripts to work seems to be missing.
For example, the random image script on page 74 will not work unless it is put in the right place within the HTML. The text makes note of this fact but does a poor job of helping the user figure out exactly were that should be. Since the book is supposed to be in "easy steps" it would have been a lot more helpful and user friendly if the examples were fully detailed (as in shown "step-by-step" with nothing left out).
With the exception of an example of how to execute the classic first program "Hello World" at the very beginning of the book, no other examples of where to embed the scripts within the HTML to make them work properly are shown. The descriptions of where to put and how to use the scripts may be adequate for a seasoned web developer, but they fall short from a beginner's perspective.
JavaScript in Easy Steps is sufficient to get started using JavaScript, but you'll soon need something else.
Note: This review is of the 2003 edition. Since it was published, revised editions have appeared in 2006 and 2009 and the 2009 edition is significantly different from the 2003 edition.
Sources
- JavaScript in Easy Steps; Mike McGrath; Computer Step; Southam, UK: 2003
Philip McIntosh - The author holds a B.Sc. in Botany and Chemistry and an M.A in Biology and he has thirty + years of experience in science and industry.
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