HN Books @HNBooksMonth

The best books of Hacker News.

Hacker News Comments on
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

David Flanagan · 6 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" by David Flanagan.
View on Amazon [↗]
HN Books may receive an affiliate commission when you make purchases on sites after clicking through links on this page.
Amazon Summary
This Fifth Edition is completely revised and expanded to cover JavaScript as it is used in today's Web 2.0 applications. This book is both an example-driven programmer's guide and a keep-on-your-desk reference, with new chapters that explain everything you need to know to get the most out of JavaScript, including: Scripted HTTP and Ajax XML processing Client-side graphics using the canvas tag Namespaces in JavaScript--essential when writing complex programs Classes, closures, persistence, Flash, and JavaScript embedded in Java applications Part I explains the core JavaScript language in detail. If you are new to JavaScript, it will teach you the language. If you are already a JavaScript programmer, Part I will sharpen your skills and deepen your understanding of the language. Part II explains the scripting environment provided by web browsers, with a focus on DOM scripting with unobtrusive JavaScript. The broad and deep coverage of client-side JavaScript is illustrated with many sophisticated examples that demonstrate how to: Generate a table of contents for an HTML document Display DHTML animations Automate form validation Draw dynamic pie charts Make HTML elements draggable Define keyboard shortcuts for web applications Create Ajax-enabled tool tips Use XPath and XSLT on XML documents loaded with Ajax And much more Part III is a complete reference for core JavaScript. It documents every class, object, constructor, method, function, property, and constant defined by JavaScript 1.5 and ECMAScript Version 3. Part IV is a reference for client-side JavaScript, covering legacy web browser APIs, the standard Level 2 DOM API, and emerging standards such as the XMLHttpRequest object and the canvas tag. More than 300,000 JavaScript programmers around the world have madethis their indispensable reference book for building JavaScript applications. "A must-have reference for expert JavaScript programmers...well-organized and detailed." -- Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript
HN Books Rankings

Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
'JavaScript: The Definitive Guide' by David Flanagan is a great book.

http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flan...

W3Schools is one of the best free resources out there. http://www.w3schools.com/

Here are some books that I have used that have been helpful

PHP and MYSQL for Dynamic Websites http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010SEMW8/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp...

Javascript: The Definitive Guide http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flan...

Restart-Button
>"W3Schools" Tab Opened" >>"Fuck" >>>"Started Coffee" >>>>"Tomorrow Rescheduled"

Thank you very much!

It sure would, I just don't think there's any reason to mess with low level stuff like XMLHttpRequest objects. For javascript itself, this book is always good : http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flan... If you haven't seen O'Reilly's safari yet, that's quite a nice program if you are still in school learning a variety of things.
"I want to code the site using PHP and a bit of Java-script, but my skills with these are not exactly up to the job yet."

You must understand that you need to learn 2 separate things and you need to learn them well.

For javascript on the client you need nothing other than the browser you already have and the Rhino book:

http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flan...

Learn what's in this book! Go through all the exercises and tutorials. Build something. You can augment the book with tutorials you find on-line (ex. Webmonkey). Then you can View Source on any web page and understand what they did (and what they did wrong).

On the server you will have to find any common LAMP stack and load in onto your machine. The execises and tutorials for php, MySQL, and apache should be enough, although you can find more almost anywhere. Build something! Now that you already know javascript, you can include that in the pages you build as required.

Only after you have a solid understanding of the basics of these 2 technologies should you consider a framework. This can be tricky. If you adopt a framework too soon, you may run into a problem for which you don't understand enough about what's going on under the hood because you never learned it. If you adopt a framework too late, you'll be hand coding everything and will never get done.

Most importantly: you can only learn any of this by doing. Time consuming doing. Books and resources any necessary but hardly sufficient.

Do not fall into the trap of only learning at the surface and expecting to find someone else to do the coding. This does not work for a small software start-up. You must dig deep and learn well.

Thanks for finally posting. I hope you came to the right place. Get to work and keep us posted.

I would start with the Rhino book

http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flan...

morbidkk
I had rhino book but things got better when I read

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-JavaScript-Developers-Wro...

dgabriel
I could not agree more.

The web has lots of practical examples and API documentation, but it's fragmented information. This book gives you a thorough, cohesive understanding of the language.

HN Books is an independent project and is not operated by Y Combinator or Amazon.com.
~ yaj@
;laksdfhjdhksalkfj more things
yahnd.com ~ Privacy Policy ~
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.