Javascript book

[grnidone]

Hi,

I have worked with Javascript, but unfortunately, I suck at it. I purchased Joe Burns Javascript Goodies, but I wasn't really happy with it: too many mistakes.

I am not quite ready for an O'Reilly animal book yet.

I need something to bridge the gap. I have heard the Javascript Bible is good, but want some second opinions.

Are there any online resources you all might recommend?

-G

[tedster]

I've yet to find the tutorial that starts from ground zero and builds your knowledge of JavaScript in a realistic way. Every resource I know is either cookbook style (How To Do "Whatever" With JavaScript) or technical reference style -- and that's a tough way to learn anything.

My recommendation is buy the O'Reilly book to have it on hand as a reference. But don't try a cover-to-cover read, because that can be much too daunting.

Instead, with O'Reilly at hand, use all the cookbook resources you can find, on and off the web -- but don't be content with cut-and-paste. Whatever code you find, use O'Reilly to look up the details of that particular snippet until you become conversant with why the code is written the way it is. This way, you will quickly build up expertise in all the most commonly used areas of JavaScript.

Just using cut-and-paste hands you the fish without teaching you how to fish. But trying to use O'Reilly in isolation is like getting a degree in marine biology before you buy your first rod and reel. You need the practical recipes to stay interested in the deeper theory.

[David]

The first book I started with "java script for the world wide web" it is a visual quick start guide by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith. It is a cook book style but I found it to be alot of help learning the concepts. It helped me to get into the O'Reilly book.

[tedster]

David, that's a pretty good coincidence. The Negrino/Smith book was my first as well. It's pretty darned good, and gave me a boost because I was doing some practical things pretty fast.