- Treats Javascript as a proper programming language
- Uses the same approach as expected in a book on programming
- Complete Javascript Object Reference
- In depth DOM reference
- Something for both beginners and the most advanced Javascript programmer
- Some outdated code used in some examples (but later references acknowledge it as outdated)
- Fifth Edition: Published August 2006
- 994 page paperback
- Published by O'Reilly Media
- ISBN 0-596-10199-6
- Activate Your Web Pages
- Author David Flanagan
I hadn't seen the prior editions of this book and so the difference between this book and most other books on Javascript came as a complete surprise. This book really does live up to its name as the definitive guide to Javascript.
The book contains something for everyone. The first part of the book is basically a series of tutorials that cover all of the different aspects of the Javascript programming language. The order and depth of treatment is what a programmer would expect to find for any programming language while the way that it reads should be relatively easy for even people with no prior programming experience to understand.
The one thing that I think could have been done differently (but which is probably due to this being the fifth editition of the book and therefore much is carried over from past versions) is that there are a number of places where the author specifies code that was appropriate 10 years ago but which has been long superceded. The author does acknowledge that these ways of coding are out of date and demonstrates the right way to do things however in some cases there are several pages between the out of date code and the explanation of the right way to code it. Most instances of out of date code though are clearly labelled at their first appearance that they are only included to show you how it used to be done.
