JavaScript Programmer's Reference

While I havn't found the book useful, the CD ROM is priceless. I have used the accompanying reference for more than 5 years now, and it is still my primary reference for javascript programming being surprisingly comprehensive.

This book definitely deserves 5 stars right now! Perhaps in 2-3 years it will appear dated as browsers and standards evolve. But for right now, this is _the_ Javascript/DOM reference to own. Wootton has seemingly gone to great lengths to compile a comprehensive reference, the likes of which I have yet to see in print or on the Web. As far as tutorials and most other forms of hand-holding go, you won't find any-it is a reference afterall.Cross-browser compatability is of critical importance for most of us when working with Javascript/DOM and that fact was not lost on Wootton. Most every topic has a table of supporting implementations. And while this feature is certainly not unique to only this book, it is up-to-date, covering IE 3.0-5.5, NS 3.0-6.0, Opera 3-5, Netscape Enterprise Server, the ECMAScript 3rd edition standard, and DOM 1-3. The format of the data is rather good as well, better than many of the Wrox books I have seen to date. What I liked best about the book is the CDROM that comes with it. It contains the full compilation of 3,500 topics (!!!) in HTML and Acrobat files, only half of which could find room in the book (the book is roughly 973 pages long already, if you doubled that you couldn't lift it ;-). They have a similar look-and-feel to Java API docs. A very handy tool for Web development teams!

Before reading this book, the book "Javascript-The Definite Guide" by David Flanagan is a must-have reference for every Javascript programmer. This book became my second "must-have" reference. The reason why this book is worth the money is that the examples inside the book are very much helpful to understand the Javascript in a deeper level. Too bad that Wrox has a traditionally lousy publishing format, and it caused reading uncomfortably. This book is no exceptional and that's why the "definite guide" is still No. 1. Wrox should not neglect this anymore.