JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman (1998-03-16)

Do you want to become a Javascript MASTER? Then get this book. I don't know why this book is getting bad reviews, but I think it's because the people who gave it bad reviews didn't read the WHOLE book. Seriously, when I first got the book I was intimidated by its size and things were a little hard to find because I didn't buy it to read it, I just bought it for reference. Then, I got frustrated that I couldn't find the things I was looking for and decided to read the whole book. It was a great decision, cause now I am a Javascript master and things are a lot easier to find cause I know where to find them and what Im looking for. That is why I think this book gets bad reviews, cause the people didn't read the WHOLE book. You need to be serious about Javascript and read the WHOLE book in order to get the full benefit out of it. The beginners tutorial is only on the CD-rom. If you are a beginer at Javascript and absolutely NEED the beginners tutorial, then get the "Javascript Bible 4th Edition". It has the tutorial in the book, but leaves out a lot of advanced stuff and puts it in the CD. You're getting the same thing as the "Gold Edition", its just that the advanced stuff is in the CD in the 4th Edition, and the beginner stuff is in the CD in the "Gold Edition". So if you even know just the basics of Javascript, get the Gold, if you're brand new and don't like reading from a CD, get the "4th Edition". Either way, both gives you the same exact material, it just puts some of it on the CD. You will hate this book if you don't read it all, you must read the whole book to get the full benefit out of it, and I promise you,... you will become a Javascript master.

This "Gold Edition" costs (price) more and claims to add 15 chapters to the standard edition. In reality, these 15 chapters are on very arcane subjects, and nine of them just document some sample applications. Worse, to make room for the chapters, the Gold edition shoves the nine-chapter JavaScript Tutorial (Chapters 4-12) off the printed version of the book and makes them accessible only on CD. The basic edition of the book includes this nine-chapter JavaScript Tutorial in the printed book and (like the Gold edition) also includes the full text on CD. The basic edition even includes the 15 bonus chapters from the Gold Edition on its CD!Save (price) and get the standard edition. Note: my one-star rating reflects the Gold Edition packaging, not the content of these books. Also, the Gold Edition comes in hardback, if that matters.

I was not the end-user for this product. I'm unable to place any negative/positive comment on this product. Book has been stored for a few years.

There are certain people in the computer industry who are regarded as experts, Danny Goodman is certainly one of those people. When I wanted to learn JavaScript programming, this is only book I ever considered.Over 1500 pages filled with detailed explanations, coding examples, tips, tricks and shortcuts make this more than the definitive reference, this is the one stop bible for everyone who works with Web Design and JavaScript, not matter what the technical level.Working with about every type of object, from frames, images, area and map to table, list, events and XML you have coverage and examples. The author has left no stone unturned, every design question I thought of I was able to find either the answer or an example to work with.The cd include with the book makes a fine addition with over 300 scripts include, plus additional shareware applications. One thing I would include in the next edition is a trial version of DreamWeaver or an application like that. Overall this is by far the go to book and a must have for those serious about web design and JavaScritping

Danny Goodman is my favorite writer of JavaScript books. However, I would think that over 90 percent of the people who might consider buying this book should instead buy another edition. The problem with this one is that the JavaScript tutorial, which provides the most accessible introduction to JavaScript, is NOT included in book form. It is only on the CD-ROM. Therefore, for beginning and even intermediate JavaScripters, this book is more difficult to use than the other editions.I have the original "JavaScript Handbook," which was the forerunner of this book. The Gold edition naturally is much more up to date and complete. However, unless you already own one of the earlier editions, I would stay away from this one and get an earlier edition of The JavaScript Bible instead. Those I can recommend without qualification.

Alright I'm pretty new to javascript, I was looking for basic guidance with 'if, then, else' statements and 'for' loops. About 12 early chapters of this book are on CD ONLY, in PDF format. I for one, don't want to sit and study a computer monitor, when I am going to study, I want it on paper! So, I opened the PDF file and found the sections of information that I needed, then went to print... Guess what... Mr. Goodman disabled the printing function in the PDF files. I'll tell you one thing, it really made me angry that I wasn't even allowed to print the info I needed.On top of that, much of the information in the book is awkwardly organized. I'm better off with using MSDN Jscript Language reference.

Oh my god where was this man's editor? Okay, granted it's a reference material, and quite comprehensive...but in the abscense of any real entry point for even an intermediate JavaScript user, why couldn't there have been some more intelligent indexing?There's nothing that really lays out the scope of JavaScript and it's various conflicting Document Object models and allows you to find what you're looking for right now.One reviewer said he READ the 1000+ page book and found that to be very valuable, but frankly, there's so many really understandable Javascript books out there, with ALMOST the same wealth of information, I'd rather read one of them.