Comments about Microsoft Press JavaScript Step by Step, 2nd Edition:

JavaScript is the backbone of any web application development, whether you're adding interactivity web form validating script to a web page or creating an entire JavaScript Ajax based application; JavaScript plays a vital role.

Learning JavaScript is a fun. JavaScript Step by Step is an introductory book which definitely helps you in Learning JavaScript. This book starts from basics of JavaScript web programming language. Small JavaScript exercise in this book always refreshes your learning. Good to start learning JavaScript.

Comments about Microsoft Press JavaScript Step by Step, 2nd Edition:

Author not enthusiastic for most part of the book and quite off-putting.

For a 'Step by Step book', the Author seem not have had a good thought about the varied background of such a book's audience. So many fundamental Programming concepts not taken into consideration and those mentioned are seldom explained - as one could expect, for example from a book such as 'Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Step by Step, by John Sharp'.

Book may suit audience with prior programming background but is new to JavaScript. Book covers a sensible amount of topics but still disappoints.

If you are new to programming avoid this book and if you are new to JavaScript but have prior programming background look elsewhere; this book at best is very average.

Comments about Microsoft Press JavaScript Step by Step, 2nd Edition:

When I first received the PDF copy of the 500+ page "JavaScript Step by Step," (Second Edition) by Steve Suehring, I was predisposed not to like it very much. It's a Microsoft Press book (released through O'Reilly), and I'm not much of a Microsoft person.

But Suehring's Javascript book -- aimed squarely at beginning programmers and not just Javascript beginners -- explains things that other books don't (especially in the valuable first 50 or so pages) and keeps you interested with a writing style more engaging than most. A good technical-book writer is a rarity, and I put Suehring in my top tier. And I read a lot of technical books.

I've spoken to a few coders about what languages a beginning programmer should learn. Which ones first, which language is "better" for a given task, and most seasoned hackers tell me that the more you work on code, the more you'll probably pick up new languages as you go along. It's the bones of programming itself that you need to learn. After that you learn a new programming language by picking up on the syntax that allows you to apply core programming concepts to a new environment.

And while many if not most coders have a favorite language in which to work, more often than not I've heard that it's a good idea to pick up Javascript while you're working on another language because most projects that have anything to do with the web need (or, at any rate, can really use) Javascript in addition to the other scripting language (Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, etc) you're using to make everything come together.

There are very few programming books for beginners. Most of the O'Reilly books I see assume that you know some other programming language and, as I say above, just need to get up to speed in this new programming language.

But what about the person who knows nothing of loops, arrays, variables, strings, objects and the like?

"JavaScript Step By Step" is more than sensitive to the beginning programmer. That alone makes it more valuable to a huge segment of potential readers than many of the other Javascript how-to titles out there.

The Microsoft emphasis isn't as much of a problem as you might think. The book encourages use of MS development products like Visual Studio but neither mandates their use nor avoids mention of others, including the excellent Firebug extension for Firefox that I rely on in my development work as well as plain ol' text editors.

Suehring offers an introduction to AJAX and jQuery, but he doesn't base his book on use of the latter library. JQuery is important, but more important in my view is teaching beginners the core concepts of programming and Javascript itself.

If you're looking to go beyond tweaking HTML and CSS and want a gentle introduction to Javascript, Steve Suehring's "JavaScript Step by Step," is a fine place to start.

Comments about Microsoft Press JavaScript Step by Step, 2nd Edition:

A Microsoft book. Probably, the first Microsoft book I've ever read. Leaving aside what I feel about Microsoft, I've been pretty impressed by this book. Even if it is a Microsoft production, sometimes you can see examples with Ecplise (a free software IDE) and I really enjoyed this. Also is outstanding the clearness of this book and the 'Step by Step' way of explaining.

The book is really a 'Step by Step' book, exactly as the title states. The book begins with very basic notions (like the language philosophy, the basic grammar) and it grow complexity step by step, passing through operatos, variables, expressions, control systems, blocks, DOM, AJAX and jQuery. The book has a lot of exercises, both right after a new concept is introduced and at the end of the chapter.

Is not surprising, but the last sections (AJAX and jQuery) are covered very lightly, and this make this book perfect for a novice, but not suitable for professional JavaScript programmers.

As I already said in the begin of this review, even if Eclipse is often used, the book is focused on Microsoft products (Visual Studio, Bing, Live Maps, etc) and this, in my opinion, is not so good, even if it was pretty probable, since is made by Microsoft.

Comments about Microsoft Press JavaScript Step by Step, 2nd Edition:

Yes, another tutorial based guide to JavaScript. Does the world need another one? Do you need another one? Well, it's made it to a second edition, there must be something to that. At least that was what made it worth checking out for me. In fact, after having spent some time with this volume, I come away very impressed. Suehring's JavaScript Step by Step in a superb 'missing manual' for novices and those already somewhat acquainted with aspects of JavaScript.

This is a well crafted guidebook that has clearly adopted a proven progression. A very basic introduction that familiarises someone new to JS with a couple handy development environments (Visual Studio and Eclipse - hey it's a Microsoft Press book what do you expect...at least an open source alternative was suggested), and moves to the basic grammar and the philosophy behind the language. It gradually builds on your working knowledge moving from syntax to operators and variables and then to expressions and control mechanisms. The approach is in very well constructed and steps are scoped and paced for an absolute beginner, but also allow someone with moderate experience to move quicker through the material and refresh their knowledge. Hands-on exercises are sprinkled throughout and the companion downloadable files allow you to avoid extensive typing and pick and choose where you really want to go hands-on. There are even specific exercises at the end of each section for those used to a little self-evaluation. All of which means that this book will suit a variety of learning styles.

The steps continue beyond the language basics to apply the building blocks of JavaScript into the important aspects of how it ties into the DOM and interacts with the browser - aspects that obviously are very much to the raison d'etre of JavaScript specifically. This builds into AJAX and Server-side integration, which was very much what I was most interested in seeing the handling of. For someone that played around with JavaScript in the more distant past, getting up to speed with how it is being used more recently (a wonderfully subjective reference ;-) is a real plus and I feel that Suehring accomplishes this well in this volume.

There are obvious limitations to how far one can go in an introductory (or even in a single) volume and exposure to the more advanced applications of JavaScript (Such as AJAX and JQuery) are more lightly handled, but enough of a taste to give the novice an basic understanding and at least know where to go next and be able to be more critically understand what is needed to know to move on, i.e. when shopping for the next volume of instruction.

The only critical issue I can raise, and it is more preferential than a defect, is the choice of Microsoft products largely exclusively, whether Visual Studio or integration with Bing and LiveMaps. All fine products and in widespread use. I do tip my hat to the suggestion of other OS products such as Eclipse, but am not used to seeing a volume aimed as particularly at a Microsoft-certified audience. Just me I suppose.

I am actually very impressed with this book and preceding comment aside I think this is a particularly notable volume for covering such a wide amount of information, in a very well considered and effective level of detail. For a novice to JavaScript, or someone that perhaps explored it within the last decade and wants to brush up on how it has been extended and functions well with new API's and frameworks, this is a great choice.