JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (Definitive Guides)

I thought I had kept up with things since the last version. This book clued me in to new, simpler techniques becoming practical solutions only now - now that IE7 is so clearly on the way out.Much of the book was re-written. There were a few issues that remained a bit elusive after reading the previous version (V5) and V6 cleared them up for me.After studying chapter 15 on scripting documents, I stopped the press and made a number of important updates to my utilities file - streamlining functions that heavily supported IE 7. I changed a number of my websites to no longer support IE7 - this book gave me the information and courage to do so (the author did not suggest such a move, but it only made sense to me after getting myself up-to-snuff on the modern DOM). My code is now faster and leaner and much much much easier to follow (and debug if ever necessary) by using up-to-date basic dom methodologies such as:A. Element.prototype to add some important/simple dom navigation methods to all elements (next(), previous() ..)B. cssClass property to more easily, efficiently, and accurately deal with element classes (whereas I had a lot of code to do these functions and avoid RegExp for efficiency, now my methods simply pass cssClass with a simple RegExp as a fallback for IE8/9 which don't support cssClass. My perspective now is to NOT provide robust fallback for old IE, but only minimal anticipating users will make the jump from IE8 directly to IE 10/11 when their old PCs finally crap out (for those who use IE).C. use of "data-" element attributes, which allow HTML to validate. I used to wrestle with confusing multiple classes to pass data so my html would validate - or I'd write special server / js scripts to attach data to elements as JS objects after the page loaded.These examples aren't particularly the new sexy HTML5 initiatives, but without this book it might have taken me years to learn of them and to understand them enough to actually put them into play. And by the way, the book does a good job explaining the many HTML 5 initiatives - but I would first scan the pages to see if they were practical for my use and whether they were widely supported. But it's the small, detailed, practical things used in work-a-day scripting that makes this book so important to me.I can't say this is a book for beginners only because of its length (1000+ pages) - but after learning JS on my own I wish I had read V5 of this book first as the others I read were all either somewhat outdated or too skimpy in important areas. This is really the only one that I read that goes into detail on the practical application of JS in client side scripting. It's the only JS book I use a reference.My only criticism is that the book includes an entire chapter on jQuery (65 pages). I don't see the need for re-learning jQuery given browsers are moving along nicely toward standards compliance anyway. But the book would still weigh almost as much without the jQuery chapter.

Keep in mind I'm writing this review and I'm only 70 pages into this monster (plus some random skimming)This book seems to be highly recommended by all the big and well known names in JS Development.Having worked through a few substandard JS books (which there seems to be plenty of), I decided to spring for it. I'm blown away with how comprehensive this thing is. I wish all my college textbooks were up to this standard. It's true that this isn't for someone new to programming, or even someone new to JavaScript. [I found "Eloquent Javascript" (which is a free online book) to be a good starter book. I say this after having looked at the head start book (complete rubbish) and Wrox's Beginning JavaScript (crap).]Anyway,it's dense and not something you're going to get through fast.I'm taking the approach my Calculus Professor recommended for 'reading a math text'. You read a math text with a pencil and paper. When presented with a proof you should work through it step by step with pencil and paper so that you can see the logic behind it, then try it out with some examples. Well, instead of pencil and paper I have my laptop next to me with the cloud9 IDE up (a great and simple browser based editor I'm growing fond of). As each new concept (at least, each concept that is new to me) is presented I try it out on the editor and print the output to the console. As I work through it and grasp what it does I "poke it with a stick" by trying some different things with it. I already feel like I have a better grasp of the basics then I ever did with my previous experiences.I'm sure this book isn't perfect...I don't think that's possible in the world of technology books. But it's substantially higher quality than many I've read including $180 college texts.