Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming

My goal was to become a better web specialist by supplementing my web design with some coding skills (beyond copying and pasting existing code). While most beginner books explain the basics and leave one with little opportunity to do anything useful with the knowledge, other more advanced books assume you are ready to start at the deep end of the pool.Eloquent Javascript gets it just right. It might be a bit too challenging for the absolute beginner (I'd recommend "Learn How to Program Using Any Web Browser" by Harold Davis if you want to start easy), but for a beginner-intermediate self-taught web developer, it is the only book on the market I would recommend.Mr. Haverbeke comes up with the most entertaining Javascript practice projects and skillfully introduces challenging, yet extremely important programming concepts. This is the first programming book which did not melt my brain (although it brought it to a boil a few times) and managed to teach me concepts which other books failed to do.I wanted to learn how to program, had fun learning it and my new skills translate very well into the real world. It feels great to write my own code and not rely on copy-paste solutions anymore.

I had picked this up due to the high ratings and good words on how it explained the finer details of the JavaScript language. As a traditional server-side developer that has been doing more client-side work the past year or so, I had hoped that this book would be able to fill in any details I may have missed in my self study. While the book itself is very well written, without any glaring errors, and contains a good amount of solid information, I personally felt that it was not worth the read for me.I will attribute this to partially being my fault, not noticing the subtitle of "A Modern Introduction to Programming". The book is quite true to this title, walking the reader through the most basic of concepts up through both general Functional Programming and Object Oriented Programming concepts. It does this all via JavaScript at least, so the reader gets constantly exposed to the language and its syntax. However, even as someone who has worked in JavaScript for only a little over a year, there wasn't anything new or mind-blowing in the content for me. The last few chapters hold the real meat of the content, and even then those chapters leave a lot to be desired. If the entire book was focused around those last few chapters and seriously fleshed out, it would be more appropriate for an experienced developer getting into the language.All in all, a well written book with good information, however, it is clearly designed for a beginner to programming in general or perhaps a student. To any professional or even experienced developer switching languages, there are far better books out there on the market.

This book is unique in that it starts out with JavaScript as a programming language, and continues delving further and further into how the language works - but without touching on the browser model until several chapters in. It comes at JavaScript purely as a programming language first, then getting into its uses (which include browser programming) later.The author writes very conversationally, and explains concepts in detail, but also in a manner that make sense without using technical jargon (or if there is technical jargon, that is explained as well). I was looking for a book that I could recommend to first time JavaScript programmers, and this is has become the book that tops the list.

I'm posting this review because I could not find an answer to "difference between book and html version of Eloquent JavaScript" or "why should I buy the book version of 'Eloquent Javascript'". I started with the html version. I loved it. However, I found that some sections didn't explain what was going on in such a way that I could visualize why things worked. So I checked the table of contents for the book and noticed they were different from the html version. So I bought the book. Yes, it is more thorough AND introduces topics with greater explanation. I bought the book for the Kindle (on my iPad) and it works great to have my iPad in the keyboard dock with the book open, while doing the exercises on [...]. I recommend, to all newbies, that you type in all of the examples, not just click on them and review what is going on. I got through chapter 6 of Head First Javascript and realized that I wasn't getting it. Now I'm getting it.

I bought this book because it was recommend by a coding school I'm trying to get into. I figured it would be a good beginners book because of that and bought it and dived in. The author covers a lot of ground fast and doesn't do a very good job of filling in the details. I found myself lost and feeling like an idiot because I couldn't follow everything he was saying. I ended up buying "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript" and doing about half the exercises in it before coming back to this book.Now that I've gone through that book and had things explained in a very slow methodical way I can see why this book is so confusing. He will give examples of ways NOT to use JavaScript and if you don't know how to read the code it's hard to follow. Also, he'll introduce several topics all at once and then use all of them right away in a new coding example. The only reason why I understand it is because of the other book I've spent hours with. There also seems to be a lot of additional information like how Booleans work at the end of chapter 1 that could be left out and make it more confusing if you're just starting out.I think it's a good book, but it should NOT be your first book, the learning curve is too steep. Spend a month with "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript' and learn the basics like how to use the various methods, writing for loops and functions and then come back to this.

Bel libro, spiega bene le basi e contiene esempi non banali e molto interessanti. Una lettura veloce che introduce a Javascript in maniera divertente

The Best JavaScript book I've ever read. It's not for beginners but it's very good to understanding the language fully.

One of the best programming language books, I ever have come across.

Muy bueno para empezar a entender el lenguaje . Se queda corto en algunos apartados importantes del lenguage como los "closures" o el tratamiento de algunos métodos y funciones. Pero en general se sigue bien , los ejemplos no me convencen pero.... es personal.

Das Buch ist angenehm zu lesen und die interaktive Webseite ergänzt es sehr gut.Besonders gefällt mir, dass das Buch über eine blose Anleitung hinausgeht und auch die konzeptionelle Ebene des Programmierens anspricht.Jedoch als Warnung: Ohne stabile Programmiervorkenntnisse finde ich die Lernkurve etwas steil.Optimal ist das Buch für Personen, die sich bereits in einer anderen Programmiersprache wohl fühlen und nun JavaScript lernen wollen.Anfänger (wie ich) sind vielleicht etwas überfordert. Mir hilft es einen Grundlagenkurs zu absolvieren, der grundlegendes Programmieren mit Python demonstriert.Einfach nach "udacity cs101" suchen (Links sind anscheinend nicht erlaubt?).Hinweis: Der Kurs ist kostenlos, wenn man auf die graue Schaltfläche "Start free Courseware" klickt. Der Preis bezieht sich nur darauf, wenn man den Kurs mit einem Zertifikat absolvieren möchte und Coaching braucht. Ist aber völlig unnötig, wenn man es nur lernen will.So springe ich zwischen Eloquent Javascript und Udacity - CS101 hin und her und wende Gelerntes in beiden Kontexten an. Sehr erleuchtend.