DOM Scripting (Book Review)
This week I’ve had the opportunity to read DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model by Jeremy Keith. As someone who learned a little bad JavaScript a few years ago and then passed it by there’s always been a hole in my skillset beyond basic form validation and editing other people’s snippets. I would suggest anyone working through these examples first try hand coding them from the book and cross-checking with the errata. If you can’t get scripts working after scouring for typos and pulling your hair out by the roots then, and only then, go to the code archive and cut-and-paste. Why I suggest hand typing code exercises like this is because doing is learning so give it your best shot.
Having done a fair amount of programming in the past its no surprise this wasn’t a difficult book for me to absorb. But it definately filled that basic knowledge gap which had been of concern. The book, rather than trying to be everything to all people, has its strength in that Jeremy has focused on explaining the DOM and how to manipulate it effectively as a tree of nodes. Not with over elaborate glitter but through grounded exercises which consistently feed back into the basic knowledge established in earlier chapters. He has strong repetition throughout the book which reinforces the learning outcomes and a development philosophy aligned with my own.
As for value, I’d say that DOM Scripting is now one of my most valuable office texts. There are so many rubbish JavaScript books around that having a good one here will be an invaluable reference and learning tool.
If I were to offer any small suggestion to these step-through programming books it would be simply to make the reader think a little more. Programming texts often have a few optional exercises at the end of the chapter which aren’t essential to progress through the book but offer the ability for readers to slightly play with the concepts. After all doing is learning. Nothing that is going to bog them down for a day but just a few small extensions on the key concepts of the chapter.
I would definately recommend anyone who wants to learn JavaScript to pick up this book as their first port of call. They should perhaps work through it and then reread it a second time before progressing to any other text just to be sure they understand the key concepts. If you can use those concepts effectively then you have a strong base of knowledge on which to build your expertise.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:34 am
[...] would strongly recommend anyone to go out and buy Jeremy’s books (first read DOM Scripting and then this [...]
February 5th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
[...] it will spend a few years on my shelf as a reference book. I’d suggest reading Jeremy’s DOM Scripting and then Bulletproof Ajax followed by DHTML Utopia if you’re concerned with any learning [...]