JavaScript & jQuery The Missing Manual

Missing Manuals

by David Sawyer McFarland

JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects--but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This easy-to-read guide not only covers JavaScript basics, but also shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery and jQuery UI libraries of prewritten JavaScript code. You'll build web pages that feel and act like desktop programs--with little or no programming.

The important stuff you need to know: Pull back the curtain on JavaScript. Learn how to build a basic program with this language. Get up to speed on jQuery. Quickly assemble JavaScript programs that work well on multiple web browsers.Transform your user interface. Learn jQuery UI, the JavaScript library for interface features like design themes and controls.Make your pages interactive. Create JavaScript events that react to visitor actions.Use animations and effects. Build drop-down navigation menus, pop-ups, automated slideshows, and more.Collect data with web forms. Create easy-to-use forms that ensure more accurate visitor responses.Practice with living examples. Get step-by-step tutorials for web projects you can build yourself.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Technology, Website Design, Nonfiction, Software, Technical

686 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

David Sawyer McFarland is president of Sawyer McFarland Media, Inc., a Web development company in Portland, Oregon. He's been building Web sites since 1995, when he designed his first Web site: an online magazine for communication professionals. He's served as the Webmaster at the University of California at Berkeley and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, and he has helped build, design, and program numerous Web sites for clients including Intuit, Macworld.com, and Playlistmag.com, among others.

In addition to building Web sites, David is also a writer, trainer, and instructor. He's taught Dreamweaver at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Center for Electronic Art, the Academy of Art College, Ex'Pressions Center for New Media, and the Art Institute of Portland. He currently teaches in the Multimedia Program at Portland State University. He has written articles about Dreamweaver and the Web for Macworld magazine, CreativePro.com, and MX Developer's Journal.

Reviews

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, but very much oriented toward beginners with no programming experience at all.

I would really like to be able to find a Javascript/jQuery book aimed at experienced programmers who are just getting started in web programming (the js/jq equivalent to Mark Pilgrim's excellent Dive Into Python, or Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional by Magnus Lie Hetland.

The closest I've found is JavaScript: The Definitive Guide: The Definitive Guide, but it doesn't cover jQuery, and neither, in my opinion, does jQuery's own site do a very good job.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on learning jQuery. Highly recommended. Also includes an excellent primer on Javascript. Exactly what the novice and advanced javascript developer needs to develop jQuery applications. I had an app up and running within a couple of days of reading this material.

[Anon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful & well-written

[Bryan Higgs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a need to add a tiny amount of JavaScript to a website, and it became evident that using jQuery would be the right approach -- it makes using JavaScript so much easier! But, while I had some knowledge of JavaScript, I was rather rusty, and I did not know jQuery much. So, I looked in my library of computing books, and found this one, which I had not yet read. Reading it was far more of a background than I needed for this task, but I decided that it was time I learned a little more about JavaScript, and especially jQuery.
This book is an interesting amalgam of elementary topics and more advanced topics. I found the elementary topics to be a good refresher, and the more advanced topics very useful. I have years of experience as a software engineer, and so I had no difficulty with any of the topics. I didn't follow along with the hands-on exercises because my goal was rather short term; if I were advising others, I'd strongly recommend doing those hands-on step-by-step exercises, because I'm a believer in learning by doing.
I'm not sure whether a beginner would get overwhelmed after a while going through this book. But I think it is a very good start; perhaps a beginner would learn in chunks, getting comfortable at each stage by playing with JavaScript and jQuery, and then returning to continue through the book.

I think this is a very good book, and don't know of many others that do as good a job. In particular, this book concentrates on jQuery quickly, and avoids the many arid side roads in JavaScript. In many ways, jQuery does a lot to fix the many problems of JavaScript, not the least of which is a lot of complex areas that are not particularly necessary to learn in order to proceed. There are many JavaScript books that tend towards the encyclopedic and lots of reference material, but they tend to obscure those areas which are most useful to learn.

[Doug Farren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book so I could learn about jQuery -- it did not let me down! There is a difference between learning and knowing. This book teaches both. The reader learns through the detailed text and then gets to know the subject better by doing the tutorials. After following the tutorials, the reader should play around with the code to help solidify the knowledge.

If you want to learn a new programming language or learn about a program you have been using but know it can do far more than you've been using it for, turn to "The Missing Manual" series. You won't be disappointed.

[Delante Bess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly for super beginners with no programming experience at all, so this book was not targeted for me. However, I would say, that if someone is learning JavaScript/jQuery for the first time, this is not a bad place to start.

[Book · Rating 4 out of 5]

"JavaScript and jQuery: The Missing Manual" by David Sawyer McFarland is another JavaScript book on the market, trying to introduce reader to jQuery but also explaining some more difficult concepts in process.

This is book second edition, since previous edition jQuery was added in its title, but was renamed due to customer complaints about the contents which mainly focus on jQuery. That is perhaps the biggest drawback of the book because JavaScript and jQuery are both extensive areas and maybe it would be better to dedicate a separate book to each topic.

McFarland writes with excellence, readers will be presented with lot of information about JavaScript and jQuery, although JavaScript part is trimmed down (such as regular expression - regex - in the chapter "Going Forward with JavaScript) but instead lot of concepts are introduced including AJAX. Reader will be introduced to the basics of jQuery and after completing the book will be able to create a several transitions and targeting elements.

For readers accustomed to McFarland's writing (e.g. CSS: The Missing Manual book), the same approach was used for writing and tutorials. McFarland is skillful writer, able to communicate most of the points clearly. Author introduces some jQuery plugins giving practical examples for those who are new in this field.

This manual would be best suited for people already familiar with JavaScript and want some jQuery practical programming examples. It will give reader good introduction to JavaScript and jQuery but because both topics are so extensive it wasn't possible to go so much in the details.

[Cliff Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming from server-side and database programming, Javascript always seemed very confusing and non-intuitive to me. I cannot count the number of times I ended up just copying and pasting after googling. But this approach is pretty inefficient in the long run, since if you have no idea what the code is doing it is very difficult (if not impossible) to modify it to suit your specific needs. Enter "Javascript & jQuery: The Missing Manual". In less than two days I have been able to learn to create effects that would have taken weeks or months to learn using any of the other books I have tried. The key - as the author points out several times - is the awesome simplicity and straightforwardness of the jQuery library. In fact, writing jQuery barely even feels like writing Javascript at all! If you are familiar with CSS the book will be that much easier, since jQuery actually utilizes the same selectors as CSS to operate on elements. If not, a book like Learn CSS with w3Schools will quickly get you up to speed. Other than knowing some basic CSS you will need little else, since the author systematically avoids jargon (supplementing any he cannot avoid with down-to-earth explanations) as well as gives brief refreshers on HTML and Javascript prior to diving into jQuery. Basically all you need is a text editor and a web browser and you're good to go. I highly recommend you try this book! About 25% into it you'll be glad you did.

[Kris Jou · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a few jQuery books and documentation, and found this to be its best jumping-on point, at least for jQuery (it skimps on JavaScript, since jQuery replaces it for many standard web applications, but keep that in mind). In fact, I'm on my second-read and am finding it even better than the first. Accessible without compromising its complexity, this book provides detailed explanation and concise tutorial for performing basic and few advanced jQuery applications. I liked this a lot more than Sitepoint's jQuery: Novice to Ninja, or wading through countless contradictory information from jQuery's documentation page. Not that the latter is unnecessary, as you'll spend hours familiarising it, but this book will give beginners a solid grasp of jQuery's basic concept.

[Decklyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

a one time read cursory overview of client side technology. it succeeds in its goal of introducing not only jquery but CSS and Dom manipulation in general. if you are in the position where you want to learn these technologies with little front end background this will be a fine choice but if you are looking for a jquery in depth reference you'll probably want something else. not a bad read for a server side guy but I won't revisit it after getting a handle on the basics of front end with this book.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is ok, however I am almost on page 200 and still have yet to figure out how to implement this into my code. It's explanations are alright but still somewhat disorganized. EVERY time i complete one of the tutorials there is a new line of code they don't explain. They then tell you there will be an additional explanation of this portion of code after another 100 pages or so. completely frustrating. If I had any prior knowledge of JavaScript I'm sure it would make more sense.

[Mark Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

After previously working with JavaScript I moved away from hands on programming, but a new role brought me back into a role of overseeing a team of developers and the quality of their work. The software I was working on used jQuery, so I used this book to learn about jQuery as I prefer books as a method of learning instead of reading websites, mainly because books are more structured and considered and also because I can take my book anywhere with me.

[Third Eye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for beginners with little programming experience. Since I am an experienced programmer who is dabbling in web scripting, the book was a bit too light for me. However the examples cover most of the popular usecases such as form validation, tooltips, image rollovers and ajax. I definitely learned a lot about jQuery, CSS and HTML.

[Kraig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not to shabby. The focus of this one is definitely more on the jQuery side of things. This can be both good and bad. It's great given that jQuery can do most everything you could ever need but it's not so great if you really want to learn javascript to do the few things that jQuery does not. Combine this book with a good javascript book and you got it made.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Providing an entry-level introduction to JavaScript and JQuery, author managed to explain things easily but without oversimplification. It is not very typical for a tutorial book to be both thorough and well-written, but this one is a wonderful exception. I can recommend it to anyone who wants to become familiar with contemporary approaches to building Web sites.

[Emelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a life-saver when I started web development. At the time, I had very little programming experience and the coding help I received from co-workers was well-intentioned but full of assumptions and jargon. This "missing manual" filled in the gaps from knowledge my mentors took for granted.

[cloudsniffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read. It would be definitely good for people who had no contact with functional or oop. Otherwise you may skim through the first half of the book and concentrate on specific characteristic of javascript. The second part about jQuery (with which I had almost no contact with beforehand) was much better versed for someone with previous programming experience.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to understand. Covers the basics. Mostly Jquery and compared to the other book of Javascript I tried reading; Jquery is exceptionally easy. Half ways through the book, you might fight the urge to stop reading it because of the easy syntax but definitely worth stick to it. Would definitely recommend it to boost your web development career while trying to master Javascript.

[Andrew Klem · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. That really sums it up. I'd say I'll remember about 20% of this unless I continue to study JavaScript & JQuery (which I will). Not particularly exciting. Just a meh instructional manual, but I did learn quite a bit.

[Johnwark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introductory combined Javascript and jQuery book. Great for beginning Javascript programmers. We are using it as a textbook in a coding bootcamp program and the students are finding the book very usable and understandable. Good coding tutorials.

[Rahmanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first javascript book and it's really good. All parts of the material is explained very clear and structured. However some parts is a bit out to date. If you're a beginner on javascript this book is helpful enough to company you on your learning.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Intro to Javascript & Jquery for non-programmers.

[TSStechAngel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a good starter book but if you want to learn more don't use this as your only resource. :)

[Jon Steege · Rating 4 out of 5]

probably the best and most comprehensive jquery book i have read

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, but contains some frustrating errors which can affect how you write your code. This can be confusing for beginners, and difficult to spot or explain for veterans.

[Delhi Irc]

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[Elizabeth Hatleli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and plenty of easy to follow examples.