One of the most important aspects of any new language, be it spoken, written, or software-based, is the syntax and usage rules. This book, while advertised for the beginner and intermediate, skips over this most crucial aspect of learning javascript and delves immediately into example programming. I was on my third chapter, still waiting for the detailed discussion of javascript syntax before I realized that the two or so odd pages in chapter one was all I was going to get. I have spent hours trying to decipher their example code because I do not understand the fundamental constructs of the objects, methods, and event handlers. I am learning javascript, but mostly due to my existing knowledge of C and C++, not because of any teaching from this book. Short of copying the example code verbatim, I think most beginner and intermediate users will find that they do not have the understanding of javascript in which to solve unique problems on their web pages. If an exact example is not in the book, they will be unable to use their knowledge of javascript to deduce a solution. I found this book very disappointing, especially after really enjoying this "visual" approach in Elizabeth Castro's HTML for the World Wide Web. Advanced javascript users will undoubtedly pick up clever programming ideas from this book, but if you are actually trying to LEARN this language, you will be disappointed.
