Amazon.co.uk
A programming cookbook is usually a collection of small (but perfectly formed and debugged) components you can mix and match to create your own applications. By this definition,
Javascript Application Cookbook is a misnomer. This is actually a collection of 11 completely worked-out client-side Javascript applications including a search engine, Web based tests, slideshow, simple ciphers, shopping cart and so on--all useful stuff.
It assumes the reader has a good grounding in Javascript--certainly enough to follow the code. The explanations that follow each application are mainly high-level overviews of the operation of the component parts of each application.
If you want to learn Javascript, you might be better off with a book on the Javascript language and a standard reference on programming algorithms. Jerry Bradenhaugh clearly knows his stuff, however, and if you need a lot of examples showing effective ways to construct large client-side Javascript applications then the Javascript Application Cookbook will be useful. --Steve Patient
Amazon.com
Seasoned Java coders will find the
JavaScript Application Cookbook compiled just for them. Written in the same vein as the old-style programmer "toolbox" titles, this book sheds the usual tutorial presentation and simply introduces a series of JavaScript applications you can use on your own sites.
The cookbook begins with recipes such as a client-side search engine application that facilitates complex database searching to maximize local processing. (An interactive multiple-choice testing application follows, along with code for an interface to multiple search engines on the Net). Other applications include a JavaScript shopping cart, context-sensitive help, cipher implementation, drag-and-drop-capable e-mail, and a cookie-based user-management system.
Author Jerry Bradenbaugh clearly has a passion for JavaScript, and he illustrates the capabilities of this modest scripting language. The code for the book's applications is available from the publisher's Web site, and each chapter begins with a step-by-step walk-through of the finished application. You'll learn how code works and get ideas for possible extensions you might want to create. If you're programming in JavaScript already and want to grow your arsenal of tools and techniques, the JavaScript Application Cookbook is an immediate code fix. --Stephen W. Plain
