Robert Smith said
I'm not about to chuck the entire textbook out, but I have to say that there were times when I was unable to proceed because of gaps in explanation that I couldn't bridge. In a classroom, this might have been solvable, but I was taking an on-line course ("distance learning") via a community college, and obtaining clarification of certain points was just not in the cards.
My real gripe with this book is the modeling of code. Sometimes this is done three times. One example of what we write would be enough, and would allow the book to display the type large enough to be read. I'm well over 40, and my eyes don't accommodate as they did when I was 22. To try to proofread what I've written as it's displayed on a monitor and then struggle with 6-point or 8-point type which sometimes is sitting on top of a gray background is onerous. I wear continuous-prescription glasses, but substitute single-prescription for computer work, but I find myself having to lower them and squint at the text, and then pull them up to look at the screen. There's no excuse for instructing students to enter code they can barely read. That is aggravating beyond all point of forgiveness.
Andrew Kolas said
As others have already stated, this is not a very good book. In fact, it's worse than that. It's bad. Very bad. This book has a relentless tendency to skip over critical information during tutorials, thus making the case problems almost impossible for a newcomer to JavaScript to accomplish. This is made even worse by the fact that the author has a nasty habit of expecting you to magically figure out how to do more advanced coding than they actually go over in the tutorials As if that's not enough, some of the code used for the tutorials, even when copied EXACTLY as shown in the examples, doesn't even work! (And no, this is not a web browser issue). Did they even proof read this thing?
Hands down, this is the worst textbook I've ever had to use for a college course. Be prepared to get lots of help from other students, your teacher, online, and whatever resources you can get your hands on, because this book is a joke, and trying to learn much from it will leave you as frustrated as you can imagine. What an epic piece of fail.
C. Barrois said
This is by far the most horrid book! The tutorials and case studies have nothing to do with each other! You really cannot learn anything from this book at all. The organization of this book is bad period. Not for beginners at all. I will have to drop my javascript class because I'm learning nothing! Do yourself a favor and buy the teachers edition!
L. Brewer said
Similar to other reviews my entire JavaScript class is two weeks behind trying to get a understanding of this material. The tutorials are great! But the case studies personally make me want to stick a fork in my eye and twist it. The way its worded, they want you to grab code out of thin air expecting you to understand everything in that overly simplified review/tutorial.
I think teachers like this book because they are NOT looking at it from the view of the students and already know the code; or they wouldn't be teaching it. Of course they think its a great book they already understand the material.
The book does not get any better as the chapters go on. I cant even complete the case studies; the teacher has to walk us through every class period with little time left over for lab work.... My advice to teachers, do a bit more hands on training and DO NOT rely on a book; Especially this one.
Jennie DiMercurio said
Myself and 10 other students in my Javascript class all agree and have announced to the instructor that this book is horrible. Also, 3 people just dropped the class because no one is understanding or learning anything. This is our first javascript class and this book is no where near intro or basic. It says it's comprehensive.
Not only that, but the tutorials they try to show you throughout the book have nothing to do with the case assignments after each tutorial. You basically have to do your own internet research to get the code, but that still is a little difficult.
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