Crockford is one of the world's leading JavaScript experts. In this slim volume, he explores the features of the core language, both the good parts and the warts.
JavaScript has been redeemed since 2005 with the explosive proliferation of Ajax websites. Long regarded as a toy language, suitable for little more than generating popups, we have come to learn that in the hands of experts like John Resig (of jQuery fame), JavaScript can be a powerful, expressive language. Anonymous functions, duck typing, and dynamic objects are all good stuff.
Crockford gives a particularly good explanation of the confusing topic of prototypical inheritance and how objects and functions are intertwined in the language. He also discusses the parts that should be avoided in the language, which are mostly due to JavaScript's premature birth, when Netscape rushed it to market. He avoids discussion of the barely standardized mess that is the DOM.
I would have liked some longer examples, tying his themes together.
Recommended.
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Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway.
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