Programming Javascript for Netscape 2.0
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Average Customer Rating: 2Customer Rating: 2
Summary: Half of This Book is Devoted to Java INSTEAD of Javascript!
Comment: I found this book disappointing. Fully one half of the book deals with Java instead of Javascript. The two languages, while somewhat similiar (like perl is similiar to C), are vastly different in implementation and structure. Javascript, along with its cousin, Java, has been around for sometime. However, usage of it by anyone other than its creator, Sun MicroSystems, languished until Microsoft announced it would include recognition of the languages in its browser. (Netscape has already incorporated this feature, obviously.) A media blitz ensued, and everyone is trying out Java and Javascript. The book was obviously rushed to the press as soon as humanly possible to take advantage of the novelty of the new language (as well as the head-line grabbing battle over Internet browser standards between Netscape and Microsoft). As many people are discovering, depending on Java applets in Web pages, given current internet demographics, is a poor choice, since a 32-bit O/S (Windows 95/NT, Macintosh, Unix) is required for the applets to run. Javascript does not have this restriction, making it immediately usable. Unlike other scripting languages currently used on the web, there is only one platform to write for, since the script is implemented by the browser (Netscape, and soon Internet Explorer) and runs on the viewer's computer. My specific gripes about this book: there were NO Javascripts on in the included CD, the language itself was not fully explored: class structures were given but the contents of the classes were nowhere to be found. (For instance, reading/and writing to server files was not even covered, and libraries not expanded.) When I buy a book about one subject, I don't want to know about another not even mentioned in the title page. But the real bottom line is this: I think understanding how to program a language should be a prerequisite to writing a book about it.