Book Review: JavaScript Enlightenment

JavaScript Enlightenment by Cody Lindley is billed as being targeted toward developers who are familiar with JavaScript at an advanced-beginner level or someone who’s only exposure to JavaScript is through a wrapper framework like jQuery.  Its goal is to provide the reader with the core fundamentals of JavaScript in order to allow you to later advance your JavaScript proficiency.  Considering myself to be at that level of understanding, I found this book to be appealing.

JavaScript Enlightenment

The book starts out by thoroughly exhausting the topic of JavaScript objects.  In fact, this topic alone takes up almost half the book, and it becomes apparent that it does so deservingly.  The book’s unique style of presentation is to introduce a tightly-scoped concept with a brief discussion and then show a related working sample.  After exhausting the topic of objects, the next topic it tackles is  functions.  Again, the author leaves no stone unturned while demonstrating how functions behave in JavaScript.  Everything from scope, to nesting, to recursion, to inheritance, and beyond is covered in this short book.

The book’s title could have easily been named, “JavaScript Fundamentals That You Absolutely Need to Know in Order to Become Better at JavaScript”.  JavaScript Enlightenment provides necessary core details and presents them in a way that feels like it is hammering them in to your brain.  I believe it does that because the concepts are broken down in to such minutely detailed segments with accompanying samples, that your mind never gets a chance to ‘drift’ from the lesson being taught.

Overall, once you get past the unique presentation style of the book and realize that you truly are learning the fundamental concepts necessary to advance in JavaScript, the book becomes easier to read.  Anyone who falls in to the intended audience (advanced-beginner level) should feel comfortable moving on to more advanced JavaScript topics like designs, patterns, and best practices after reading this book.  The end of the path for someone seeking enlightenment takes the seeker to a (hopefully) better state of mind and understanding, and that’s exactly what I feel JavaScript Enlightenment accomplishes.  Disclaimer Note: As a user group leader I requested a complimentary e-book copy from the publisher for this review; my review is true and I stand to make no monetary gain whatsoever from the sales of this book.

Tags: Book Review, JavaScript Filled Under: Programming Posted on: February 20, 2013