Reader reviews

I got a lot out of this, even if a few sections felt rushed.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with javascript.

Not quite what I expected from the description, but there is material here.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.