Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja: John Resig, Bear Bibeault: 9781933988696: Amazon.com: Books

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Summary

Secrets of the Javascript Ninja takes you on a journey towards mastering modern JavaScript development in three phases: design, construction, and maintenance. Written for JavaScript developers with intermediate-level skills, this book will give you the knowledge you need to create a cross-browser JavaScript library from the ground up.

About this Book

You can't always attack software head-on. Sometimes youcome at it sideways or sneak up from behind. You need tomaster an arsenal of tools and know every stealthy trick.You have to be a ninja.

Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja leads you down the pathway toJavaScript enlightenment. This unique book starts with keyconcepts, like the relationships between functions, objects, andclosures, taught from the master's perspective. You'll grow fromapprentice to ninja as you soak up fresh insights on the techniquesyou use every day and discover features and capabilities you neverknew about. When you reach the final chapters, you'll be ready tocode brilliant JavaScript applications and maybe even write yourown libraries and frameworks.

You don't have to be a ninja to read this book—just be willing tobecome one. Are you ready?

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

Functions, objects, closures, regular expressions, and more
Seeing applications and libraries from the right perspective
Dealing with the complexities of cross-browser development
Modern JavaScript design

About the Authors

John Resig is an acknowledged JavaScript authority and the creatorof the jQuery library. Bear Bibeault is a web developer and coauthorof Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, and jQueryin Action from Manning.

Table of Contents

PART 1 PREPARING FOR TRAINING
Enter the ninja
Arming with testing and debugging
PART 2 APPRENTICE TRAINING
Functions are fundamental
Wielding functions
Closing in on closures
Object-orientation with prototypes
Wrangling regular expressions
Taming threads and timers
PART 3 NINJA TRAINING
Ninja alchemy: runtime code evaluation
With statements
Developing cross-browser strategies
Cutting through attributes, properties, and CSS
PART 4 MASTER TRAINING
Surviving events
Manipulating the DOM
CSS selector engines

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About the Author

John Resig is the Dean of Open Source and head of JavaScript development at Khan Academy and the author of the book Pro JavaScript Techniques. He's also the creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library.

Bear Bibeault has been working in the area of web applications since the mid-nineties, getting started with beta versions of JSP and Servlets. He is a senior moderator at the popular JavaRanch site, and has contributed articles to the JavaRanch Journal as well as Dr Dobb's Journal online. He is a co-author of several Manning books including Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, jQuery in Action, and jQuery in Action, Second Edition. He works and resides in Austin, Texas.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Manning
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 17, 2013
Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 193398869X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1933988696
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.38 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #463,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #59 in Java Programming
- #84 in JavaScript Programming (Books)
- #288 in Computer Programming Languages

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138 ratings

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John Resig
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John Resig is the Dean of Open Source and head of JavaScript development at Khan Academy and the author of the book Pro JavaScript Techniques. He’s also the creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library.
Currently, John is located in Boston, MA. He’s hard at work on his second book, Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja.
See more on the author's page
Bear Bibeault
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Bear Bibeault has been writing software for over four decades, starting with a Tic-Tac-Toe program written on a Control Data Cyber supercomputer via a 100-baud teletype. Because he has two degrees in Electrical Engineering, Bear should be probably designing antennas or something like that, but since his first job with Digital Equipment Corporation, he has always been much more fascinated with programming.
Bear has also served stints with companies such as Dragon Systems, Works.com, Logitech, and even served in the U. S. Military teaching infantry soldiers how to blow things up; the latter teaching him skills crucial for working in Agile software teams.
In addition to his day job, Bear also writes books (who knew?), runs a small business that creates web applications and offers other media services (but not wedding videography, never wedding videography), and helps to moderate CodeRanch.com as a "marshal" (senior moderator).
When not planted in front of a computer, Bear likes to cook big food (which accounts for his jeans size), dabble in photography and video editing, ride his Yamaha V-Star, and wear tropical print shirts.
He works and resides near Austin, TX.
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Customers find the book invaluable for learning critical JavaScript features and appreciate how it clearly explains the language. Moreover, the book provides excellent insights, with one customer highlighting its great understanding of functions, and another noting its thorough coverage of closures and prototypes. However, customers disagree on the readability, with some finding it easy to understand while others consider it difficult to read.

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Language knowledge Knowledge Closure power Readability

31 customers mention "Language knowledge"28 positive3 negative

Customers appreciate the book's language knowledge, as it provides clear explanations of JavaScript's core features and examples that are well-explained. One customer notes it offers a solid understanding of the language.

"...more than 8 years, this is one of the most usable and skill developer books about JavaScript that I have ever seen...." Read more

"...is heavily concentrated on explaining why JavaScript is a functional programming language and how that can be used by the developer...." Read more

"...most other web development books, primarily because it considers JS as a full fledge language which is the correct approach to explain javascript...." Read more

"...examples from libaries like jQuery or Prototype, and the examples are explained very well...." Read more

11 customers mention "Knowledge"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book extremely useful, with one customer noting it provides great insight into the working of functions.

"...developer and instructor for more than 8 years, this is one of the most usable and skill developer books about JavaScript that I have ever seen...." Read more

"...for a relatively new javascript programmer, this book is excellent in catching concepts that are ignored in most other web development books,..." Read more

"This book gives great insight into the working of functions and closures in Javascript...." Read more

"...The subtleties and nuances of closures and function based capability are carefully and clearly explained with lots of examples that you can run and..." Read more

4 customers mention "Closure power"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's coverage of closures and prototypes, with one customer highlighting its detailed explanation of the subtleties and nuances of closures.

"...The subtleties and nuances of closures and function based capability are carefully and clearly explained with lots of examples that you can run and..." Read more

"...I feel I finally understand closures and prototypes." Read more

"...depth details of functions, as well as the prototype chain, immediate functions closures, and more...." Read more

"It is eye opening. The technic employed in the book reveal the power of closure and function as first citizen...." Read more

13 customers mention "Readability"7 positive6 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it easy to understand while others describe it as difficult to read and wordy.

"...it considers JS as a full fledge language which is the correct approach to explain javascript...." Read more

"...about the 'Regular Expressions' chapter, in my opinion it is not written very clear and can be confusing, but it is fer to say that the authors are..." Read more

"...of closures and function based capability are carefully and clearly explained with lots of examples that you can run and explore...." Read more

"...(but JS is a poorly conceived language so these slip ups are pretty common among programmers)..." Read more

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Ben
Real-world JavaScript in use, not old school's "Hello World".
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

(Must READ) Book for every new and experienced web designer/developer. As an experienced full-stack web developer and instructor for more than 8 years, this is one of the most usable and skill developer books about JavaScript that I have ever seen. You should have previous exposure to JavaScript/CSS/HTML and some Ajax concepts and if you have Back-end technology on hand as well, it will help you to get the most out of the concepts covered in this book. I love the flow of information, relevant and clean code examples and explanations.

There is no escape from learning advanced JavaScript techniques and tools unless you decide to work as anything else but not Web industry expert. Forget about everything you knew about JavaScript since 10 years ago, This programming language has been changed a lot and is not a simple-to-ignore technology anymore. If you are a serious web expert (or want to be), use quality materials available in the market.This book is one of them without any doubt.

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Igor
Explaning why JavaScript is functional language
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book is heavily concentrated on explaining why JavaScript is a functional programming language and how that can be used by the developer. The half of the book is dedicated to JavaScript functions, there is everything you will need to know about JavaScript functions: anonymous functions, recursions, inline named function ans so on.

The other half of the book explains everything that you will need to develop well structured JavaScript code.

The only remark I have for this book is about the 'Regular Expressions' chapter, in my opinion it is not written very clear and can be confusing, but it is fer to say that the authors are suggesting additional literature for getting familiar with regular expressions.

Big plus is that all the source code form the book examples is very well structured and packed in zip file that enables you to quickly try the examples on computer.

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7 people found this helpful

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Just another guy in IT
Awesome book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I am still reading the book and I have to say that so far I have enjoyed it. Even for a relatively new javascript programmer, this book is excellent in catching concepts that are ignored in most other web development books, primarily because it considers JS as a full fledge language which is the correct approach to explain javascript. That being said, a mastery of any object oriented programming language such as Java definitely helps to grasp the concepts explained in this book.

Its a good buy, and I highly recommend it. Appreciate the author's sense of humor every once in a while - its like a team member actually explaining stuff to you during code reviews :)

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Misja Alma
Good reading for the hardcore Javascript hacker
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book gives great insight into the working of functions and closures in Javascript.
What is nice is that every bit of theory is accompanied with some code examples from libaries like jQuery or Prototype, and the examples are explained very well.

One minor negative point is that there are also a lot of pages in the book which are dedicated to deprecated statements like 'eval' and 'with'. It's nice to know how they work, but you shouldn't use them anyway so an entire chapter for each of them seems like too much attention.

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Rahul
best ever
Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I am on page 45 (of 390+) and was compelled to write this review because of how much new information I have learnt already. More in the first 45 pages than most books. I already feel like I could write my own JavaScript testing framework. If you want to be a "Javascript Ninja" please read this book. Most programming book's first two chapters are a waste of trees especially if you are already a programmer, but not here. This is clearly a book for experts by someone who obviously is a very good teacher!

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C. Kollars
would have been cutting-edge several years ago...
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
One respect where the title is accurate in that this book is about coding Javascript directly, _not_ about coding to the interface of any library (like jQuery) that rides on top of Javascript. I found the explanations of "closures", of _exactly_ what it means for functions to be "first-class objects", and of function names and anonymous functions, very enlightening ...perhaps the best parts of the book.

I was somewhat hoping for a whole lot of nuggets for improving the conciseness and clarity and performance of my coding style, perhaps showing how best to take advantage of the structure of the language, or how best to code recurring structures such as looping.. But that isn't the focus of the book. A few gems are indeed spun off in the process of covering other topics, but there aren't oodles of them.

Disagreement with other Javascript luminaries, and with the direction of Javascript standards development, is often ignored or underplayed or muted. Although there is obvious potential for disagreement, controversy is definitely not the book's zeitgeist.

The book largely skirts the issue of Javascript being more "object oriented". There's a clear statement that at root Javascript is _not_ object-oriented, and a strong hint this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Also, some simple tricks for making Javascript _seem_ much more object-oriented than it appears at first glance are presented briefly in scattered locations. But there the coverage ends, without any theoretical underpinning nor in-depth discussion nor even any strong opinions.

Although two authors are listed, this is basically John Resig's book. A very few paragraphs did hint at tag-team authoring. But I suspect (but don't know for sure:-) mostly the publisher added the second author in exasperation over finally getting the book finished and out after almost five years.

The book isn't real clear just who its audience is: maintenance coders? creators of libraries? language nerds? The good thing about this ambiguity is the topics covered range more widely than expected.

Much of the second half of the book is various nitty-gritty details about coding around all the cross-browser and language-version and interpreter-implementation issues one runs into. Specific examples of the various quirks and workarounds were sometimes so bizarre it was clear there'd be little chance of an individual ever solving them. My overall takeaway from the second half of the book was that in almost all cases one should code to some sort of covering library (like jQuery) that handles all the quirks in a transparent way, rather than to Javascript directly. (I also picked up the suggestion Javascript would be easier in some future where IE6/IE7/IE8/IE9 have only insignificant market share.)

(Readers from different backgrounds will of course see the book very differently, so let me describe my own background: I'm a retired programmer who professionally used other languages exclusively and whose only acquaintance with Javascript comes from home use. I do have extensive experience with the related C though; for example I'm quite comfortable with and routinely use the difference between pre-increment and post-increment. I'm not a computer language nerd, nor even someone with a relatively good coding style overall. On the other hand, I was already fairly comfortable with some of the more obscure details of various Javascript implementations.)

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Shardul
The Good Parts" and you'd have covered all possible language features ...
Reviewed in India on June 4, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Sure shot way to go from novice to ninja ! Enjoying every moment with it ! Supplement this book with Douglas Crockford's "JavaScript, The Good Parts" and you'd have covered all possible language features of the language.

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Juzan
Un régale
Reviewed in France on March 30, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Pour tout ceux qui veulent en savoir plus sur ce langage qui peut être le meilleur ami du dev web (comme son pire cauchemar:))

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Félix
Very good book to clarify concepts
Reviewed in Spain on April 29, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Not a book for begginers, you can read it to became a JavaScript ninja. Not so hard, you don't need to be a JavaScript advanced programmer to understand it.

But if you are an high skill programmer, you can read it to clarify and order concepts.

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Christian Del Bianco
Very good book
Reviewed in Italy on March 16, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It is a great javascript book. Is not for beginner.
It is a deep tour on closure, JS object and inheritance.
It is well written and with clear examples.
It is he best book I have ever read on JS.

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Huw Jeffries
Excellent coverage of Javascript
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This book provides a great intermediate to advanced coverage of Javascript. (I don't recommend it for absolute beginners). I've also read "Javascript the good parts" by Douglas Crockford, which good but quite short and made the reader work hard to fill in the gaps / understand the examples. Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja is much easier reading and covers the material at a more leisurely pace.

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Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja First Edition

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PART 1 PREPARING FOR TRAINING

PART 2 APPRENTICE TRAINING

PART 3 NINJA TRAINING

PART 4 MASTER TRAINING

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Bear Bibeault

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Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Real-world JavaScript in use, not old school's "Hello World".

5.0 out of 5 stars Explaning why JavaScript is functional language

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book!

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reading for the hardcore Javascript hacker

5.0 out of 5 stars best ever

3.0 out of 5 stars would have been cutting-edge several years ago...

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars The Good Parts" and you'd have covered all possible language features ...

5.0 out of 5 stars Un régale

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book to clarify concepts

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent coverage of Javascript

Real-world JavaScript in use, not old school's "Hello World".

Explaning why JavaScript is functional language

Awesome book!

Good reading for the hardcore Javascript hacker

best ever

would have been cutting-edge several years ago...

The Good Parts" and you'd have covered all possible language features ...

Un régale

Very good book to clarify concepts

Very good book

Excellent coverage of Javascript