The JavaScript Anthology - it's out!

9 March 2006

35 comments

A Blue Perspective: The JavaScript Anthology - it's out!

It's a little weird looking at the one and a quarter inches of paper which represents nine months of your life ... weird but good. Definitely good.

After I handed over my final drafts it was pretty much hands off from me. So, two months later it's pretty exciting to hold the final product in my hands – 588 pages of carefully crafted references to Star Trek, Manchester United, and the Cookie Monster ... with a bit of JavaScript thrown in for good measure.

Sure, I have no idea why there's a jack-in-the-box on the front cover, but hey, it's memorable, isn't it? ;D

And this is the part where I'm meant to exhort you to go out and buy multiple copies for each of the rooms in your house, charge several to the company account, give it to your favourite pet, and take it as a conversation starter to your next yoga class. But I won't. That'd be tacky.

... All I'll say is, if you're in the market for the most complete question and answer book on JavaScript ... you know ... you could do worse :P

Quite a few people have asked whether I would do it again, and to this I give a guarded "yes". "Yes" I would gladly write another book; "no" I wouldn't write another JavaScript book. As much as I like it as a programming language, analysing its capabilties, intricacies and flaws day and night leaves the relationship a little strained.

OK, I'll revisit that statement in two year's time. (Or when the truckload of money arrives. Whichever comes first.)

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Comments

  1. 1/35

    David McDonald commented on 9 March 2006 @ 08:44

    Congratulations Cameron!

    If I was ever going to buy a book on Javascript, it would be this one. Looks not only very comprehensive, but it carries your inimitable style and humour though it.

    I would be interested to know more about the intiricies and flaws that you mention Javascript has. Is this explained in the book, or a subject for a future blog post?

  2. 2/35

    mattymcg commented on 9 March 2006 @ 08:46

    Congrats Cam!!

  3. 3/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 08:53

    David: quite possibly a subject for a (very long) future blog post!

    I will say that one of JavaScript's (or the DOM's) downfalls is its lack of documentation for advanced features, like text ranges, editable areas, etc. This book combats that with a fair bit of research we did into solving these particular problems.

  4. 4/35

    Nate Koechley commented on 9 March 2006 @ 08:59

    Well done Cameron, must feel great to have it out there finally.

    Confused though, Amazon says it's been out since 2005/12/01?
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975240269/ ...

  5. 5/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:07

    Ummmm ... yeah ... we published a bit late :D

  6. 6/35

    Lachlan Hardy commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:15

    About time! I mean, I've been waiting for a redesign here for years... Looks good, and so very Web 2.0

    Is this for the sake of the book or for SXSW?

    Oh, and your book is out too. ;) That's nice. I'll go charge a couple thousand copies to the company account as soon as I can get past the dragon who guards the credit card details

    But seriously, mate, well done! Maybe I'll finally get my act together and start learning some of this stuff now

    Bravo, I say

  7. 7/35

    Lachlan Hardy commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:16

    Oh, and I meant to say...

    Maybe it is A JAX-in-a-box?

  8. 8/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:19

    That's brilliant Lach, you get my only free copy!

  9. 9/35

    Nate Koechley commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:22

    Great. Thanks for clarifying. I just wanted to confirm I was ordering the right edition. Congrats again.

  10. 10/35

    Simon Mackie commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:48

    Congratulations Cam. Of course, I am a little biased, but I think it's a fantastic book :-)

  11. 11/35

    The Other Cam commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:48

    Nice work by you. My contribution to the truckload of money is forthcoming.

  12. 12/35

    Lachlan Hardy commented on 9 March 2006 @ 09:50

    Now, Cam, we've already discussed what you're to do with that free copy!

  13. 13/35

    Maxine Sherrin commented on 9 March 2006 @ 10:21

    Well done Cam. Now that you've gone all "Jeffrey-Archer-esque" on us, the first drinks in Austin are on you. Actually, rethinking that, why not at the airport tomorrow morning?

  14. 14/35

    Andrew K. commented on 9 March 2006 @ 10:35

    what the? Where did the Web 2.0MG-rounded-corners-and-drop-shadows design come from? So shiny ;)

    Book ordered. Now I finally get to read Jame's dreaded <em>Chapter 16</em>.

    I'm sure this will be a great read; especially with your "javascript jedi in 30 days or your money back" guarentee.
    Very gentlemanly of you, Cam.

  15. 15/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 10:39

    Nononono, the guarantee specifically says:

    "JavaScript PADAWAN in 30 days or your money back"

  16. 16/35

    Andrew K. commented on 9 March 2006 @ 10:48

    @Cam: "This isn't the loophole you're looking for"
    /me waves hand horizontally in front of Cam's eyes

  17. 17/35

    Priscilla commented on 9 March 2006 @ 11:09

    Well done, you must be relieved it's all over, when's the launch party?

  18. 18/35

    David McDonald commented on 9 March 2006 @ 11:47

    Yes, the launch party ..hmmm? :-)

    So who's going to SXSW? You lucky buggers ...

  19. 19/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 12:29

    Launch party? Hmmmm ... I'll have to think of something suitably geeky but debaucherous.

    In the meantime -- to South by South West!

  20. 20/35

    Lindsay Evans commented on 9 March 2006 @ 15:02

    Yay! Finally!

    Good work Cam, ordering my copy now :)

  21. 21/35

    coda commented on 9 March 2006 @ 21:27

    Well done Cameron, and a truly fantastic redesign you have here!

  22. 22/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 9 March 2006 @ 23:41

    Thanks Damien. Still a few holes I have to patch on the re-design. I was up all hours trying to remember my Perl and improve all the back end stuff.

  23. 23/35

    Ryan Brooks commented on 10 March 2006 @ 01:21

    Digg digg digg digg digg digg digg.

    Digg digg digg.

    Digg digg digg.

    Digg digg digg digg digg digg digg digg, digg digg digg digg DIIIIIIGG

  24. 24/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 10 March 2006 @ 01:32

    You can't have dig without dug:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_Dug

  25. 25/35

    Ryan Brooks commented on 10 March 2006 @ 01:34

    Ooooh, the memories!

  26. 26/35

    Bob commented on 10 March 2006 @ 18:00

    has anyone read the book already, love some reviews

  27. 27/35

    Anand commented on 11 March 2006 @ 08:53

    This looks really great. Just out of curiosity, is this book solely questions and answers or does it also have basic explanations?

    Basically, would it be a good start for someone who doesn't know javascript or is it more for those who already know syntax, etc..?

  28. 28/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 11 March 2006 @ 09:35

    It does have basic explanations of variables, data types, etc. but we don't go into absolute basic programming principles like if statements and for loops.

    For further info see the sample TOC further down this page:

    http://www.sitepoint.com/launch/271e727/3/49

  29. 29/35

    Andrija commented on 12 March 2006 @ 10:47

    dis is nice very nice site great jub , only thi page have problem in IE6 on smoler window content page go behind a sidebar

  30. 30/35

    Robert commented on 12 March 2006 @ 12:24

    Congratulations. That is a real achievement Cameron.

    I like the site update. The background image is a touch too narrow for 1920x1200 though.

  31. 31/35

    Ben Buchanan commented on 13 March 2006 @ 11:59

    Congrats, man! :)

  32. 32/35

    kartooner commented on 13 March 2006 @ 15:43

    Looks super cool and yet I don't know a thing about Javascript. Nonetheless, I'll be snatching it to add to my expanding library of books.

    So, if you were to write another book, what would it be?

  33. 33/35

    Rune commented on 15 March 2006 @ 04:46

    Congrats! Excited to check it out!

  34. 34/35

    tygossman commented on 21 March 2006 @ 12:00

    Hey yeah... congrat's Cam... I was so busy bugging you in the outset before your book was released, that I neglected to bug you in the ...er inset. The book is currently 5-star rated, and in the Top 10 at Amazon.com.
    Besides a CSS title I'm looking at CSS Mastery, yours would be my #2 pick then.
    I hope you have a spare room for all a them big author buck's that'll be rolling in anyday.
    Seriously great work, the site never looked better either. I send peopel to your web form's templates all the time.

  35. 35/35

    The Man in Blue commented on 21 March 2006 @ 12:15

    Thanks Ty. While I'm away from home I'm getting builders to construct a money pit -- Scrooge McDuck-style -- so I can swim through the mega-bucks from my book :P

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