Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition: A Modern Introduction to Programming

I have so many books and many books on JavaScript. This so far seems to be my favourite of the bunch. I have the paperback book (Which the binding came unglued almost immediately - only con on this book I have against it) and I have the eBook. I use the eBook the most sitting on my desktop next to my laptop and external keyboard/mouse and find I can learn from it easily. I've already learned so much about ES6+ (ECMAScript) not starting with only Vanilla and moving forward but intertwining the newer changes to the language with the old and showing along the way (whether on purpose or not) how to refactor the code so it is more concise using the new shortcuts implement into JavaScript over the last few years. And it builds on topics, gives test questions to rattle your mind a bit and you can tell it was written by someone with Industry inside experience. And one interesting thing I learned from it which the books pounds into you is you need to manage the fine line between shorter/less/cleaner code and efficiency. Sometimes if performance is in question slopppy and longer written out code might suit your needs better. It's a 5 star book. I've been waiting many months for this books to come out and it was worth the wait.

Have been trying for over a week to understand how to work with the Javascript event loop. Browsed multiple Web blogs, read the "authoritative" Javascript book from that O' "publisher" that no longer deserves the name, hacked away on my own for days without success. Just got this book, went straight to the "Handling Events" chapter, and 3 minutes later, my confusion was resolved. Not only that, but the chapter opened with a quick and easy overview of how events have been handled in the pre-Javascript era. I found this enlightening as it explained without fluff or pedantry why the Javascript event loop works the way it does. Haven't dived deep into the rest of the book yet, but a brief browse indicates that this book is quality from TOC to Index. Major kudos to the publisher for bright archival paper, black ink, correctly sized illustrations, excellent typography and correct font sizes. (Sadly, such aspects of basic book design can no longer be taken for granted.)

I am a JavaScript developer with a lot of real-world experience, but I lacked the ability to fundamentally rationalize and explain the "WHY" of decisions I was making. This was, of course, problematic when I was interviewing for a new job. I turned to books to get a more well-rounded understanding of the language I had been using for so long, and Eloquent JavaScript was one of the most helpful for me. Most everything you need is covered inside with code examples written in ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) syntax which is ideal for programmers working with modern web application frameworks. This book is available completely free from the publisher (Google search "Eloquent JavaScript"), but the physical copy is delightfully high quality. It is certainly worth your money. Maybe give the online version a look and, if you find the content good/helpful/whatever, consider purchasing the paperback. I would recommend this book for anyone who works with JavaScript. For a beginner, I would pair it with a book on programming fundamentals and get started coding literally anything.

I came for the JavaScript but stayed for the dry humor. A really decent resource for anyone just wanting to learn more about programming as a general topic but through the lense of JS. Very economical writing that rides a nice balance between beginner concepts and more complex ideas. I'm not advanced enough to pick apart any errors they made in their writing but it seems to be held in decently high regard by the computing community. The author also made a decent companion site with resources/answers for the practice lessons they give at the end of each chapter. They even included a little in-browser code editor to run the code examples you produce if you go through their practice lessons. Kind of nice if you just want to just play with his ideas a bit and not bother with firing up a whole IDE session on your computer.

First, let me note this review is for the third edition, and a fourth edition recently came out. The fourth edition covers recent updates to JavaScript (also known as ECMAScript). I would have bought the fourth edition had I realized it when I made the purchase, but recent JavaScript language updates have not been dramatic. After I finished the third edition, I was able to read about them in a few minutes online to supplement my knowledge. Second, this book’s subtitle is slightly inaccurate. It’s not really an introduction – that is, the entire book is not really aimed at newcomers to JavaScript. Some of the book is aimed at newbies, but other parts of the book are more appropriate for advanced coders. On the upside, Marijn Haverbeke always explains the language clearly with examples; it’s not terse in any sense. But new JavaScript programmers are more worried about getting things right rather than the details of the Internet’s HTTP engine, which has its own chapter. This book could be used as an introduction, but a guide would have to select certain chapters to use. Indeed, the publisher could separate this book into two, one as an introduction and the other for more experienced programmers. I ended up skimming through many chapters because I had already learned the content years ago. Similarly, I ended up slowing down in certain chapters to catch concepts and features that I didn’t know well. Unlike some of the longer books on JavaScript, this one does not aspire to be comprehensive, but in its effect, it covers a lot of ground. Both newcomers and more advanced programmers can benefit from having it on their shelves. Did it do the job? I think so. As a web programmer active since the late 1990s, I’m always trying to keep up with better ways folks have approached problems. This book taught me many things and expanded my mind past the type of problems I routinely encounter at work. Haverbeke includes several interesting projects in special chapters to help folks get their hands dirty. Newcomers might find some projects too advanced, but individual exercises at the end of chapters provide more succinct opportunities for them to test out new knowledge. Despite being two books sandwiched into one, I accomplished my aim of learning more about the modern JavaScript that started in 2015. I left smarter and dreaming of bigger things.

I had been looking for additional reference with regards to JavaScript for quite some time, but never felt appealed to a specific one until picking up a copy of this. It is very difficult to write a technical book in a fashion that is appropriate for all skill levels and Haverbeke manages to pull this off. The chapters are organized in a very logical fashion, his writing style is succinct and uses just the right kinds of analogies to help you understand concepts very thoroughly. The exercises are just the right degree of challenge and I'm glad to enrich my further learning of this language by reading his book.

I have experience with C and C++ and wanted to get up to speed with JavaScript. I spent time with several books, but Eloquent JavaScript was the most helpful. The organization is excellent and the project-based chapters were especially helpful in getting a feel for JavaScript.

Eloquent Javascript should be must read for every Javascript developer. It provides a solid introduction to the foundations of programming while teaching you modern Javascript. The content builds upon itself with each chapter referencing content from previous chapters. The exercises test your knowledge of the material and Haverbeke's writing style is full of imagery that explains otherwise difficult concepts. Working through this book definitely allowed me to understand the Javascript language at a deeper level. Those that give this book a bad review never gave it a chance. The struggle was well worth it for me!

Bestes Lehrbuch, das ich je gelesen habe.

Amazing book with lots of information and practical example. Plus the cover is so good in quality!

A posséder absolument dans sa bibliothèque !

Superbly executed; from level 0 to pros - not only about javascript but also about logic of programming, too. Bravo!

I understand this book gets a lot of bad reviews for mis-labelling itself as an intro book. But, that doesn’t mean the content isn’t phenomenal. I had light experience programming and have an engineering background. The author will explain in great detail with accuracy and precision. He will dispel any misconceptions you might have about JavaScript as a language. However, that is, IF you’re able to successfully parse the information. The problem lies in that he doesn’t write as if you have 0 experience, there’s definitely a lot of instances where he assumes you have a certain ability to deduce and arrive at the conclusions without having it spelled out. This book is dense, concise and makes makes an excellent reference text. For those that are able to overcome the hurdle, you learn A LOT. That being said, it ISN’T a book for everyone. But, it IS an invaluable source of information.