You could say that I'm the sort of person who complains a lot. I'd prefer to think of myself as someone with high, but reasonable, expectation who is often disappointed.
The purpose of that introduction is to try to convince you that I'm more likely to assume the role of critic than flatterer. Are that setup, maybe you'll guess that what follows is one doozy of a compliment.
It may be true that I have never enjoyed reading 19 pages of any programming book more than the first 19 pages (the first 2 chapters) of "JavaScript: The Good Parts".
Chapter 1 "The Good Parts", which serves as an introduction, is a pithy assessment of the good and the bad of JavaScript, and as importantly, the good and the bad of the approach, attitudes, and biases people bring with them to the topic that threaten to skew their opinions of the language. The author accomplishes this in four pages.
Before I continue, I want to make the point that I am not a huge fan of JavaScript, but these issues are not specific to Javascript. Many of the author's remarks apply to almost any language, or more generally the circumstance of working with something new and unfamiliar, especially when we are only reluctantly doing it because we are obligated to.
Chapter 2 "Grammar" must be the most succinct, well-written treatment of the grammar of a programming language I have ever read (and unfortunately I have read more than my fair share). I know we tend to think of writing in computer books as no more than a means to an end, but I would argue that Chapter 2 in "JavaScript: The Good Parts" is art.
I have read the entire book, but feel inspired to comment on just the first two chapters because they are special. I will say that the rest of the book does not disappoint.
The author's obvious sincerity and the matter-of-fact style of the writing may even persuade experienced programmers to set-aside their predispositions and prejudices in favor of fairly considering JavaScript.
Thanks to the author!
Finally, I want to say that I hope to see more ":The Good Parts" titles in the future from O'Reilly. I would argue that a great approach that works for more than just programming topics.
To answer a question readers of this review may be asking, while this is a very good first JavaScript book, it is not an appropriate introduction to programming. That's unfortunate for all of the prospective programmers out there. I would love to see an introductory programming book inspired by this one.
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