JavaScript is a good way to learn programming. It's powerful, of course, but the book takes small steps, using scripts that work with string and time data first, and then moving to manipulating browser objects like forms and windows. A running case study for a trivia game helps anchor the steps with a practical (and fun) example. There are plenty of tips on debugging your scripts (including how to use the Microsoft Script Debugger tool), and each section includes sample questions. (The book also offers extensive answers in over 80 pages at the end of the book.)

There's plenty of material on the differences between Internet Explorer and Netscape, especially when it comes to Dynamic HTML (DHTML). Coverage of the Document Object Model (DOM) for browsers helps bring the text up to date on some of the latest standards in Web browsers (including the new Netscape 6).

While the focus of Beginning JavaScript clearly is on the client, later sections turn to server-side ASP development (in which the sample trivia game is enhanced with ASPs written in JavaScript using ADO and Microsoft Access.) Reference sections on JavaScript and the browser object model for Internet Explorer and Netscape (through version 4.x) round out the material.

In all, with its approachable style and clearly rendered code examples, Beginning JavaScript makes for a worthwhile first book of programming for today's browsers. Even if you haven't programmed before, this text can give you the tools you need to bring your static Web pages to life. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered:

• Introduction to JavaScript
• Cross-browser compatibility issues
• JavaScript data types and variables
• Displaying errors
• Calculations
• Operators
• String handling
• Flow control statements
• Loops
• Introduction to using objects
• The browser object model
• HTML forms (including types of input controls)
• Frames and windows
• Tutorial for regular expressions
• Advanced string methods
• Date, time, and timer objects
• Common errors
• The Microsoft Script Debugger
• Cookies
• Dynamic HTML (DHTML) on Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netscape Navigator 4.x
• The Document Object Model (DOM)
• ActiveX controls and plug-ins used with JavaScript
• Server-scripting
• Introduction to ASP and databases (including SQL basics and database design with Microsoft Access)
• Sample case study for a trivia game
• Sample exercises and answers
• References to JavaScript
• Internet Explorer 4 and 5 and Netscape Navigator 4 objects
• ASP object model reference