JavaScript and AJAX For Dummies

Description

If you're starting out with JavaScript for the first time, as most dummies book readers probably are, do NOT buy this one. I don't understand how the editors of the company could allow such a complex, incoherent book to be described as one for dummies [beginners]. The only people whom I think would benefit are those who are already somewhat proficient in JavaScript. In sum, the author is an expert on his subject matter but doesn't have a clue when it comes to communicating. This happens all too often in the world of software, where programmers who become authors, have no idea how to communicate with non-programmers [beginners], the target audience of this book. The author commits a classic error when writing about topics he knows inside out. He assumes the reader understands and/or is familiar with a wide array of JavaScript/Programming related concepts that are of course 2nd nature to him. So instead of starting out with the absolute basics of JavaScript, explaining them, and progressing accordingly in an organized manner from simple to more difficult, he quickly jumps into somewhat complex programming concepts and procedures. I found this scattered approach a little baffling. To compound the classic error described above, he states that each element of the scripts he uses as examples, will be explained in detail, but that didn't always happen. There was another problem that confused me. Maybe the concept was clear to others, but it certainly wasn't for me. On page 36 he said using //