Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action [Ajax]

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 544 pages
• Published by: Manning Publications March 21, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1933988037
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1933988030
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 2.1 pounds

Product Review
A good solid intro. There is fantastically useful stuff about JavaScript itself as well as Prototype; for example the section of function contexts and closures is one of the best I have read on the subject. -- N. J. Ferrier at Amazon UK

Pretty darned definitive Plenty of useful examples, including counter-examples Shows how to migrate existing code, not just start from scratch Scriptaculous labs are excellent, and are available for download Okay, all the labs are great JavaScript haters beware! Prototype, Scriptaculous, and yes, this great book about these two JavaScript libraries, could change your mind. After reading Prototype and Scriptaculous In Action, you are in danger of saying to yourself, "Hey, I'd like to try some of this stuff out," and, before you even realize it, you're writing JavaScript, getting stuff done, and maybe even enjoying it.

This book should rightly be considered the bible of Prototype and Scriptaculous. Just download and run the source code for the book (available online for free), for a real taste of what this book offers. -- John Guthrie at JavaLobby

This book should be in your library if you are planning to use one of these powerful and useful libraries as well as if you want to learn more advanced topics in JavaScript too! Worth every penny. -- Frank Stepanski at Barnes and Noble and bookpool.com

Product Description
Prototype and Scriptaculous are libraries that extend standard Ajax. They make it easier to program Ajax and provide powerful features like drag and drop and animation. In this book, developers learn by playing and see how the libraries work in the real world.

As experience with Ajax increases, developers want the standard Ajax capabilities they repeatedly use to be preprogrammed for them--and that's exactly what Ajax libraries do for them. They reduce the pain of handling cross-browser inconsistencies, they add useful language features, and provide sophisticated functionality. Of these, Prototype is the most popular JavaScript and Ajax framework for low-level user interface features such as animation, drag and drop, and pre-built widgets. Together, they free the developer up to concentrate on building the application. They make a rich user experience easy to achieve.

This book guides the reader through the Prototype and Scriptaculous libraries feature-by-feature. In just 350 pages, readers will find over 100 small working examples to help them explore the libraries. As well, they will develop a web-based image gallery that teacher them how to use Prototype and Scriptaculous in the real-world.

Reader Reviews
I wrote a longer review that Amazon has apparently lost. Oh well. This is an excellent book, very well written. The authors are the rarest kind of technical author: they can actually construct prose that is pleasant to read, not deadly boring, but which works well as a reference book later. The book's organized thoughtfully--it's certainly much more than just an API reference. There's also quite a lot of general advanced Javascript information here, too. There's at least one other book on these libraries in production from Pragmatic Programmers. If you're considering that, I strongly suggest downloading the sample chapters of both books and comparing. The Crane book is much more appealing to me (not to mention it's available now, not in six months).