Reddit mentions of DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model

http://www.amazon.com/DOM-Scripting-Design-JavaScript-Document/dp/1590595335/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419130831&sr=8-2&keywords=dom+scripting

DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model is highly recommended for beating good style into you, especially in regards to unobtrusive JavaScript and graceful degradation.

If you like big thick reference books, JavaScript, The Definitive Guide is for you. It is, in fact, definitive and I have a paper copy for browsing and a digital copy for searching.

I've been reading Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja lately, and it's excellent, but more a book of tips and tricks then a systematic learning tool.

> After all if javascript is a language like PHP and built into the web browser it should be exactly the same everywhere. Shouldn't it?

Python, IronPython, Jython and Stackless Python are all different implementations of the same "Python" language, yet they're all subtly different. g++ and Visual C++ are two different of the same "C++" language, and yet they're both subtly to completely different in the subsets of the language they're able to handle, and the way they implement it.

So no, there is no reason that it should "be exactly the same everywhere" because there is no single Javascript implementation for everyone to use. And yet it does manage to be mostly the same everywhere...

> Standards don't apply

They actually do, "Javascript" itself, as a standard, is mostly well implemented across browsers (the only quirk I could list being the whole Date.getYear fuckup). The area where various implementations start differing is the DOM, which is not Javascript-the-language but Client-side-javascript-platform.

> Mochakit

MochiKit, please.

And it's not really a framework, much more of a javascript library.

> Rest assured Mozilla will soon create its own framework or library and make things "better"

Why the hell would they do that when they can improve the language itself (as far as they're concerned)? See Javascript 1.6, Javascript 1.7, Javascript 2.0

> Hard to find good books and documentation

Only when you don't know where to look.

Beginner? HowToCreate's JS Tutorial (http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/tutorials/javascript/important) is one of the best resource to get up-to-speed with the basics

Beginner or designer? Go for Jeremy Keith's "DOM Scripting" (http://www.amazon.com/DOM-Scripting-Design-JavaScript-Document/dp/1590595335/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/102-8282999-1322522?ie=UTF8), clear book, not too advanced or clean javascript but more than enough to get things done.

Want some more? PPK's "PPK on Javascript" (http://www.amazon.com/ppk-JavaScript-1-Peter-Paul-Koch/dp/0321423305/sr=8-1/qid=1161173272/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-4964908-7079955?ie=UTF8) is reliable AND practical, plus PPK's WebSite, QuirksMode (http://www.quirksmode.org/) is one of the most practical "advanced javascript" resources one can find, especially on the DOM issues. Could've been more advanced, but PPK wanted it to be an intermediate-level book, not a guru-level one.

You want to know everything there is to know about JS, or are a language lawyer? Javascript: The Definitive Guide 5th Edition (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596101996/ref=pd_cp_b_title/102-8282999-1322522?ie=UTF8) is the ultimate Javascript book & reference. Everything you may need from scoping rules to interfaces to SVG and E4X is in there.

> The community is your only hope

Only a subset of the community is really useful, and most of it already has blogs. Most of the community, on the other hand, is completely and utterly clueless.

Above all, what one must realize to work with javascript is that javascript is not a "sub-language", a "toy" or a "scripting language", it's a full-fledged, dynamically weakly typed programming language.

And it's not java.