Reader reviews

Finally, a book that treats javascript with the care it deserves.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

Some sections were excellent and others felt like filler.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it mentioned in a forum thread, and I am glad I did. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. Three stars feels about right. It will stay on my shelf, but it will not be the first one I reach for.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

This is the third book I have read on gpu computing this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Excellent from start to finish. No filler, no padding.

This is the third book I have read on game programming this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Worth every page. I have already recommended it to two colleagues.

I have been working with javascript for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.