To get a quick idea of whether this book is for you, can be found helpfully on the front cover - 'Covers the JavaScript Development Environment including the new Netscape Navigator 3.0 browser'. So this is a not a new book and applies to JavaScript 1.1. However, there are still a large number of people using older browsers, thus developing to the most accessible standard may well be useful.

This book, like many others on JavaScript, starts by explaining that JavaScript is not Java. From this it very quickly gets started on some simple examples to get a feel for the language. The examples are widely spaced and so easy to read - lucky as the grey background used looks like the printing has smudged. All of the examples are found too on the accompanying CD.

With the basics out of the way, the text gets stuck into the various ways JavaScript can be used, including cookies and both client and server side scripts. The later though is only of use if you are using a Netscape server. It is in this that the book looks at a first glance to be useful, but not as a reusable resource. I found some useful snippets, but little to make it a main reference text on my shelf. Accordingly there are better and more up to date books on the market place. However, if you find it second-hand or remaindered, it is worth a look for a newcomer to JavaScript.