Prototype and script.aculo.us aka The Bungee Book 1
I thought it prudent to blog a bit about some of the technical books I’ve been reading of late so thus begins perhaps the first of several posts about my library:
I ordered Prototype and script.aculo.us by Christophe Porteneuve the other week directly from the publisher, the well-known Pragmatic Programmers. I highly recommend buying books directly from them as you can get a PDF copy for very little extra money. Who likes lugging around books all the time, anyway?
This book is a comprehensive guide to Prototype and script.aculo.us and covers both libraries from beginning to end. You need only have a basic understanding of JavaScript to dive in—which was perfect for me as I’m really weak on JS. The readability of this volume is perhaps its best quality. I can literally sit in bed and read this book cover to cover without feeling like I need to have my laptop by my side. It seems to have a larger ratio of words to code and the writing style of Porteneuve is refreshingly casual, friendly, and funny.
The book itself is not huge, about 400 pages, but its content that counts. And, thankfully, it doesn’t waste trees with pages and pages of reprinted documentation. Oh how I can’t stand buying a big fat technical book for $60, only to discover that half of its pages are reformatted documentation that’s freely available!
The “Bungee Book”, as the author refers to it, (Sidebar: Is this going to be a thing now? Every PragProg book has to be nicked named after its cover picture? Who gets to pick the cover pictures?), is a great read and I highly recommend it for your bookshelf.
