jQuery Enlightenment eBook Review

Introduction

I just finished reading the jQuery Enlightenment eBook by Cody Lindley (@codylindley) and let me tell you it was definitely worth my time ;)

You may be already familiar with Cody Lindley as the author of the modal jQuery plug-in Thickbox.

As stated by the author, this eBook is intended for 3 types of people

1. A beginner jQuery developer looking to learn more
2. Someone that already knows another JavaScript library
3. Someone looking for an awesome set of reference material for jQuery

Review

The contents of this eBook range from basic to complex themes such as core library features, selectors, traversing, manipulation, forms, events, performance, animation, ajax, etc…

One of the great things about this eBook is that each section self-contained and could be understood apart from the other sections. So you could conceivably skip around in the book and still understand what is necessary fore that section.

The feature that I was most impressed upon was the JsBin integration with all of the 100+ code samples. JsBin is a service that allows you to share, execute, and modify code snippets to aid in the learning process. For example, you can take of the code snippets (example code snippet) from the jQuery Enlightenment eBook and click the Output tab for the results of the jQuery. Then you can double-click the HTML to experiment with your own examples.

A feature that you should definitely not skip over is the notes portion of each section. On numerous occasions I found very useful tips and insights clues into the jQuery framework.

Note: I found some minor typos and code snippets issues during my detailed reading of the eBook. You can review my comments and issues in a Google Document I put together…

Summary

I highly recommend this eBook to anyone hoping to not only understand how to write jQuery, but also to understand the why behind the how. If you have any JavaScript experience at all and would like to bring your jQuery game to the next level… then, this eBook is for you!

The eBook is very affordable coming in at only $15. You can also purchased printed version from lulu.com for $30 (black & white) or $45 (color). If the price is a factor, might I suggest you asking your work to buy it on your behalf ;)

Ohh, and 10% of the price goes back to the jQuery project… so you’ll be supporting open source software too ;)

Other jQuery Enlightenment Reviews

• jQuery Enlightenment by Nathan Smith (@nathansmith)
• jQuery Enlightenment By Cody Lindley by Ben Nadel (@bennadel)
• jQuery Enlightenment: For the intermediate to advanced Javascripter by Andrew Mager (@mager)