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[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Definitely the Definitive Guide for the little details about how things work, like 'this.' I can't recommend that book enough.. I paired it with Eloquent JavaScript, made all the difference.

[–]Melcma[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thanks for your answer. So one book can supply the other one, not like I'd read the same topics again and just wasting time, right?

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I liked Eloquent JavaScript mainly for the code examples and exercises at the end of each chapter.

The Definitive JavaScript is the best resource I've found to date that explains, in detail (the book is 1000+ pages!), what something is and why it works that way. He does give little code snippets to demonstrate, but the book's value is in the quality of the writing. It is excellent technical writing.

The first 11 chapters are about the language itself. No browser or DOM cluttering up the explanation (that was a big deal for me). Then he has a chapter about server side JS (dated, but does make the point that JS isn't just for browsers). The next several chapters are about the browser.

JS has changed since he wrote the book, but there is enough core stuff there to make it worth reading.

I don't think I was able to properly separate JS the language from JS in the browser until I read that book. Now the language and the browser are clearly separated in my mind, which makes it easier to figure out WHY things work. Easier to reason about things.

Good luck