
John Resig's ‘Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja’ has been released - simonsarris
http://www.amazon.com/dp/193398869X/
======
simonsarris
I wrote "quietly" released in my original HN title (since edited by mods)
because Resig neither made a blog post nor even tweeted about its
availability, which seemed very odd to me, especially for something 4 years in
the works.

He did write a bit about the status of the book back in July, if anyone is
interested: <http://ejohn.org/blog/secret-omens/>

edit: John just tweeted:
<https://twitter.com/jeresig/status/285858421029347328>

~~~
jeresig
Sorry for the delay in announcing it - I was waiting for the book to
physically arrive in my hands, which it hasn't done so, yet. (I have a copy
pre-ordered with Amazon and since that's the way most people will be receiving
the acquiring the book, I imagine, I wanted to make sure it was actually,
physically, being distributed before I announced it.)

I plan on writing up a full blog post once I have my copy of the book.

~~~
arunoda
Any plans for a kindle version? As I lives in an asian country (Sri Lanka)
kindle is best and only way to access amazon book store :)

~~~
bchen
I assume you mean having the book physically shipped to Sri Lanka is not
feasible/possible. Consider buying the ebook from Manning directly [0]. They
do offer the ebook in Kindle (mobi) format.

[0]: <http://manning.com/resig/>

~~~
barking
Once there's a pdf or other ebook available it'll be pirated. How that doesn't
damage sales I'll never understand. The Lazarus (object pascal ide) book is
only available in a physical book format for this reason.

~~~
spjwebster
It may well be pirated regardless:

[http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-
pir...](http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-pirate.html)

In another life I wrote technical books, which at the time were only available
in physical formats. That didn't stop electronic versions of the more popular
books from appearing on usenet.

~~~
barking
That's a good read. It's hard to understand the motivation of someone who's
prepared to put in that many hours pirating a single book. It's seems a bit
pathetic

------
k3n
Considering the date, it seems as if it might've been pushed out the door to
satisfy contractual obligations.

I'm not sure just how relevant it will be, now that the JS ecosystem has
exploded -- seriously, 4 years is _eons_ in the JS world, I think the Jaxer
server was still the new tech and NodeJS wasn't even heard of at the time --
and there are 10x's as many JS devs now than there was in 2008 (not to mention
that the average competency seems to have greatly improved as well). And I
could be wrong, but I think he's mostly disconnected from jQuery itself now,
too; I'm clumsy with git/github, but I can't even find his last commit to
jQuery, and I know that all of the blog posts on jQuery.com have long since
been done by other team members. While he's a really talented dev, his name is
pretty rare when it comes to JS news and topics these days.

~~~
jeresig
I definitely agree that there are a ton more JavaScript users now, compared to
4 years ago - I disagree that they're more competent, it's a pretty massive
bell curve. The tech bubble can be pretty insular here at Hacker News but I
still run across TONS of people who've never 1) Used any JavaScript whatsoever
or 2) Have used a JavaScript library but have no concept of how it relates to
JavaScript, the DOM, or what the library does under the hood. The book
attempts to serve #2 primarily and that's still a MASSIVE audience.

As to being involved in the JavaScript world, my focus has shifted - I'm no
longer trying to build tools for people who already have tools, I'm trying to
teach the next generation of developers and JavaScript users:
<http://ejohn.org/blog/introducing-khan-cs/>

I also feel extremely confident that the technical work that I've done with
the Khan Academy CS platform continues to be unlike anything else done by
other development platforms.

~~~
k3n
Aye, perhaps it's my perception then, because I've been seeing lots of awesome
code out there recently. There used to be a few exciting JS projects, though
many of them were redundant in some ways, and they were still fairly basic by
today's standards. Today, though, it seems like a fun new project pops up
monthly.

I won't argue that there isn't still a ton of education that needs to happen!
I've been battling this at work, as few candidates have much JS experience at
all (I think all of the good ones are involved in the hot projects).

I'd also concede that educating future coders is possibly not only more
important, but more fulfilling. I've been following your blog for awhile, and
though I do miss the geeky JS topics such as the precision (or lack thereof)
of setInterval/setTimeout, how great documentFragment's are, etc. I've also
enjoyed the posts about Kahn.

~~~
jeresig
I think it's an issue of there being a bell curve on all the JavaScript users.
If we assume that 80% of JS users are in the "use a library and know very
little of the language" category and the top 10% is "publishes
libraries/tools" and the bottom 10% is "copies-and-pastes code with reckless
abandon" - then going from 1 million JS users in 2008 to 4 million now
(theoretical) then there will be 4x more awesome libraries and 4x more
ignorant users.

Thank you for the kind works regarding my blog - I really hope to begin
writing again. Perhaps that'll make for a good new years resolution :)

------
waffle_ss
Interesting choice of a samurai for the cover image, considering the book's
title.

~~~
jeresig
SIGH. I've tried really hard to get this changed. Outside of my control,
unfortunately.

~~~
lucian303
So I don't have to be a Ninja or a Samurai to get anything out of this book?
;-) Awesome.

The title still sucks. I don't get this idea of (ninja|rockstar|etc) and it's
extremely disrespectful to those that practice those disciplines.

~~~
barking
I hope your last sentence was a joke

~~~
lucian303
Not at all. The disrespect comes from the stupidity of the title and people
making it. Rockstar? Ninja? Evangelist?

Really?

How about Shaolin Monk JS? Hung Ga JS? Hung Fut JS?

Is the absurdity getting through your brain yet?

And if you're talking "Evangelist," where the fuck is your church?

~~~
barking
I think you're wrong. Unless you want all books to be called 'How to be really
good at...' or equivalent, then people have to try to be original to some
degree which includes using words in new contexts.

I looked up ninja ([http://zillyninja.blogspot.ie/2011/02/origin-of-word-
ninja.h...](http://zillyninja.blogspot.ie/2011/02/origin-of-word-ninja.html))
and apparently it can mean "a person skilled in stealth" or "one who endures."
while the ninja themselves were spies for the samurai but haven't been around
for a long time (<http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/history/q4.html>).

I guess that you'd have no problem if someone called their book 'how to become
a javascript expert'. Expert comes from the latin word _expertus_ ( past
participle of experīrī to try, experience)
(<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/expert?s=t>) and presumably someone
had to import it to english and later on someone else used it in a new
unorthodox way.

BTW I looked it up and the word evangelist comes from greek and means 'bearer
of good tidings', so it isn't something that has to be tied solely to religion

~~~
lucian303
It's not about etymology, it's about people adopting silly phrases for common
terms that already exist simply to try to appeal to emotion. Rockstar
developer? Really? Would a Boy Band Developer count?

If you want to do that, go write fiction. If you're as adept at writing in the
English language as Anthony Burgess or James Joyce, you can feel free to even
make up words as you go along, not just new uses for existing words.

------
zenocon
I bought the MEAP a long time ago (allows you to read chapters as they are
released...before edit), and I've casually read along. At the time, JS was not
a strong language for me; I've put in the effort to reverse that. The main
approach (which I liked): a) explain a topic in text b) illustrate with code
c) test code => QED. If you're novice/intermediate with the language, I think
it may help explain some of the trickier things. My main critique was that I
did find some of the text overly verbose. My favorite book is still Stoyan
Stefanov's [http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Stoyan-
Stefanov/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Stoyan-
Stefanov/dp/0596806752) and I've read nearly all of them at this point.

~~~
softbuilder
I had to google "MEAP" <http://www.manning.com/about/meap.html>

------
niels
I purchased this book as a MEAP (Manning Early Access Program) in august 2008.
Never expected it to take this long.

~~~
walls
Yep. Feels like a quick cash-grab on a piece of work that's beta, at best.

------
ben336
I preordered it and am supposed to receive it wednesday. I'm excited to go
through it. Note that you can get the ebook through the publisher if you buy
the print version on Amazon.

~~~
fruchtose
Publisher's website for the book: <http://www.manning.com/resig/>

You can order it through them rather than Amazon to get the eBook directly.

~~~
dougb
Use promotional code "bestof2012" to get it half off.
[http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs172/1101335703814/archi...](http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs172/1101335703814/archive/1112008583363.html)

~~~
altano
Worked perfectly, thanks! Total with shipping was $25.24. The price without
shipping is about the same on Amazon.

~~~
jonknee
Shipping is free on Amazon, but Amazon's price that I see is $25.77 so you're
still saving a few cents.

------
bstar77
I pre-ordered this book when it was first announced. At the time I was a JS
novice and now I'm quite accomplished. Hoping there's still something useful
to get out of it.

------
pablasso
I've grown so dependent on Kindle that if I don't find a book on there I never
bought it. I've waited years for the release, I'll wait a bit more for the
kindle version.

~~~
jaddison
On a similar vein: <http://www.scottisheyes.com/walled-gardens>

I wish authors would produce for various platforms, rather than targeting just
one, even if it is the de facto market leader.

Edit: of course after I posted this, I see that it is available in PDF format
from Manning's site: <http://www.manning.com/resig/>

~~~
zszugyi
The EPUB and Mobi formats usually come a few days after the print release.
You'll get them automatically.

------
nhebb
" _Amazon Best Sellers Rank ... #18 in Books > Computers & Technology >
Programming > Java_" [sic]

Ouch! For John's sake I hope Amazon gets the category corrected.

~~~
aristus
It's mostly automated, as far as I can tell. I've seen the same book ranked
top ten in _both_ fiction and non-fiction.

~~~
saraid216
That's not necessarily inaccurate.

Though something tells me you weren't looking at the Bible.

~~~
jQueryIsAwesome
depends-on-the-reader-if-fiction, a new category in amazon's book.

------
dudus
It's been so long that I'm not sure if I bought it already or not.

------
philfreo
Is there a digital version?

~~~
ben336
See the comment thread below. You can buy an ebook direct from the publisher,
or get it from the publisher with purchase of the physical copy

------
ruswick
It's a shame that the price is so onerously high. I find that this is a common
trend among technical books: they are often made inaccessible by their prices.
Even if a small subset of the market is willing to shell out, such high prices
probably alienate those that would most benefit from these books: novice
programmers.

The fact that writers can and will sell to a niche audience willing to part
with a lot of money ultimately leads to a field sparsely populated with
accessible topic literature...

------
drchiu
Like so many others, back in 2008 when I bought the MEAP all I really knew was
alert("Hello!"); and associating onclicks inline to DOM elements.

It's a good read though, and now that it's _finally_ released, I'll take a
look at it again.

The JS ecosystem has changed a lot though, but this book, if I remember it
correctly, explains a lot of the rationale of why it's good to program JS a
certain way.

------
softbuilder
"Usually ships within 1 to 2 weeks."

I guess I've been spoiled by the grace of the past 10-15 years of technical
book buying, but that is insane.

------
gcr
Books whose titles contain elements of the set "secret", "ninja", "rock star",
"days", "master", "dummies", or ones that have a number in the title (2012,
24, etc) really put me off. I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but
these titles are really hard for me to take seriously.

~~~
ruswick
I agree. These terms are devoid of meaning and are really grating.

------
brador
A book takes a long time to write. How do authors test the market for a book
before sitting down to type?

------
mhd
Did we ever come to a decision what's better, the "Ruby Rockstar" or the
"Javascript Ninja"? One has the alliterative benefit, the other might have
Real Ultimate Power.

Side Note: It's now 2013 and we're still doing _that_.

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CamperBob2
I can't remember the last time I ordered a book that didn't have "Search
Inside This Book" enabled by its publisher.

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bla2
I read his "Pro JavaScript Techniques", which felt rushed and was full of
(minor) errors.

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ck2
Happy pre-subscriber of the ebook version for years now.

Congrats on finishing it. Book writing is hard.

------
iends
Any review of it yet?

------
lucian303
So I have to be a Ninja to benefit from this? What about people in other
martial arts disciplines. It seems quite prejudiced.

That said, despite the retarded title, I have no doubt that Resig has some
good secrets to share. Mad respect for a brilliant developer with a terrible
editor (book editor not vim).

~~~
lucian303
To clarify, such titles as "ninja," "samurai," "rockstar," etc. that are
completely ridiculous are quite disrespectful to those who practice the arts
that they make reference to.

Not to mention idiotic.

