Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja
by John Resig, Bear Bibeault, Josip Maras · first published 2016
66% recommend31% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
In-depth treatment of advanced JavaScript, especially functions and closures, showing how a library like jQuery is built; suits developers who want to move past the basics and grasp the language's fundamentals.
Common criticism: Some say it is dated and lacks ES6+ coverage
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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3 of my favorites were JavaScript books: Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig (2012) is a very hands-on look at writing a Javascript library: http://j.mp/RgOcXO High Performance JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas (2010) is one of the most thorough treatments of performance…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗…constructs from other languages (which often will work, but not in the way expected). Books that have given me a renewed appreciation are Douglas Crockford's book (JavaScript the Good Parts) and John Resig's "Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja."
on “Revisiting JavaScript Objects” ↗…http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596517742/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Here's a few other good ones: Functional JavaScript: Introducing Functional Programming with Underscore.js - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449360726/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193398869X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Javascript Allongé (free to read online) - https://leanpub.com/javascript-allonge Javascript Spessore (free to read online, but currently…
on “Four Books to Master JavaScript Engineering” ↗I second Eloquent Javascript. It's the book I recommend to JS beginners. Secrets of the Javascript Ninja by John Resig & Bear Bibealt is another good one once you get past the terrible title. I will checkout Learning Javascript Design Patterns on your recommendation. I bookmarked that book a while ago but…
on “Speaking JavaScript” ↗…The things in that list: You should know a lot of them. You should know OF almost all of them (what they do on a conceptual level). 4. Hate to reco a paid thing, but this book was critical to me: Secrets of the Javascript Ninja by Resig. TL;DR: Everything in JS is a function. There is 1 thing to know about functions: The "Everything/Nothing Rule" (my paraphrase) - Scope has everything to do with how the function is declared…
on “The State of JavaScript in 2015” ↗Slightly unrelated -- John Resig's "Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja" is such a well-written book. It allowed me to not only understand but also appreciate JavaScript. I believe understanding JavaScript as a functional language is key to being a good JS developer.
on “10th Anniversary of JQuery” ↗…37Signal's influence of software development trends at the time. At the only rails shop I ever worked at it was heavily resisted. It was at the same time I was reading more and more of Resig blogs and books (Secrets of the JavaScript ninja) and I really began to learn and grok just plain normal JavaScript. I said to myself, "you know, this really isn't that bad" Haven't looked back since. I hate the direction ES is going.
on “Decaffeinating a Large CoffeeScript Codebase Without Losing Sleep” ↗This is an interesting resource. If anyone wants to take an even deeper dive into the code and philosophy underlying jQuery, I recommend reading Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig. Amazing book.
on “jQuery Deconstructed” ↗I enjoyed the depth that "Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja" went into. It was written by John Resig, the author of JQuery.
on “Ask HN: What's a good, intermediate-level JS book?” ↗Secrets of the Javascript Ninja (by John Resig, creator of jQuery) is amazing for Advanced level Javascript explanations and tips.
on “Ask HN: What are the latest and greatest books on your favorite language?” ↗…Progressive Enhancement, 2nd Edition" by Aaron Gustafson. This is the greatest resource of "stuff they forgot to tell you" when you learn web development that I have ever seen in printed form. The second is "Secrets of the Javascript Ninja" by Biebault and Resig. Every one of my devs groaned at first, then thanked me profusely when they finished it. FWIW, my favorite "look-it-up"-style resource is Speaking Javascript by Rasuchmeyer - and…
on “High Performance Browser Networking” ↗To add to what codegeek said, "Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja" by John Resig (the creator of jQuery) is also very good https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-JavaScript-Ninja-John-Resig/d...
on “Ask HN: What's the best path to learn JavaScript as a beginner?” ↗These: - Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig (my favorite) - Eloquent JavaScript by Marijn Haverbeke
on “Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?” ↗I highly recommend Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig. It boosted my career significantly by giving me enough low-level practical understanding to become much more productive writing JS. Highly recommended.
on “Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?” ↗If you like books, read these in this order: 1. Eloquent JavaScript by Marijn Haverbeke 2. Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja by John Resig (jQuery author) and Bear Bibeault Those two books formed the foundation for my understanding of JavaScript. Now, I understand any framework or pattern easily. Edit: format
on “Ask HN: Resources for catching up on modern JavaScript for Python/C++ Programmer” ↗