I've been working on a project lately that requires a lot of JavaScript, and if any of you are like me, you've had trouble learning the language well. Over the years, I've taken several runs at it but have not been successful. Sure, I could always to basic stuff, but it seemed that when ever I need to do anything useful, I just could not figure it out. Well, times have changed. Mostly based on my need to know the language, I am really starting to feel good about the language. I'm understanding scoping, I can throw functions and arrays around as well as actually do useful stuff.
My path to success has been two books. First, Douglas Crockford's JavaScript: The Good Parts is really all about the why. That is, what is good and what is not. It not only tells you how to do things (though in very compact language), it tells you why. One very nice thing it does it explains the rational for things and where compromises have been made. It's short and dense. That is, kind of K&G for c, it does not mince words. I'm on my 3rd pass now and still learning things.
When I need more words, I go to the other book. JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan. It doe a great job of explaining in details all the little parts of JavaScript in a non-dense way. It's about 4 times longer than The Good Parts and does get a little wordy at times, but for me, I often need the extra words.
I could not live without both of these books.
Amazon.com: JavaScript
Amazon.com: JavaScript