Well, HN can be hard to predict. My coupon-code-including submission two weeks ago [1] hardly got to the front page at all, yet this one does great. Oh, well, I'm not complaining! Thanks for submitting. (The coupon code is no longer valid, though.)
Timing influences how high an article gets to a rather extreme degree. Get it up just before the main rushes appear, and it's far more likely to get to - and stay on - the front page long enough for a lot of people to see it.
GAH! I check HN quite a bit, and missed this. Any chance the coupon could be extended? I'd rather buy straight from No Starch than Amazon, if it made sense.
I don't think that HN would be in the market for a beginners book. Anything in here that differentiates it from O'Reilly's Rhino book or Mozilla Developer Center?
It is a book that anyone of any skill level can get something out of. It is one of the few books that is technically a beginners book, but it does not talk to you like you are stupid.
Most importantly, it is focused just as much on software craftsmanship as it is teaching you javascript. It is a great introduction to functional programming and the 'good parts' of object oriented programming.
Why should you buy the book if it is online for free? Well, I have extreme respect for people who try to teach others and give away their work for free. I like to support them in any way possible.
Crockford's book is great, but I don't really subscribe to the 'if I could only buy one book on x' mentality. I prefer to get my information from as many sources as possible and Haverbeke should definitely be one of of those sources.
On buying a hardcopy book that's available for free?
Well, if it is a good read, I eagerly will shell out money for a printed copy that I do not have to read off a screen. In a way, it's incentivizing, wishing to reward such an act of open collaboration.
Also, I believe if online feedback is used properly, definitely will result in a superior book product.
Hrm I guess after a quick scan I did see some interesting things in there. I'll buy it if it's available on the nook or kindle or as an ebook. I don't really want a print book. (I've downloaded the PDF, but I'm willing to pay for an ebook format).
A wide ebook formats will be available from http://nostarch.com/ejs.htm in a week or so. (They have an external party doing the conversions, which is apparently taking his time.)
I'm sure everyone on HN is a beginner in some language. Someone here may be considering starting some serious JavaScript development and there's no reason to prevent them from seeing this based on the assumption that using HN means one is an expert in all major programming languages.
That has easily been one of my favorite programming books so far. It's a programming language book for programmers. Every language needs something like it.
I only wish his linter were better. I haven't poked at the recent update (!) very much, but it was almost un-usably incorrect for quite a while, and removes one of my favorite tools for making javascript look nicer: functions as objects (ie, with properties). Instead, he preaches a super-watered-down version where functions are mere constructors for objects, and nothing else.
http://dmitrysoshnikov.com/ecmascript/javascript-the-core/
These series of articles are probably the deepest series into the language on the Internet (surpassing even Crocford's articles as far as depth goes).