Five Free Copies of Upcoming O’Reilly Book ‘High Performance JavaScript’
Update (2010-02-25): This contest is now closed.
Last year, Yahoo! engineer and all-around JavaScript badass Nicholas Zakas asked if I was interested in writing a chapter for a new book on JavaScript performance that he was working on. I agreed, and that book, High Performance JavaScript, is now available for preorder at Amazon and other fine book retailers.
In addition to the wide-ranging content by Nicholas and a chapter on string and regular expression performance by yours truly, chapters were also contributed by an awesome lineup of JavaScript performance gurus: Ross Harmes, Julien Lecomte, Stoyan Stefanov, and Matt Sweeney. This book is unique in its laser-focus on optimizing the performance of your JavaScript applications, and covers many advanced topics in the process. The chapter on strings and regular expressions provides what I think is easily the most in-depth coverage of cross-browser JavaScript regex performance currently available.
Here's the list of chapters:
- Loading and Execution
- Data Access
- DOM Scripting (Stoyan Stefanov)
- Algorithms and Flow Control
- Strings and Regular Expressions (Steven Levithan)
- Responsive Interfaces
- Ajax (Ross Harmes)
- Programming Practices
- Build and Deployment (Julien Lecomte)
- Tools (Matt Sweeney)
To celebrate the completion of this book, I'm giving away three copies. O'Reilly Media increased the offer to five books! All you need to do is comment on this post by February 24th, and I'll pick five people to send a copy to as soon as it's released (Amazon says March 15th). If you prefer, I'd be happy to send you a copy of Regular Expressions Cookbook instead (please note which book you want in your comment). Four winners will be chosen at random from the pool of unique commenters (I'll be tracking IPs), and the fifth based on the reason given for why you want a copy.
Make sure to include your email address in the comment form, since I'll need it to contact you if you're selected (your email address won't be used for any other purpose). Good luck, and congratulations to Nicholas Zakas and all the other authors on completing a fantastic new book!
Edit (2010-02-05): My blog has been offline more often than not for the first two days after posting this, and many people have reported that they were unable to post a comment. I apologize for the screw-up—my blog is now on a different server, and the problems should be resolved. Please try again!
Edit (2010-02-08): O'Reilly Media kindly offered to pick up the tab for this giveaway, and increased the winnings to five books!
Edit (2010-02-09): Nicholas Zakas posted more information about High Performance JavaScript on his blog: Announcing High Performance JavaScript.
Edit (2010-02-25): This contest is now closed. Winners will be announced here shortly.
Edit (2010-03-03): Following are the winners of this giveaway (the first four were chosen randomly):
No. 5 Adam Crabtree, who wants to review the book and share it with members of the DallasJS Meetup Group, wins the nonrandom drawing for the best reason to win a copy. Runners up for this selection were Yoav, who promised to donate the book to a high school library after he's done with it; Nick Carter, who threatened me with his wrath if he doesn't win (I'll have to endure); Paul Irish, who kindly offered to have my last name corrected (to that of a sea monster) in exchange for winning; Alexei, a technical editor of a couple of Nicholas Zakas's previous books who'd like to know how many errors this one contains; and Marcel Korpel, who wants to improve his users' health by reducing the "headaches, general stress and insomnia" they suffer while waiting on his websites. 🙂
The winners have been informed by email about how to collect their prize. Thanks to everyone for playing!
Comment by Da Scritch on 3 February 2010:
What ? Accelerating our JS code ? But… you want MSIE back ??????? (mwhahaha, this is a stupid comment)
Comment by Ravindran on 3 February 2010:
yeah, count me in.
Congratulations to the authors. Looking forward to learn many new things by reading this book.
Comment by Vadim on 3 February 2010:
Have never won a lottery but I really want that book.
Comment by lennym on 3 February 2010:
I’d love a copy of the book. I’d also love it if you posted more on this blog. I got a ruch of excitement when I saw this appear in my Google Reader, and all you have to offer is free stuff, how disappointing 😉
Comment by rt on 3 February 2010:
<3 JavaScript
Comment by Yoav on 3 February 2010:
I’d love to get this book for free – I promise to donate it to a high school library when I’m done with it
Comment by Pete B on 3 February 2010:
Having recently moved I can provide an excellent home for either of these fine O’Reilly titles; a dry dust-free environment in which a book can enjoy a long and fulfilling life full of owner love and appreciation.
I ♥
print
Comment by keith on 3 February 2010:
Looks like a cool book. Count me in 🙂
Comment by Adam E on 3 February 2010:
Rock on. I’ve enjoyed your writing thus far, can’t wait to get if a read. I’ll pick it up even if luck passes me by. Keep up with the good work.
Comment by knittl on 3 February 2010:
I’m all in for the Regular Expressions Cookbook 🙂
Comment by Leon on 3 February 2010:
My girlfriend thinks I’m nuts when she lies in bed reading a romance novel and I’m reading a new programming book, I can’t help it, my thirst for knowledge is unstoppable… gimme gimme 😛
Comment by Cristiano on 3 February 2010:
This one surely looks good. Count me in on this lottery !
Congratulations.
Comment by Thomas Aylott on 3 February 2010:
Both of these books are some of the very few books I actually want to own. Your regex-fu is indeed more powerful than my own.
eBook is the only format I want. iPad compatible ideally 😉
Any clue if either of these books is going to be available in iBooks?
Comment by dan on 3 February 2010:
Congrats on finishing this book.
I am interested in the high performance javascript book. O’reilly books are my bread and butter in the programming world. This book would be a fantastic addition to that collection.
Thanks!
Comment by DennisP on 3 February 2010:
Sweet, count me in for HPJ.
Comment by RyanC on 3 February 2010:
Excellent, looks like a great title, looking forward to picking it up. And hey, a free copy would be even better, thanks. 🙂
Comment by Jyrki on 3 February 2010:
Yet another O’Reilly book I definitely want to own.
Comment by adormitu on 3 February 2010:
I’d love to improve my Javascript skills; so I’m in for HPJ.
Comment by Steve on 3 February 2010:
Sounds like a great book, will make a great complement to Javascript; the Definitive Guide. Looking forward to reading the book. If selected I prefer the High Performance Javascript book either way I plan on adding this book to my library. Thanks
Steve
Comment by Mike on 3 February 2010:
Would love a copy of High Performance JavaScript. Congrats on completion of the book.
Comment by Swaroop on 3 February 2010:
Many congratulations. Javascript is becoming a language which every webdeveloper
needs to master. Please count me in for the javascript book.
Comment by Steven Levithan on 3 February 2010:
@lennym, thanks. 😉 I know, I know, I’ve been neglecting my blog for too long…
@Thomas Aylott, I might be able to get a PDF eBook to people, if that’s what they want. I don’t know what O’Reilly’s plans are for iBooks, but they’re currently selling some of their books for Kindle.
And thanks, everyone else, for the congrats and kind words!
Comment by Sander Aarts on 3 February 2010:
Would love to win a copy of ‘High Performance JavaScript’. Well, I wouldn’t mind the ‘Regular Expressions Cookbook’ either, but I have more need in improving my knowledge about JavaScript performance at the moment.
Comment by Raphael Slinckx on 3 February 2010:
I’m in !
Hopefully i’ll be able to inject inline asm into my templates !
Comment by Asen Bozhilov on 3 February 2010:
If random algorithm choice my, definitely i want “Regular Expressions Cookbook”.
Regards.
Comment by Mike Taylor on 3 February 2010:
Look forward to this book. I really hope there’s a chapter outlining the performance benefits of using alert().
Comment by Miles on 3 February 2010:
Sounds like a great book, will make a great complement to Javascript; the Good Parts. Looking forward to reading the book. If selected I prefer the High Performance Javascript book either way I plan on adding this book to my library. Thanks.
Comment by David Barton on 3 February 2010:
I look forward to reading your new book. Its always good to see how you can improve on an the cookbook. I have used it in a number of my classes. Its very good resource to support the concepts of just what javascript can accomplish.
Comment by schnalle on 3 February 2010:
i want one! weee!
Comment by Tim on 3 February 2010:
The books sounds awesome. I hope it’s a success! 🙂
Comment by MichaelPaulukonis on 3 February 2010:
Got a copy of the Regex Cookbook in December — nice tome! looking forward to HPJ, as well.
Comment by michael on 3 February 2010:
Time to pimp our JavaScript!
Comment by Warren Parsons on 3 February 2010:
I would love a copy of your book when it comes out. I’ve read Crockford’s “Javascript: The Good Parts” and Souders’ “High Performance Websites,” and this sounds like the perfect complement to the knowledge contained therein.
Congratulations on completing your book!
Comment by izb on 3 February 2010:
Woo! JavaScript FTW!
Comment by Drew Goodwin on 3 February 2010:
Congratulations 🙂
I want a copy for our office so I can convince them that books are worthwhile after all!
Comment by Janus on 3 February 2010:
Well, I think that your book would be a great read based on the table of content. However, you only mentioned amazon, that may limit it’s spread.
Comment by Matt Powell on 3 February 2010:
Don’t have a creative/unique comment, so, I’m hoping for a chance at that random drawing 😉 Btw, HPJS!
Comment by Tyler Neu on 3 February 2010:
I look forward to improving my Javascript skills.
Comment by Alister on 3 February 2010:
Being a full time web developer and with more of my work moving into web applications I would love a (signed?) copy of ‘High performance Javascript’.
Nothing better for a commute than a good book in hand to get excited about work for the day.
Comment by evan on 3 February 2010:
I’ll definitely be buying it but if I win it that’s even better…
Comment by Adam V on 3 February 2010:
JavaScript is easily the most enjoyable language that I work with. Back before the turn of the millennium, I started working with JavaScript hard core; doing AJAX long before the term was coined and realizing just how much easier my life was now that IE5 had XHR (the last time I ever said I loved Explorer).
Getting some high performance techniques will definitely be helpful.
And I’m of Dutch descent so, you know, a free book is always a good thing. If you have one on collecting coffee spoons or grooming corgies for a day at Wimbledon, I’d take one of those too as a matter of principal. 😉
Comment by NoCoMike on 3 February 2010:
Fingers crossed
Comment by Duncan Beevers on 3 February 2010:
I’m always looking for solid publications which allow me to chastise my colleagues for their inefficient JavaScript.
Comment by Matt Brundage on 3 February 2010:
This will make a nice addition to my burgeoning JavaScript book collection; currently at one title.
Comment by Eber Irigoyen on 3 February 2010:
sweet, count me in for the High Performance Javascript, two of my favorite topics
Comment by Loiane on 3 February 2010:
Hope to read this book soon!
🙂
Comment by D.vespa on 3 February 2010:
Hey. Is it valid for Brazil? 🙂
Comment by Ionut Popa on 3 February 2010:
i’d like to have this HPJ book 🙂
Comment by 535 on 3 February 2010:
That’s quite a tempting offer. I’m creating a “web-2.0-ey” portal framework in JS at work right now and a tome on performance tuning would be most helpful. 😉
Comment by Oriol Torras on 3 February 2010:
Thanks for the great job on javascript.
Comment by Gabriel Gilini on 3 February 2010:
Awesome, I’d love to read the book and write a careful review exalting the goods and bashing the bads, if any 🙂
JavaScript is in desperate need of good literature, so no good book can be left unnoticed.
Comment by Marc Harter on 3 February 2010:
Would love a copy of High Performance JavaScript, really getting into this stuff!
Comment by dvespa on 3 February 2010:
Is it valid to Brazil? I really want the book. 🙂
Comment by Andrew on 3 February 2010:
A reason I want this book? Nicholas is a great technical writer and well, he’s like the ultimate guru on all things scripty and prototypal.
Comment by Jeremy Walker on 3 February 2010:
I’ve seen many “get a free copy of book X” giveaways on the web, but very few for a book I actually want to read (and in fact I’d really like to read both books, but High Performance JS sounds more interesting than the regex cookbook). Count me in!
Comment by alexladeira on 3 February 2010:
pass the first part of the challenge :), now i expect to win the second one, and i choose “High Performance JavaScript” book. i want to improve my code skills with this one.
Comment by toby on 3 February 2010:
I love free stuff. I love free stuff like books even more.
Comment by James on 3 February 2010:
I’d love a copy of the new performance book! Congrats to all the authors!
Comment by Eric Bréchemier on 3 February 2010:
I could use some new High Performance Javascript tips for my Javascript framework bezen.org 🙂
Comment by Xiaoxin on 3 February 2010:
High Performance me Mr.Zakas! 🙂
Comment by Tara on 3 February 2010:
“High Performance JavaScript” sounds like a great book! Would love a copy. Can always improve my JS…
Comment by Rob on 3 February 2010:
I like free books
Comment by Travis Hardiman on 3 February 2010:
By a sheer coincidence, February 24th is my birthday!
Also: does your chapter cover the IE bug where \s doesn’t escape non-breaking spaces like \u00A0?
Comment by Travis Hardiman on 3 February 2010:
oops: I meant *match* not *escape*!
Comment by Nick Carter on 3 February 2010:
Hand it over, yo! Or don’t, be stingy and incur my wrath, which consists of a few F bombs and a sore disposition should we ever meet and I’m cognizant enough to realize who you are.
This is on my wish list and I’ll get it one way or another! JavaScript is my bread, butter, water and air! When I’m not coding JS I’m not living! Exclamation!!!
Comment by Andrew Massey on 3 February 2010:
does it come with a cup of coffee?
Groovy.
Comment by David Calhoun on 3 February 2010:
I’d like a copy of High Performance Javascript. Thanks for the offering!
Comment by Brendan Gibson on 3 February 2010:
I’m such a cheapskate. Give me a book.
Comment by Rob Friesel on 3 February 2010:
Sign me up for a copy of the Zakas, please.
Comment by Eric Ferraiuolo on 3 February 2010:
This would be a nice book to have 😉
Comment by Luis Ramos on 3 February 2010:
I would like to have this book.
Comment by Akash on 3 February 2010:
Please sign me up for the regex steroid in JS manual!
Comment by sandra on 3 February 2010:
i wanted this book so badly that I brought your blog down… ok, maybe not, but I did keep re-checking to see if it was back up so I could put my name in the pot for High Performance JavaScript.
i’m starting to use JavaScript more and more and will be using SSJS in my new job and need to know every last detail on how to make these applications the best performing applications they can be 🙂
congratulations on the book – i can’t wait to get a copy of my own!
Comment by David Burns on 3 February 2010:
I would love to have the JavaScript book!!!
Comment by Jeff Craig on 3 February 2010:
I’ve been pushing for professional javascript for a long time at work, this would be a great addition to my knowledge base to help with that!
Comment by Murali on 3 February 2010:
I would like to have one.
Comment by Michael J. Ryan on 3 February 2010:
I’d love to get a gratis copy of “High Performance JavaScript”. I consider myself near expert on JS, but it’s always nice to gather more ideas. I’m constantly reading, and rethinking things. I’ve been doing JS since before the bad-old days (starting in 1995). And lived through the v4 browser API wars.
This is a great time to be a fan of JS.
Comment by Paul Irish on 3 February 2010:
Can I mention that me, John Resig, and a few other hackers were concluding that you really need to add that extra `a` to your last name because:
1) all our failing google searches for you will succeed and
2) fucking sea-monsters, dude!
Also I want that book. If I get it I promise to “correct” your last name in it. Thx!!!
Comment by Abe Park on 3 February 2010:
Please count me in!
I have been using YUI2 on my work projects and have used that really get into learning AJAX.
I also watch a lot of videos on the YUI Theater, especially the ones presented by Douglas Crockford.
Right now, I referencing the YUI article “Building Your Own Widget” (http://yuiblog.com/blog/2008/06/24/buildingwidgets/) and am loving every bit of it.
By the way,I would love to get a copy of High Performance Javascript.
Thank you!
Comment by Arvian Heidir on 3 February 2010:
Sounds like a great book. Will make a great addition to Steve Souders’ High Performance Javascript and David Flanagan’s JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
Comment by Adam Crabtree on 3 February 2010:
DallasJS (http://meetup.com/DallasJS) would LOOOOOOVE for a copy to review, recommend and possibly even regift to its members!!!
Either way, thanks for contributing to the JavaScript community!
Comment by Jonathan Danylko on 3 February 2010:
I already have the Regular Expressions Cookbook and I love it!
Now I’m looking for an excellent JavaScript book as well. 🙂
Thanks,
JD
Comment by Steve on 3 February 2010:
Wow. The authors of this book are experts in their field. I’ve read other books from these authors and they were brill. Please send me a copy.
Ta
Comment by ikkyuOS on 3 February 2010:
This book might be interesting for my day to day work, can’t wait to have a look at the content.
Comment by Sergey on 3 February 2010:
JavaScript… I love it! More and more 🙂
Comment by Art on 3 February 2010:
I’m getting this book either way…
Comment by Dawn on 3 February 2010:
Looks like a great book, congratulations.
Comment by cssah on 3 February 2010:
Woow ,High Performance Javascript want it now .
Comment by Scott B on 3 February 2010:
Thanks for the generous prize and contest. I have enjoyed Regular Expressions Cookbook and am really interested to see what High Performance Javascript offers. The chapter titles seem to cover what I would want.
Part of me is skeptical or at least keeping hopes down and anticipation broad. Javascript has so many uses now but has always been something I still sort of hate to use. Cross browser issues is just one reason but even in a specific browser user settings or versions can cause problems. Especially it seems as you try to do more with Javascript.
I am not saying I would ever give it up and I have loved all I have learned and do with it. It can just be so frustrating at times, like trying to make a beautiful page with the latest CSS. I admit recent browsers do seem to make it easier to count on the browser behaving.
Thanks again for the contest and great prize! Either way I will put that book in my “wishlist” but it would be great to win a copy from you of High Perfomance Javascript (and see what jewels may be in the Regex chapter ;)).
Comment by Dan on 3 February 2010:
Since I already own the Regular Expressions Cookbook, High Performance JavaScript would definitely be my choice. Regardless of winning a copy, I will definitely own a copy as soon as it is a available!
Comment by Aaron Heckmann on 3 February 2010:
Yes Please, Yes Please!
Comment by Palaniraja on 3 February 2010:
I haven’t had any of Nicholas Zakas’s book, would like to get this one for sure. I would be really happy if I get this as a gift.
Comment by anthony on 3 February 2010:
I would love to have this book.
Comment by Justin Akehurst on 3 February 2010:
I would love a copy of the JavaScript book!
Comment by leon on 3 February 2010:
“High Performance JavaScript” I like
Comment by Jayaprakash on 3 February 2010:
I would love a copy of High Performance JavaScript
Comment by mixed on 3 February 2010:
I hope to read High Performance JavaScript.!!
Comment by Sachin Sharma on 4 February 2010:
Will you give the book to guys in India too?
I would love the High Performance Javascript book.
Comment by Bryan on 4 February 2010:
My site needs some High Performance JavaScript asap…
Comment by MSR on 4 February 2010:
yess! “high performance javascript”. I am FE by profession…I would love have this book to make faster and better websites.