Canvas Pocket Reference

Author: David Flanagan
Publisher: O'Reilly, 2010
Pages: 112 pages
ISBN: 978-1449396800
Aimed at: Intermediate Javascript programmers
Rating: 4
Pros: Concise introduction and handy reference
Cons: Occasionally short on explanation
Reviewed by: Ian Elliot

Canvas - it's new but familiar if you have used almost any 2D graphics framework. So is this pocket reference enough?

Author: David Flanagan
Publisher: O'Reilly, 2010
Pages: 112 pages
ISBN: 978-1449396800
Aimed at: Intermediate Javascript programmers
Rating: 4
Pros: Concise introduction and handy reference
Cons: Occasionally short on explanation
Reviewed by: Ian Elliot

Canvas - it's new but if you have used almost any 2D graphics framework the way that it works will already be familiar to you. As a result you probably don't need a full book on the topic - perhaps a pocket reference would do.

Surprisingly this book manages to get through most of the material you might need in an introduction to canvas in fewer than 100 pages. It is an extract from the forthcoming edition of David Flanagan's JavaScript the Definitive Guide, but if you are in a hurry to get to grips with Canvas and want something more portable it's well worth considering.

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The book only has two chapters - a Canvas tutorial and a reference section. The tutorial starts off explaining how to get a canvas object on a web page. Most of the explanations are straightforward - how to draw a line, a shape, controlling the fill, the line style and so on. Every now and again there is a more expansive idea introduced, such as how to save the drawing state in another object and restore it.

Occasionally you might wish that the explanation given was a little longer - for example the discussion of security and bitmaps from other sites doesn't explain the ideas sufficiently and doesn't deal with the tricky problem of working with local files.

The second chapter is a reference section that take each canvas method and object and describes it in detail. This goes beyond the simple statement of what they are to include a discussion to make sure you understand - this chapter is useful when you have forgotten what a method or property does.

Overall this is a useful book if you already know JavaScript and have encountered a 2D graphics facility before. It isn't of much use to the complete novice, but then you wouldn't expect it to be.

Recommended if you find you can't remember exactly how methods and properties work.

Related I-Programmer articles:

A Programmer's Guide to Canvas

Canvas bitmap operations - bitblt in JavaScript

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Effective Python, 2nd Ed

Author: Brett Slatkin
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Pages: 480
ISBN: 978-0134853987
Print: 0134853989
Kindle: B07ZG18BH3
Audience: Python developers
Rating: 5
Reviewer: Mike James
Better Python - sounds like a fun read.



The Big Book of Small Python Projects

Author: Al Sweigart
Publisher: No Starch Press
Date: June 2021
Pages: 432
ISBN: 978-1718501249
Print: 1718501242
Kindle: B08FH9FV7M
Audience: Novice Python developers
Rating: 4
Reviewer: Lucy Black
A project book? A good way to learn Python?


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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 March 2011 )