Maybe I'm just a douchebag, but isn't all that stuff in the "Javascript: The Definitive Guide" book? Read it once (at least the part that's focused on the language itself, not DOM) and you know it.
The article gently suggests the importance of learning all you can about the math and string libraries. It's not meant to imply that the author discovered them only yesterday.
"One thing that amazed me is how much easier my life got once I read up thoroughly on the math and string functions of JavaScript. You can use these to avoid a lot of looping and conditions."
If you spend any time at all researching Christian you'll find out he's written 2 books on JavaScript and contributed to several more, while speaking prolifically at conferences on the subject.
As a colleague and friend of mine, I can tell you he's trying to be an educator and help other people become better coders. If that means he's aimed some stuff under a line for "good" that's because he's trying to help people get over that line.
In that case please don't read any books about patterns, or best practices.
You might be the best programmer on HN for all I know, but personally I'm willing to admit Doug's decades of programming and international reputation might mean he can teach me something, without me having to learn it the painful way.
>> "In that case please don't read any books about patterns, or best practices."
I don't. I hate naming things as patterns with a passion FWIW. I'm not really sure you can really learn good taste from a book :/ All you need is the language reference, and years of practice...
