Whenever a submission about learning JavaScript has appeared on Hacker news the past years, someone ended up adding a comment linking http://eloquentjavascript.net . To show my appreciation( * ), I'm offering anyone who comes across this post a 40% discount on the updated, paper version of the book, which is coming out this week. Use the coupon code 2ELOQUENT2QUIT when ordering the paper book from http://nostarch.com/ejs.htm . The offer goes until the 21st of January (next Friday).
( * And, of course, to stir up some publicity.)
Re: "Master basic programming techniques"
Would you recommend your book as a first programming book for designers that want to learn to code? We have a few employees that come from a print design background that are wanting to learn JS to move into web work, and I'd buy a half a dozen copies if this is an appropriate intro for them. Otherwise, I'll just buy one copy and solicit recommendations for a book to teach programming using JS. [I normally recommend Python and Scheme books to learn programming, but that seems like a long way around for people that only want/need to learn JS.]
Love your CL work, BTW.