I decided to read this book because I wanted to learn about the architecture and implementation of a Single Page Application (SPA). And it turned out to be a good choice.
What I particularly liked about the book is that it begins from scratch and shows how to implement a SPA without relying on heavy frameworks. Whenever a library is used, it is done with a purpose (clearly explained by the authors).
That helps to understand the internals of a SPA without any framework getting in your way. Once you understand how a SPA works, using a framework is not a problem. But you have the option of using it or going your own way.
Since I’m not very experienced in JavaScript, I found Chapter 2 (Reintroducing JavaScript) very useful. It covers topics like the two code passes of the JavaScript engine, how JavaScript is different than common OOP languages by being a prototyping language, the module pattern, and self-executing anonymous functions.
There are more interesting stuff covered in this SPA book: Static code analysis using jslint, unit testing, and persistence using MongoDB are some of them.
The only cons are that it (1) is a big book, (2) doesn’t demonstrate how to plug many features of modern SPAs (for example smooth scrolling, infinite scrolling, and jumbotron) in the proposed architecture.
Recommended to anyone interested in implementing SPAs and/or improving their JavaScript skills :)