#3 in Web development & design books
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Reddit mentions of JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development
Sentiment score: 46
Reddit mentions: 65
We found 65 Reddit mentions of JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development. Here are the top ones.
or
- JavaScript Jquery
- Introduces core programming concepts in JavaScript and jQuery
- Uses clear descriptions, inspiring examples, and easy-to-follow diagrams
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Here's my list of the classics:
General Computing
Computer Science
Software Development
Case Studies
Employment
Language-Specific
C
Python
C#
C++
Java
Linux Shell Scripts
Web Development
Ruby and Rails
Assembly
doing this line by line with as we speak with this amazing book. It definitely helps!
It sounds like you don't understand the basics of programming logic, and not JS / JQuery. There are fundamentals you need to first learn before you take on any kind of programming and that is how it actually works and how things are manipulated.
The difference between HTML / CSS and any programming language is that HTML / CSS are declarative languages meaning you say what you are going to do (i.e. background-color: blue;) whereas programing languages are dynamic. It will take some time for you to get used to, but like all things it requires a lot of practice. I would also suggest reading some books. I bought and read JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development and it helped me make sense of things.
Others have said build something instead of just doing codeacademy and I completely agree. Though it will be confusing and hard to begin with, it will help you understand the basics. A few good things you could build could be:
I would say do the web calculator, you would have to do the HTML / CSS (yes make it look pretty like the calculator on your phone), and then build the functionality.
Eloquent Javascript
You Don't Know Javascript
Wes Bros (not all are free, but lots are and he has lots on Youtube. if you want some of the paid ones, there are ways, Yarrrrrr. But if you can, buy it as it's not that expensive and he's a kick ass teacher. If you can't afford them, yarrrrrrrr! Then when you get a job, go and buy them so you're not a dick.
Advent of Coding - Great fun, you'll likely only get the first few to start, but you can read other's code to see how "professionals" do it.
There are a number of other sites for coding practice like... I think... leetcode? Something like that. Codewars. There's a ninja themed one as well. Do a couple google searches and you should have tons.
Oh, and the book JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development is a great book for starting out, it's dry as hell, but it's full of everything you want to know. The link is not an affiliate or whatever, I get nothing, just read it.
If you have some money and time and want to go full time, there are places like http://theironyard.com that can get you a solid foundation and entry level jobs.
Otherwise https://www.codecademy.com is a great place to get started. /r/learnjavascript is a also great resource as they are open to all questions no matter how "dumb" they are. They go through a lot of things together as well, great place to learn. I'd also really recommend this book.
The hard part is getting the experience to know the best way to do things. I am doing some backend stuff as well (node.js and mongoose) to speed things up.
Once you get enough knowledge and get dangerous my biggest suggestion would be to get a recruiter and do a bunch of random contract work. You'll not only learn faster, but usually there will be smart people to learn from.
JavaScript and jQuery by Jon Duckett
Amazing book for anyone starting JavaScript and jQuery. Great examples and clear explainations. Wish Duckett wrote more JS-related books. I'd buy them all!
Ooooh you're a super new :)
Many people hate it but w3schools can get you started:
If you want to buy books check out:
It's super noob friendly and the book looks amazing.
Note for others: The same authors have a book on JS. Again it's mostly introduction material but it's fun to flip the pages :)
(Not affiliated to the authors).
First off, I'd be careful of describing yourself as a WordPress developer if your knowledge doesn't really go past using the loop as far as PHP and WordPress goes. Not because I'm one of these 'you're not a developer' types, but because it could land you in legal hot water because of misrepresentation when it comes to clients.
Anyway, what I would currently describe you being – based on what you've said – is a junior front end developer. You have a good understanding of HTML and CSS, and a you know how to get JS working – even if it is just copy and pasting.
Personally, I would recommend signing up to somewhere like Treehouse as they have a great deal of structured content around WordPress that will take you from the basics of PHP and how they relate to WordPress upto more advanced topics like dealing with WordPress' APIs.
As for the most important skill? I would say that is having a good understanding of how PHP and JS work. Once you understand functions, variables, methods – and to a lesser extent, classes – you'll have a pretty good grasp of how anything works within JS and PHP.
I would then recommend spending some time reading PHP's docs, which are very well written and give examples of how those functions work.
If you're more of the read-a-book kind of guy, I highly recommend JavaScript and jQuery by Jon Duckett (Amazon link).
Hope that helps.
I've said it once and I'll say it again, Eloquent JS is not for beginners. You will get stuck almost immediately, especially with no CS background. And, I haven't read the other two, so I can't really recommend one over the other.
Depending on what you're looking to do/get out of reading a book, you might want to checkout Jon Duckett's Javascript & JQuery. It's much more "noob" friendly, and is much easier and nicer to get
I'm currently taking it right now (going through web development 101 because I am a complete noob to it), and OP isn't kidding when they say it doesn't hold your hand. I finished up the HTML/CSS basics and just started working through the beginning JS sections (learning basic syntax, if/else statements, switch function). Each lesson can take anywhere from an hour to 3, depending on how quickly you are able to grasp the concepts or how big the hands-on project is.
Don't be afraid to get outside resources either! I picked up this Javascript and jQuery book that has a lot of great reviews, and it gives another perspective/way to learn the language. I might actually trade this back in for the authors book on HTML/CSS because I'm still struggling with those languages. Let me know if you have any questions on it!
I recommend this book. I learned HTML/CSS from the HTML/CSS book by those authors. And then after that I went back to a more "textbook" type book to learn further in depth. And then I did the same with Javascript. I felt like those books were a real nice jumping in point because they're so simple and filled with visual examples.
If I could do it all over again, I would:
** I am not Jon Duckett but I do love his books.
I found Lynda.com to be extremely dry and slow. To me it was the equivalent of those old school mandated educational movies you would watch in classrooms back in the 90s on your faux-wood tv. Take this opinion with a grain of salt though as it has been almost two years since I have looked at anything on Lynda, I hear it may be better today.
If you are looking for web development in particular I would suggest the following:
In addition, StackOverflow; A general programming Q&A website, has an answer to just about any programming issue you may be running into. If the answer is not already there, then chances are you will have one within 24hours.
I began my pursuit into web development about 2 years ago. In that time I have gone through the resources listed above as well as the following books which have helped immensely:
Some personal career history if you're interested:
In the last two years I have gone from making 18k a year as a Technical Support Representative to 80k a year as a Front-End Engineer building JavaScript applications at a large FDIC Bank. It was only in the last two years that I really dug into Web Development (and programming for that matter) and I really can't see myself ever doing anything else for a living. The job requires an immense amount of learning (which I love) and will keep your mind sharp. I really do get a kick out of problem solving all day. Programming will require a major adjustment to the way you think. I can say that the way I work through problems now is completely different to the way I did before. I feel as if critical thinking has eluded me until the last two years and it has been a major life changing event. By far the biggest contributing factor to my growth has been the team I work with. You have to do your best to find a team that is willing to work with you as a junior so you can siphon that knowledge. Even if that means taking a low paying job, however; know your worth so that you can ask for the right amount of money once you have gained the necessary skills. As a personal rule of thumb, I will not stay at a company where I am the most knowledgable member of the team. This inhibits growth as a developer and will prevent me from realizing my true potential.
Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions.
Same thing happened to me at my last job. I was actually led to believe in the interview that it was a job relevant to my experience but I quickly learned on day 1 that it wasn't. Read as much as you possibly can in your free time for a while, you would be amazed at how quickly you can pick things up. Three books I recommend as a crash course are:
Definitely more beginner, but I loved Jon Duckett's books when I was starting out. If you're looking for intro level, front-end stuff, they're very visual and easy to grasp.
HTML & CSS: Design and Build Websites
JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development
He also wrote a book called [JavaScript and Jquery]
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1118531647?cache=3e10930602aec822ac1b09f06d245fb8&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1413723858&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1) , which is an awesome book. Beautifully designed and easy to follow.
HTML & CSS by John Duckett was very helpful when I was first starting out with front end dev. He recently released a followup on Javascript & Jquery that is also quite good.
Jon Duckett: Javascript & JQuery + The Odin Project
These two sources worked wonders for me.
I picked up this book and have been going through it along with CodeAcademy and Treehouse. The book has lots of examples and simplifies a lot of things that aren't neccessary taught on the tutorial sites so I find learning through mutiple resources pretty good.
Does only coming from a sys admin background count as no prior experience to web programming? I just was given access to the static company site about a year ago and was tasked with updating it since then. Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago and I decided to teach myself WordPress + LAMP then LEMP. L(A/E)MP = Linux, Apache/Nginx ("Engine-X"), MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP/Python (bottle.py).
I knew PHP and Linux from system management of random servers at work and through consultations with my personal business.
If you're asking for advice on where to start, it seems that the current best practice is to go on codeacademy.com and accompany that work with the Jon Duckett books on at least front end stuff including HTML/CSS/JS and maybe some jQuery.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/
Cloud9 and GitHub are great first destinations for starting in development. You can go my route if you're feeling confident with system management and go for Amazon Web Services EC2 with a free (for a year!) micro instance that you can load with all kinds of stuff, including a basic Ubuntu server with LAMP (MySQL, PHP) that in-all takes less than an hour to get comfortable with and ready for a new page or even WordPress.
A significant amount of people here swear by laracasts.com as well once you're through the basic front end tech :)
Check out "Javascript & jQuery" by Jon Duckett
I haven't used it yet, but if the reviews and his html/css book are any indication this would be an amazing book.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410413069&sr=8-1&keywords=javascript+and+jquery
There's a reason this book is the number one best seller in Javascript Programming on Amazon.
Hi there. I'm a professional web developer by trade. Your website looks like it's from the 1990's...I understand that both of you are working full-time, but I highly recommend completely re-doing your website.
I don't even know where to start, so I'm just going to give you examples, resources, and inspiration, and relevant comments.
Inspiration:
This is by far, THE best website for tea I've ever seen.
DavidsTea
Mid-tiered websites:
Harney&Sons
Some more sites you can look at:
Adagio Teas
Mighty Leaf
Verdant Tea
Lower-tiered websites:
TeaVivre
Den's Tea
Absolutely not:
Upton Tea
Resources:
Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks!
A friend who is learning JavaScript got this book I skimmed through it, I wish I had something like it when I learned JavaScript or programming!
I think JavaScript is the way to go as well. Start with just plain vanilla and then go from there!
I would do the JavaScript course on codecademy (I would dabble with every language they offer too!) and then move on to this book (you can also find it for free).
Just an idea... You could love or hate web design. Who knows! But you have to start somewhere and start narrowing things down while learning general programming structures. Almost everything you learn at first is transferrable to other languages.
Thanks for the fun contest!
If you're just interested in learning for yourself, don't take it at ASU. It'll be cheaper and you'll probably learn more through other resources. Here's one put together by the University of Michigan on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/introcss
Or, you can do it the old fashioned way and pick up a book. This one, in particular, is very good.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
After you get through that book pick up the Javascript and JQuery one (same author):
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=72Z6B7X975GSJ4VVAZG9
This was where the first big gap in FCC was for me - you need to know the DOM and jQuery to do these challenges. This is where Duckett's Javascript & jQuery really helped me. There's a good free intro to jQuery on codeschool.com, also you'll need to read up on DOM manipulation to get through this part of FCC. Good luck!
Html & css:
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Also I assume you mean Javascript? Otherwise that's a pretty odd combo. A good Javascript book is this one by the same author:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118531647
Used both of these for school. Very easy to read and surprisingly comprehensive. Very pretty as well
PS: people don't generally call html and css programming languages
Hey there! I recently finished this course and also recently got my first offer for a Jr. Front-End Developer role after about a year and a half of self-study. Colt's course is awesome, and I found it to be the best single resource on web development I encountered. So I think you've picked a really good place to start. But, that being said, it is just a starting point (even a full-time $10k boot camp is just a starting point), and you probably will need to look into other resources as well.
I will second what others have said that I found the Rob Percival course underwhelming, but there's a lot of other stuff out there that I would recommend. Note: I'm going to go a bit link crazy here, and I know that might seem a bit overwhelming, but I'm figuring it's better to give you more rather than less; your mileage may vary, and you may not need all of these. These are just the resources I found most helpful.
Free Code Camp is a great place to find practice problems to work through, mainly when it comes to front-end. I can't stand using it end-to-end as a learning path, but others love it. So, different strokes and all that.
CSS Tricks is a really great blog and site for learning how to do advanced CSS stuff. And the site founder Chris Coyier, also hosts a really great podcast called Shop Talk that's all about front end.
John Duckett's books HTML & CSS and JavaScript & JQuery are really pretty and very noob friendly. The JS one does have some errors, so be wary of that, but I found it really helpful for getting a sense of the underpinnings of the language while reading on the train.
You Don't Know JS Is a great book series that is all available online for free and will really help you solidify your JS knowledge.
JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts is another Udemy course that does a deep dive of JS (Udemy always has sales, by the way, so never pay full price for their courses).
JavaScript Design Patterns is a free course on Udacity that is super helpful in introducing you to JS frameworks and MV* design patterns. Note that, while you can pay to do a "Nanodegree" through Udacity, you can also access a lot of their courses for free, so I would recommend trawling through them--there's a lot of good stuff on there.
JavaScript 30 is a 30-day structured course in building stuff with vanilla JS by Wes Bos, who has a lot of other good courses as well (though some of them are paid).
Practical JavaScript This is one I've actually just started working through, but so far, I'm really enjoying it. Again, this is free. It will introduce you to test-driven development and give you a better sense of how to plan your own projects, while also not getting mired in any frameworks.
If you want to go into the bowels of the framework world, though:
The udemy course I did first for React/Redux now seems to have been taken down by its creator so that he can update it. But it was called The Complete React Web App Developer Course by Andrew Mead, and when it comes back in updated form (hopefully soon), I would definitely recommend it. If you like Colt's teaching style, Andrew's has a lot of the same feel (excited, but really detailed explanations, and goes over things 50 times in different projects and contexts so that you really learn them). I've also started doing Stephen Grider's Modern React with Redux, and it seems really good so far (though I'm not that far into it, so take it with a grain of salt).
React Fundamentals is another awesome free course by one of the developers of react-router.
This is a good book for that. There's also many tutorials online, googling will help you out, and check Codepen.io as well.
I just chose some books that looked good from this list and this one.
The one's I got:
Clean Code
(already read)
Cracking the Coding Interview
Code Complete
Peopleware
Don't Make Me Think
Code (currently reading)
Regular Expressions Cookbook
Head First Design Patterns
C++ Primer
Working Effectively with Legacy Code
Elements of Programming Interviews in Java
The Mythical Man-Month
The Design of Everyday Things
JavaScript and JQuery
I figure that's enough reading material to last me until I graduate.
Just read Jon Duckett's new Javascript book and this was a good gauge for how much I learned. Thanks!
Jon Duckett, who wrote the HTML & CSS book you bought (which is the best in my opinion) also just released his JavaScript book, which I am excited to read. Once you get a grasp on it, I would read JavaScript The Good Parts, by Douglas Crockford, who works for ECMA and helped write the language.
It was around a year ago, I saw its benefits but it just did not seem like a right fit for me.
This the book you are referring to? Will that cover the core of the JS language, then after I would be able to progress to other areas?
I've heard great things about Jon Duckett's JavaScript and jQuery - Interactive Front-End Development. Apparently the book's binding completely blows (pages falling out even with very little wear and tear), but the content is supposed to be really great for people just getting started with JavaScript and struggling with some of the core concepts. This book is made for visual learners, who get more out of diagrams, analogies, and examples than from reading long, tedious blocks of text.
In other words, this book seems to be great for JavaScript novices (and programming novices) who just want to jump in, learn some basic concepts from a well designed and easy to read book, and start actually working with some JavaScript in the browser. From the book's Amazon page, each chapter is described as follows:
Once you're a bit more comfortable, the go-to book for beginner to intermediate JavaScript learners is Nicholas Zakas's Professional JavaScript for Web Developers. It's a much thicker tome, but covers more concepts in more depth.
This book is much more than just "pure JavaScript outside of the browser" (it also contains lots of info/examples for doing real things in the browser), but it does go into great detail about all the intricacies, syntactical oddities, and gotchas of ECMAScript, which you do really need to learn to become a fully competent JavaScript developer. This book is also written well and is easy to read, but it's not designed/presented as nicely or simply as Duckett's book. The Amazon page says the book is written for the following three groups of developers:
It could be non-religious related.
What materials/methods are you using to learn JavaScript?
I'm a web developer and there are times where I find myself struggling to learn something. I've noticed I do a lot better with videos than reading a book. I also do better with some book/video authors than others. It's nothing personal to those authors, it's just like high school sometimes you do better with a particular history teacher than another one.
I'd suggest trying the trial versions of different video services. You might want to look into Safari books online. For $15 a month you can rent up to 5 books. You could try out other authors and see how it goes.
I'd also recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
Jon Duckett is a really awsome writer!
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=la_B001IR3Q7I_1_2/187-4834899-6907722?ie=UTF8&qid=1371960862&sr=1-2
I think it's a great idea. You could start off by simply having a static HTML/CSS website, and then as you progress you can add more advanced stuff like AJAX webforms and event calendars, online bookings, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Buy these two books: http://amzn.com/1118008189 & http://amzn.com/1118531647. Not the kindle versions, actual physical copies. Read them and practice. If you run into problems, just Google the problem. 99.99% of the time someone has had the same problem and has posted a solution online.
http://www.w3schools.com is a good website for diving into almost everything related to web development.
Working really well for me. I was waiting for this to get released - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118531647/ref=amb_link_408726582_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&pf_rd_r=18EHX2D44D9WJ0TWRF06&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1746404042&pf_rd_i=javascript but then I accidentally came across this http://asmarterwaytolearn.com/. I thought lets take a chance and see if this really lives up to the hype. Well it does.
Other good sources for people wanting to get into Front end are:
They have this really good track system for learning Web design, Front end Development, Ruby, PHP, Python etc.
If you prefer to read, these books are the best in my opinion to get started in web development (more front-end).
Also refer to anything u/codingtrails suggested. Only thing i wouldn't suggest is getting into bootstrap until you have learned the key concepts of HTML and CSS.
RSS for the win. On the sad, sad day that Google Reader disappeared I made the switch to Digg Reader.
My main sources are:
Over time I've found that many of the other ones like ALA are impractical for day to day work. They're more theoretical.
I'm also not shy about grabbing books as they're released. Javascript & JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development is good.
I work as an in-house Drupal developer and administrator so I don't need to know the absolute hottest shit out right now but I do stay on top of things that apply to major CMS platform development and the rare HTML and CSS spec changes.
Most of my freelance work ends up being on WordPress so I follow their Twitter feed for major releases and other news.
Friends in the industry are also another major source of news.
I have found this to be universal in books and tutorials that I've come across. Experts appear to be good at what they do, but being an expert doesn't mean they're any good at teaching. A lack of exercises at each stage in the game is also par for the course.
I haven't studied Java. But, my suggestion is to treat your time as gold; incredibly valuable. Every week you spend on a course that isn't teaching you how to code is a week lost that doesn't get you closer to your goal. Look for books and tutorials that get you coding asap, that have examples to work with. And if they don't, drop it like a lame Tinder date and move on to the next thing.
I found out too late that Jon Duckett's JavaScript and JQuery book was nothing but terminologies with no exercises. I was so pissed after reading all the puff reviews only to find out I wasted my time and money.
If you are just starting out or a beginner, it is really hard to learn from youtube videos. It's easy to falsely equate understanding a concept while watching a video with knowing how to implement it from scratch using your own hands. Videos become much more beneficial when you are trying to understand specific, advanced topics later on in your learning process.
There are definitely almost too many resources to learn JS. Because of this, I would recommend getting away from all of them because they will distract you and leave you overwhelmed. Instead, pick up a good textbook and go through it start to finish while practicing what you learn as you go along. A book I highly recommend is Javascript and jQuery. A lot of books teach you javascript without context, but this book is very geared towards actual implementation of JS to frontend development and building websites. As you read the book, don't be afraid to start creating your own websites on the side. Across the board - and I think I can speak for all advanced developers- creating your own projects from scratch is hands down the best way to burn the skill into your brain. Why? Because when you have a problem, you can't just immediately get the answer. You have to search around and try different things. You essentially spend more time with the problem and therefore will remember how to solve it next time you come across it. This is called learning. But you need the fundamentals first, which is why I recommended the textbook.
With that being said, a resource that combines videos with writing code that I really recommend is Codeschool. However, it requires a monthly payment. The benefit of that payment is that it will incentivize you to follow through, which is extremely important at the beginner level. When you are using free resources, you tend to get distracted and change to another one because they are unlimited with no switching costs.
I would advise against spreading yourself too thin by trying to tackle things like the MEAN stack (which has very specific use-cases) , postgresql, MVC and RestfulAPIs. Learn the fundamentals first, and then once you become more advanced you will naturally start learning those other things as you need them. You can only really learn those topics by implementing them in a project anyway.
To recap:
I'm getting to that. I've got a book on it coming tommorow. I don't know if it's worthy or not https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482993421&sr=1-3&keywords=javascript but it's a start
I can code HTML5 and CSS3 pretty well, honestly it's really easy for me now. - Once you get the hang of them look at a couple of frameworks - I have used Bootstrap and Skeleton and putting them on a resume is an easy +1.
The biggest thing that has helped with Javascript for me is game development, it's really fun and you have to have a decent understanding of javascript to make a playable game, it also gives you an opportunity to work on a bigger project. (thousands of lines of code) So you can get a better idea of how the overall layout mechanics of Javascript work. - So I would recommend making some simple games using just HTML5 canvas and vanilla Javascript with no libraries.
Books I would Recommend --
Youtube Channels
I really liek http://teamtreehouse.com/ && http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418260207&sr=8-1&keywords=javascript+and+jquery
Some more learning tools:
edited to add links; formatting
Two of the best books on beginning web development are those by Jon Duckett IMO. They are an absolute master class in simplicity and understanding for those new to web development.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
The physical copies of these books are absolutely beautiful, the typeface, margins, and colors are very well thought out and done.
The book isn't structured like typical programming books. There is an emphasis on completing projects every chapter rather than "theory."
If you are a beginner I would definitely recommended it. Please look in the "peak inside" on amazon. They are definitely unique and well made.
I am entirely self taught.
So the best advice I can give is to diversify your learning path. I used each of these resources:
While I have successfully found employment, it did not come easily. I had to apply to several hundred different jobs and received three separate job offers. I had no experience and while the job market is booming where I am, there's a universal saturation of junior level prospects, which makes entry into the field that much more difficult. That said, I am not on my second job and I'm absolutely loving my work. If you're passionate about it, keep working but don't do yourself the disservice of underestimating the effort required. It will help you tremendously if you're in an area of high demand for tech jobs (more jobs == more opportunities) and even more importantly, if you know someone already in the industry that can give you a referral for an interview.
JavaScript and JQuery by Jon Duckett
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
I'd not recommend jumping straight into React if you're not familiar with programming languages and frameworks yet. That would be like trying to learn how to build a house before you even know a thing about plumbing and electrical.
Take the online courses other posters have linked, or if you like to go at your own pace, buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
Then, make some HTML elements and try to play around with them in JS. Like change their CSS properties.
Then, play around with JS by itself in the console. Do some basic math, some string concatenation. Use a built-in data structure like an array or object literal and play around with their built in functions.
Then start writing your own functions. Make them do functional stuff like take two numbers and output the sum.
Then play around with objects and classes. Make some object with real life properties and methods. Like an animal.
Get more and more advanced. Start building simple webpages with custom animations and modules.
Eventually, get to AJAX and API calls.
THEN pick up React, to put everything together to make a dynamic web app.
You can check out this tutorial, helped me while I was learning. If you could share your code, that would be helpful too. This book also has an excellent explanation.
I would suggest buying a book, or looking into similar titles, called "Javascript and jQuery: Interactive Frontend Web Development" by Jon Duckett.
http://javascriptbook.com/
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/
The book is lovely designed and presented in a manner to help beginners.
Aside from "what to-dos" I would suggest making some concept sites for fake products or businesses. These can be single pages and you can start to make them more elaborate by adding more features as you learn (including forms, shopping cart, mini-blog, etc).
Some people might sometimes recommend Javascript: The Definitive Guide but that one's really more of a tome or reference book. It's sort of the be-all, end-all of Javascript, but really REALLY not fun to learn from. Very dense and dry.
I've heard really good things about JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development. Or you could get the combined HTML, CSS, JS set.
I don't know those first-hand though. I've just heard good things and the design is beautiful. First-hand, I know that JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual is good. I really like The Missing Manual series in general.
The author of HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites (John Duckett) released a book on Javascript and jQuery about a month ago, and it is fan-freaking-tastic. That, alongside The Good Parts, are the best books that I have read on JS.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
There are a ton of online resources for learning JavaScript. Udemy.com has sales on their courses often, but even YouTube has a lot of good tutorials. But I really enjoyed reading this book: JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118531647/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ix2BxbGRFDH10
here's the link to the javascript/jquery one on amazon.
http://www.amazon.ca/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393889582&sr=1-1
says preorder but gives a date of today. Not sure if that means it's arriving today or if it's still preordered as of today
You're correct, it's coming out. I'm considering picking it up if I can't squeeze more web classes into my schedule.
I, too, am learning partially through Free Code Camp. What's great about them is that they give you (a) a structure of topics to learn in a certain order, and (b) actual projects to work on.
What you cannot do is learn exclusively through FCC. I see them as a starting point. They will link you to MDN documentation in their challenges, but don't rely on those either. MDN is written for people who already have some familiarity with JS and may not be readable if you do not already understand the basics of JavaScript.
If you're looking to stay with free resources, try looking up YouTube videos that have a high number of views and positive ratings. I stumbled on this channel and have used it a few times. YouTube videos will help you see exactly what the code is doing.
If you're willing to pay for a book, I have found Jon Duckett's JavaScript & jQuery book very helpful. Also try checking out his HTML & CSS book, though I haven't used it much as I am already pretty familiar with HTML (less so CSS, but I am familiar enough with the basics to rely on Google for anything else I need).
Feeling overwhelmed at FreeCodeCamp doesn't mean you'll never learn the concept. What it does mean is that you need to take a step back and really learn the concepts by checking out as many outside resources as you can, then go back to their challenges and complete them.
Good luck :)
I like John Ducket's books and found his JavaScript book helpful for the class. JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118531647/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BsYGxbSXMM8D9
Lots of pictures, text is short and concise - but not the deepest dive in the language
The usual recommendation: code academy. But don't rely on it too much.
These books are pretty good too, if you can afford them.
Jon Duckett: Javascript and jQuery
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466556322&sr=8-1&keywords=Javascript+and+jquery
this is what i used for html and css, i think it lays everything out very easily for a beginner, i just got the JQuery/JS book, and its also good