Best products from r/learnjavascript

We found 71 comments on r/learnjavascript discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 54 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

Top comments mentioning products on r/learnjavascript:

u/brotherMotty · 3 pointsr/learnjavascript

I took a deeper look at FCC. Before I was a bit against it due to how dry/textbook-like it is, but after taking a second glance I think it can definitely do the job.

However, I still stand by this roadmap, especially because I tested so many different free courses online (and subsequently wasted a bunch of time). Hopefully someone will find this useful.

Rithm (https://www.rithmschool.com/courses)

  • Awesome for going from 0 to beginner/intermediate; possibly the best fundamentals I've found

  • Doesn't hand hold so it teaches you how to think

  • Writing is friendly and understandable

    Eloquent JS (http://eloquentjavascript.net/)

  • Great for solidifying intermediate

  • This is when you begin to learn "real" coding

  • Can be difficult to grasp, but with a solid understanding of the fundamentals, you should be good

    Secrets of a JS Ninja (https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-JavaScript-Ninja-John-Resig/dp/193398869X)

  • Great for going from intermediate to advanced

  • If you've methodically mastered the previous two, you will be good. Really deepens your understanding and sharpens skillset

    Finally, if you supplement all this with Codewars (https://www.codewars.com/ , allows you a bunch of puzzles/katas to check your level as you progress; great because you can go back and see how your skills have actually improved, you'll definitely cringe at some of your old code, ha), it's a pretty fucking awesome roadmap to get you from 0 to advanced, though it'll take a LOT of work. There are no shortcuts!

    Hit me up if you have questions, always down to help others get started.
u/philosopheezy · 3 pointsr/learnjavascript

If you really want a book, there are a few that I've come across that I've liked and will suggest. Eloquent Javascript is a good one (it's free online!)

https://www.amazon.com/Eloquent-JavaScript-Modern-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593272820

Depending what you want to learn to do, also good:

https://www.amazon.com/Web-Design-HTML-JavaScript-jQuery/dp/1118907442/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YZ1P5N33ZRNPZG6SNM27

You just asked about books, but I would suggest unless you REALLY know you learn best by a book, I'd start with online tutorials (I liked Codeacademy) just to quickly get your feet wet. Codeacademy was a good way to learn the basic syntax you'll need. The books I've read, while great, tend to go deeper (not good at this stage IMO) than online tutorials which negate your "quickly" condition. Looking back, I didn't get a lot from the books until I was comfortable making code that did SOMETHING (and not much more) on my own. To me, that's the most effective way to learn quickly these days. It's easy to get sucked down a rabbit hole of feeling like you need to be an expert to start but looking back this is the plan that would have saved me a lot of spinning my wheels: 1st, do online tutorial (just 1 MAYBE 2); 2nd, then code SOMETHING (just to see you can make the computer listen to you); 3rd, When you feel like you can do something but don't understand exactly why or how it works THEN I'd get a book. That's when you'll get the most bang for your buck IMO. It's so easy to spin your wheels thinking you're one book or tutorial away from becoming an expert. It's cliche but the best thing really is to learn a little and then start making things. Take advantage of supportive programming friends or communities and don't be afraid to ask for help. You will learn more by making silly mistakes than if your code magically works the first time. Hope this helps!

u/pacificano_au · 4 pointsr/learnjavascript

I have recently read this book. I didn't like it at all. Just to give you an idea of my skill level, so you can compare it with where you are at, I've been doing HTML/CSS/Javascript for over a decade. My Javascript skills though have been more script line by line style as opposed to OOP intermediate level stuff. So I bought this book look to increase my Javascript skills.

While the book says its HTML5 with Javascript programming, it doesn't really cover the basics very well for either, even saying you should be familiar with both before reading it. At the same time, it spends half the book, quickly covering the basics, in such little depth, I would struggle to understand who its for.

The second half of the book, just spends one chapter at a time going over the various HTML5 APIs and how to use Javascript with them. For a 600 page book, there is so much fluff here, its unbearable. Its a really poor book. Its not for beginners, but its probably too simple for intermediates.

...

If you need to know HTML/CSS I'd highly recommend http://www.htmlandcssbook.com/

You'll want to install Sublime Text to do your work in it.
You'll want to create a Github account and download the client and learn how to version control.

After you've done the HTML/CSS book. I'd recommend learning about SASS from DevTips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XmUUa_pWw8

You can install CodeKit to make compiling it easier.

...

For Javascript, I recommend "A Smarter Way to Learn Javascript" https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology/dp/1497408180/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808304&sr=8-1&keywords=a+smarter+way+to+learn+javascript

It's a really good, QUICK, and straight to the point book on beginner Javascript. ~250pages

Then... If you want to round it out, I'd recommend Head First Javascript Programming https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-JavaScript-Programming-Freeman/dp/144934013X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808479&sr=8-1&keywords=head+first+javascript+programming. While being full of fluff, as is Head Firsts way, is a much better book than their HTML5/JS one. With a lot of great examples ~600pages

After that, I'd recommend Learning Web App Development https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Web-Development-Semmy-Purewal/dp/1449370195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808519&sr=8-1&keywords=learning+web+app+development ~300pages which will start to introduce the full javascript stack to you.

...

I hope that helps mate.

u/xbrandnew99 · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

I guess it really depends on what you want to use it for. Though as it is primarily the programming language for the (front-end) web, i'll assume more or less towards that.

Do you have any html/css knowledge? I'd definitely agree with others that the best way to learn is by doing. This method of learning became a lot easier for me once I was able to start manipulating elements of a webpage; it became much more intuitive and concrete a learning experience. Some basic things to do may include storing html elements in JS variables, attaching events to these elements - for example clicking on en element will execute some code, manipulating other elements' css, creating or removing elements from the page. (the JS library jQuery will be your friend here)

I like this site: http://www.codewars.com/
You'll be prompted to complete challenges which actually accomplish a, small, but technically useful goal, such as writing a function which takes a string of text, and returns the string with each word in reverse order. This was a nice 'next level' for me after doing codecademy.

Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, while lengthy, gave me a comprehensive and best-practice-filled ground-up walkthrough of basic JS. If you're comfortable with codecademy's JS course, this may be a good next step. I definitely felt a very distinct difference in my JS knowledge before and after going through this book.

The javascript jabber podcast was also pretty helpful to me in just listening in on experts in the field talk about the current state of JS. While my first months of listening, the discussions were 90% over my head, I picked up on the terminology, some popular tools, and just the JS environment at large. Easy enough to just have on in the background, commuting, whatever.

Finally, this subreddit, and sometimes r/learnprogramming have some helpful discussions to keep an eye out for.

u/GekkePop · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

Here's a short list of what I used:

  • https://www.freecodecamp.org/ Use this for basics and just a general refresher from time to time. Also has lots of challenges you can use.
  • https://watchandcode.com/ This one really made some basic things click for me and made me really understand some important concepts.
  • The Modern JavaScript Bootcamp (2019) (Already mentioned by you, but funnily enough also one of my favorites)
  • The Complete Node.js Developer Course (3rd Edition) (same guy as above, this time some node.js)
  • https://developer.mozilla.org/nl/docs/Web/JavaScript , MDN docs are just great in general, but they also have some guides. Another way I like to use them is just make myself familiar with all the methods of for example an array. So I go to https://developer.mozilla.org/nl/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array and just go through everything one by one. This way I have way more knowledge about all the options I have when I get to an array problem.
  • Book: Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja
  • Book: Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
  • Book: Eloquent Javascript (not the biggest fan of the write style, but the content is still quite good)
  • Preordered book: Professional JavaScript for Web Developers

    This is all the result of lots of googling and personal experience. I am not in any way affiliated with any of these links and I have paid for everything myself when I bought them.

    How I 'invented' my project idea is basically by adopting the strategy to write down every idea I had. So did something annoy me at work? Write it down. Did I need something and it wasn't available or reasonably priced? Write it down. Had a random idea? Write it down. Every few weeks review your list and see if you are still convinced it will work otherwise delete it from the list. Keep this up and you will end up with a lot of deleted ideas, some decent ideas and a few good ideas. Keep expanding on your best ideas and keep reviewing everything. In the end you will have an idea that has survived lots and lots of reviews and has a fighting chance in the real world.

    Some things I like about my current project:

  • Doesn't need a huge investment besides my time;
  • Achievable by a small number of people or even just myself;
  • Can make a simple version first, but also have lots of opportunity to expand on this version;
  • Doesn't need huge amount of support.
u/FooBarBazQ · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

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:

  • Breaks subjects down into bite-sized chunks with a new topic on each page

  • Contains clear descriptions of syntax, each one demonstrated with inspiring code samples

  • Uses diagrams and photography to explain complex concepts in a visual way

    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:

  • Experienced object-oriented programming developers looking to learn JavaScript as it relates to traditional OO languages such as Java and C++

  • Web application developers attempting to enhance site usability

  • Novice JavaScript developers
u/vagara · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

As far as training goes I am a trainee myself so I don't know how much help I can provide. Since you seem pretty new to all this (with the most positive meaning) here are some points I can give you and I hope others will correct me where I am wrong.

  • Learn the basics of each language. You need HTML, CSS3 and Javascript. Those cover the front end. Especially for Javascript I hear good words for this book http://eloquentjavascript.net/. That codewars site you using will help you cement the basics of the language but don't spend very long time in that.

  • For back end you seem to have chosen PHP. I would complement with some knowledge of SQL. Especially data relationships, database normalization, joins etc.

  • After you have the basics down then look for frameworks. Frameworks are essentially blueprints of web applications. The important decisions are made for you and you must fill your business logic. They will reduce a lot of work. These are what I know to be popular. Since I don't use them there might be other options



  • HTML + CSS -> Foundation, Bootstrap
  • Javascript -> JQuery, Angualar, React and an ocean of others. For now I think JQuery will suffice
  • PHP -> https://laravel.com/ or maybe a CMS like drupal. I don't know which would be best. Lavarel would require more code from you but the result will be closer to your needs. Drupal is more point and clicky, maybe will get you there faster but it is a more out of the box solution. Both will abstract a lot of SQL for you.

  • Validation: You can do it in both Javascript and PHP. In Javascript validation will enhance your users experience while in the PHP it is essential for your site's security and your data integrity. In back end I would say validation is mandatory while in front end you can skip it for now, according to your needs.

    Most important: Go to github.com and seek for projects doing what you want to do preferably with the frameworks you choose. Then read their code and try to understand what they do.

    PS: If you haven't done any serious reading so far I would recommend this book. https://www.amazon.com/Learning-PHP-MySQL-JavaScript-Javascript/dp/1491918667
    It is a bit outdated but it is packed with good advice to get you started. The rest you can learn by googling.
u/bobishardcore · 5 pointsr/learnjavascript

JS is hard, especially for people new to programming. Basically, JS as we know it today is an evolution of a browser hack that only recently became a seriously useful language. The syntax is terrible, math and numbers don't make any sense, the regex system isn't super robust, oh and it's not really an OOP language. Technically, it is multi-paradigm and includes some oop-like things and classes are on the way to browsers, but it's for naught anyway, because you don't need classes in JS - It's a prototypical inheritance based language.

If you're new to programming in general, I'd say you should start with a more sane environment, like Python. It will teach you programming concepts while railroading you into making good coding decisions. It's really common for people to start with Learn Python the Hard Way - don't. Go to /r/learnpython and search "LPTHW 31" and just count up the people struggling with it. Zed Shaw is an idiot, there are better things to read, I'd recommend watching the google IO talks, get a buddy to learn with. Honestly, I've never read a python book cover to cover, but I feel pretty comfortable with the language from just googling "How do I do X in Python" millions of times, usually if a link comes back to docs.python.org, I click that one first. The docs are wonderful, you don't need a book.

But, since JS is one of the most important languages due to it's integration with the most common form of media distribution in our time, I'd recommend reading / watching talks by Douglas Crockford. Check out Javascript: The Definitive Guide and Javascript: The Good Parts. The second one is a little easier to digest, while the first is really the definitive guide.

In both cases, I'd recommend doing the challenges on hackerrank.com.

u/VampireCampfire · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

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:

    1. Learn the fundamentals via one resource
    1. Stick with a resource you choose from start to finish
    1. Use your learned knowledge to build your own websites/projects
u/wreckedadvent · 3 pointsr/learnjavascript

Functional programming is notoriously difficult to teach due to people learning it and getting stuck in jargon. Then it becomes almost impenetrable when you combine that with a language with a totally new syntax (like haskell). There's an old joke that's somewhat tired but expresses this well: "what's so hard about monads? It's just a monoid in the category of endofunctors".

That all being said, I think that means the best way to seriously get into it is to avoid resources that focus on jargon. Unfortunately javascript is not a great language for FP, so most of the great resources I can think of focus on other languages:

  • F# for fun and profit is basically everything I just said, but for F# (this specifically talk really helped me but check out the whole website):
    https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/rop/

  • I've been consuming content from Mark Seemann for a while. I liked his book on dependency injection a lot, but he also gives good talks on some functional stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US8QG9I1XW0

  • LYAH (learn you a haskell) is somewhat obligatory. I don't really like it too much since it almost immediately delves into typeclasses (which I think are very intimidating to a newbie) but I would feel bad not giving it a mention: http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters

  • The little schemer is a good way to pick up LISP (and you will eventually pick up LISP if you stay in functional circles long enough, the language is just too perfect). LISP is especially good for getting you out of thinking of things in imperative steps and more like streams of data (which is the big take-away).

  • On the javascript side of things, react and react-likes can actually be a decent way to start thinking functionally, if you avoid the class-based stateful components. Redux takes a lot of lessons learned from FP. I picked up react many, many moons ago so I don't remember any good resources there, sorry.

  • The elixir home page is very dry, but focuses on learning a functional language pragmatically and without a lot of the higher-level jargon.

  • Rust! The rust book is one of the better programming books I've read, and rust will probably be the most approachable thing on the list if your background is javascript, especially if you're already comfortable with how promises work. Rust is heavily influenced by functional languages, to the point it doesn't even have exceptions.
u/Ob101010 · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

And if you look at the comments attached to that same thread youd see :

> "Good coding practice" should never be sufficient reason in itself. It amounts to "some guys on the internet said this is how my code should look".

And if you bothered to actually read Crockfords notes on this matter :

> All variables should be declared before used. JavaScript does not require this, but doing so makes the program easier to read and makes it easier to detect undeclared variables that may become implied globals. Implied global variables should never be used. Use of global variables should be minimized.

> The var statement should be the first statement in the function body.

> It is preferred that each variable be given its own line and comment. They should be listed in alphabetical order if possible.

Source : http://javascript.crockford.com/code.html#variable%20declarations

Youll see that he never says 'always using var is good coding practice'. He says to declare them before use (and I suggest giving them a value too), but nothing about requiring var or var being part of good practices. And why is this? Because traversing up the scope chain (or not) is a feature of the language, and not a bad one if you bother to watch his video or read his book.

Crockfords video (should be required watching for all javascript devs) His video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQVTIJBZook

And his book, Javascript the good parts

u/psiph · 3 pointsr/learnjavascript

Hello Teyk5,

I'm the author of the post you referenced. I'm looking for suggestions on my next post. I'm curious if you'd want to see another start to finish tutorial or if you'd rather see a sequel to the original post, where I explain how to add on to and refactor an application. Also, are there any particular technologies you'd want to explore? Knockout.js, Angular.js, or Ember.js for example -- or do you just want to stick with the basics for now?

I know it might be weird to recommend a Python book here, but I found that I learned a lot from just the first few chapters of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Python-Programming-Introduction-Computer-Science/dp/1590282418/ I learned about how to organize my code and how to think through from the beginning to the end when creating a new program. I would highly recommend that book if you're at all interested in Python. All the knowledge you learn there you'll be able to transfer over to Javascript (besides some of the syntax of course).

For pure Javascript stuff, I'd strongly recommend just starting your own project. It can be incredibly difficult at first, but it's by far the best and fastest way to learn if you can force yourself to stick with it. I'd also recommend checking out these two tutorials:

u/Cantum2 · 13 pointsr/learnjavascript

When I was starting to learn JS which was not that long ago at all and I am still learning I started with this video series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz5rnvLVJX5VdVNddvRTj68X6miAWQ5pz

.then this one
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz1XPAFf8IxbIU78QL158l_KlN9CvH5fg&disable_polymer=true

.then this one
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9jAhrjtZ9U93UMIhnCc44MH

.then I read:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596517742/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

.then I read: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1430264489/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118871650/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

.then I read:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1491904240/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1491904240/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

.then
When I felt like I had a good enough grasp on vanillajs I started a giant project in Angularjs. Where I advanced my skills with git big time. Other resources I used are:
Atom: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYzJdSdNWNqwNWlxz7bvu-lOYR0CFWQ4I

Rest api with MEN (lol): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9jBcybHMTIia56aV21o2cZ8

Docs are great for js: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript

These were good for angularjs just incase you were interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlUCU13dJyo&list=PL4cUxeGkcC9gsJS5QgFT2IvWIX78dV3_v

Honestly I cant link one of this guys videos because they all help sooooo much:
https://www.youtube.com/user/shiffman

u/N8Programs · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

Things have changed a lot! A good summary would be:

Front-End Frameworks: Robust libraries that make developing good-looking UIs easier and make your code more scalable. (ex: Vue, React)

No More Frames: Only the <iframe> tag remains. The use of frames is discouraged, and CSS flexbox (a responsive style that makes your site work for desktop and mobile if used correctly) is used.

Fancy New Paradigms: It is no longer encouraged to program javascript in traditional OOP styles with classes + inheritance. Instead, a paradigm called Functional Programming is encouraged. Functional Programming drifts away from classes and inheritance, and towards functions, and specifically, higher order functions. In addition, creating mutable variables in excess has fallen out of favor.

So, while a lot has changed, if you know Java 8, are familiar with Lambda Expressions + Closure, and ready to devote some time to JavaScript and the frontend, you'll be making near-professional to professional looking websites in around 6 months (at least, that is my experience). And even if you aren't, JavaScript isn't hard to learn. I would recommend the following books + websites:

MDN - Good JavaScript Resource + Tons of documentation. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

Javascript: The Good Parts - https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742 (Bit outdated)

How Javascript Works - https://howjavascriptworks.com/ (Recent)

Javascript: The Definitive Guide - https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-Activate-Guides/dp/0596805527 (Bit outdated)

u/jdauriemma · 1 pointr/learnjavascript
  1. Depending on the app you're building, certain libraries and frameworks will help you keep your code cleaner and your business logic more apparent.

  2. Useful and good are not the same. PHP is not good, but useful. jQuery is good and useful, and is a dependency of many libraries and frameworks. A foundational knowledge of jQuery is a must for web developers, IMO.

  3. You're talking a lot about what you're reading, but what are you writing? I'd say keep the books you have, learn git, start making projects that interest you, and put them on github. That said, this: http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742 is a good book once you have an understanding of JS basics.

  4. Talk to developers. There's a lot of BS out there on blogs and social media from self-promoters and content aggregators. Go to meetups in your area and learn from the people doing what you want to do.
u/bifurcation_ · 3 pointsr/learnjavascript

I'm currently going through this Kindle book, A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript, and its associated website, in parallel with Eloquent JavaScript.

I personally feel like I understand better if I read a book with coding exercises, than through sites like Codecademy. Both books have their own coding environments on their sites, to be used with the books. Eloquent JS is much more dense in terms of reading material, so she may or may not choose to read it at the same time or at all.

The "Smarter" book is short, divided into easily digestible chunks of brief chapters, and has quizzes online to test your understanding of the material and to drill the syntax. It doesn't just tell you about a bunch of syntax then say, "Ok, solve this coding challenge; it's easy!" And then, you're left wondering how to start. So far I like this approach because it is a very gentle introduction to the language and its syntax. I think it's a great primer for wrapping one's head around the language, before getting into other heavier materials. Many books that are labeled for beginners make a lot of assumptions about your knowledge going in. This one really is beginner friendly. Other amazon reviewers seem to agree. It's not free, but it's inexpensive.

About me, for reference: I'm a girl (in case that matters). :D I've dabbled a little bit in trying to learn Python and Ruby, but I can't say that I can program at all really, just enough to be familiar with basic concepts like variables, conditional statements, and loops. I'd say I'm intermediate with HTML/CSS.

u/counttossula · 4 pointsr/learnjavascript

you should learn to learn on your own. use your favorite search engine for each thing you want to learn about. my favorite search term is "_____ MDN", fill in the blank with whatever(".map MDN").

or buy a phone book like this one https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flanagan/dp/0596000480

edit: good free book https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS/blob/master/up%20&%20going/README.md#you-dont-know-js-up--going

thinking chair edit: lol, read the ECMAScript 2016 Specifications here http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/7.0/index.html#

u/scripteaze · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

Great book, I'm sure many will agree is "A Smarter Way To Learn JS"

  • Possibly unrelated but Udumy is on sale 9.99 for everything until i believe the 29th, in case anyone is interested. Just a heads up. Yes they are always having a sale, but just in case you were waiting for the 9.99 one.
u/Bizkitgto · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

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!

u/Shty_Dev · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

You Don't Know Javascript is a good resource, and can be read free at the linked repo or purchased in book format

​

if you want to get very deep,Professional Javascript For Web Developers 4th edition recently was published and I am very impressed with it so far

u/MadCapitalist · 10 pointsr/learnjavascript

For me, Head First JavaScript Programming was a lifesaver when I first started learning JS. I just wish that I had started with it.

I also recommend the You Don't Know JS series.

u/GoodVelo · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

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!

u/iTipTurtles · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

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?

u/_skywalker · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

This is a good book for that. There's also many tutorials online, googling will help you out, and check Codepen.io as well.

u/JasonLiao · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

We all know Professional JavaScript for Web Developers is a fantastic book for the JavaScript beginner. And the author also has a book about ES6 called Understanding ECMAScript 6, hope this help :)

u/cakerunner · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

Just a head's up: EloquentJS will go over your head really fast really soon if you've no introduction to programming to begin with. I struggled with it and am still not nearly halfway through. Instead I've focused on other tutorials like ASmarterWayToLearnJS to help me understand the fundamentals better before diving into EloquentJS. As others have suggested, try some of the online tutorials first so you don't get overwhelmed.

u/Pantstown · 6 pointsr/learnjavascript

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

u/hmsimha · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

> Professional Javascript for Web Developers (which is like the bible of core JS)

Here's what I don't get about this. I read through some of this book and got shot down on Hacker News in a conversation about ECMAscript vs Javascript.

Apparently, the author's claim that Javascript is composed of 3 distinct parts (Ecmascript, DOM, BOM) is completely false. For anyone interested, you can see what I'm talking about on page 3 of the Amazon preview

Not sure why a book that has such a significant mistake at the very beginning would be held in such high regard.

u/chubasco · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

I second CodeSchool. If you are serious about learning web development quickly, it is worth the cost. You probably should supplement it with something heavier like Professional JavaScript for Web Developers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118026691?pc_redir=1409835416&robot_redir=1

u/liaguris · 6 pointsr/learnjavascript

I learnt ( in fact I am still learning ) JS from YDKJS ( all books read almost 80% , you can view them legally here ) , EJ (read almost 60% , you can download it legally from here , the site of the book is here ) and MDN , with a background of : I know what if and for does and i also know what a function is . My advice is to jump from one resource to another if you feel you are stuck . Also I did not read them linearly . Another book that is useful although a bit outdated is DOM enlightment (read almost 20% of it) . I do believe that professional JS , and javascript.info are also worth to take a look .

Other resources for JS are a meh from me .

I have no clue about the third book in the video .

edit : js the definitive guide is also worth looking although a bit outdated .

u/memilanuk · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

Take a look @ "A Smarter Way to learn Javascript"... e-book with companion website that has lots n lots of exercises

u/sitefall · 11 pointsr/learnjavascript

You're an experienced programmer: this


You're a mathematician/scientist/engineer/etc: this



You are "ok" with another language: this


You're more of a "video tutorial" learner: this (and your local library probably gives you free access, seriously check)


You're completely new to programming: this


You're 9 years old: this

u/asdflol4321 · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

I found this book, does anyone have any thoughts on this book please share :D

u/schm0 · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

No, I have not yet approached the instructor about this. The entire book uses inline HTML event handlers. Unfortunately, I am not in charge of choosing the books for our curricula.

I've already started reading about event handlers in javascript, and I have been supplementing my own education by reading Eloquent Javascript and Professional Javascript for Web Developers. However, for my class we're forced to read the book and use its examples.

I've already pointed out that one of the examples, when using the text provided from the textbook and even after converting to HTML5, simply will not work at all in IE. In another instance, we were doing online introductions and I mentioned I was working through EJ and she started asking me about whether or not I thought it would be good as a textbook in class. I'm pretty sure she's aware of the flaws of the book, but just hasn't been able to settle on a modern replacement.

It's driving me crazy to know that I'm not learning standard best practices, but I just don't know how to proceed. Do I really have to be "that guy" that calls the teacher out on their textbook? Is it ok for me to ask that I create all my event handlers properly in javascript instead of the way the book teaches?

u/jwicked207 · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

> Professional JavaScript for Web Developers

I don't know of any significant differences between editions but I'm using the 3rd edition(latest) published in Jan of 2012:

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-JavaScript-Developers-Nicholas-Zakas/dp/1118026691

u/jjnguy · 2 pointsr/learnjavascript

I'm not a big learn by book person, but this book really helped me understand JavaScript. http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742

u/V381 · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

Hey, I had problems to with that book, it was very dry and hard to understand.
Easiest book I found on learning Javascript is:
http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology-ebook/dp/B00H1W9I6C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1395283560&sr=8-7&keywords=javascript

Very little text, and plenty of exercises that you do online at book site. Try that book and goodluck.

u/GregFoley · 5 pointsr/learnjavascript

Forget that other stuff for now and just get Head First JavaScript Programming. It's the droid you are looking for.

u/ssosina · 1 pointr/learnjavascript

I'm building sites with, minimal amount of JavaScript. I first read "professional javascript for web developers" by Nicholas Zakas and never really completed it, as it was just boring to look at.