(Part 2) Best products from r/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!

I highly recommend the book Head First Ajax by Rebecca Riordan. Ultimately, you may decide to use a framework like jQuery for simplifying the XMLHttpRequest API, but this book really helps explain AJAX, how it works, and how to write AJAX requests using vanilla JavaScript.

The Head First books are especially helpful for beginners, I really like the approach they take to teaching you in ways that are visual and make it easier to remember.

> Want to make web apps, games, use it to validate forms, send/get data via ajax, make image sliders on site, win 8 store apps...?

I am very much in the same boat as the OP. I'm working through Eloquent Javascript at the moment but I'd like to start working on some very basic practical exercises other than print statements. My answer to the above question would be "Yes."

The links you provided are helpful, thank you!

EDIT: One thing, I found a book called HTML5 in action but the authors did not include anyone named Manning. Is this it?

the programming language isn't particularly as important as the methodology. the wiki is actually a pretty decent place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_automation

google and microsoft both used to have dedicated roles for these types of folks: SET/SDET software engineers/developers in test. i'm not sure if they still do or if it's more that every software engineer they hire needs to also have those skills. you basically need to be a capable software engineer while also knowing things about software testing.

folks at google wrote a book that was a decent read: https://www.amazon.com/Google-Tests-Software-James-Whittaker/dp/0321803027

i would say the best place to start is to make sure you're writing decent unit tests for your c# code at work. get familiar with continuous integration and deployment systems and start thinking more about higher levels of testing.

A year from now you will look at your code and say the exact same thing. One of the best ways is to simply write and read a lot of code. http://www.amazon.com/The-Clean-Coder-Professional-Programmers/dp/0137081073 This is a book a lot of people recommended you may want to give it a look. Here is a breif guide of javascript design patterns http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/understanding-design-patterns-in-javascript--net-25930 Another design related link http://addyosmani.com/scalablejs/ I havent gotten the chance to read it myself but the author is very knowledgeable so I have faith its high quality.

My personal favorite way to learn how to structure code is to read tutorials and see how the author designed his program. From there I try to understand why they structured their code that way and compare it to how I would have done it. Lastly, your english is fine. :)

Here are a few of my favorites:

Design patterns:

• http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/#designpatternsjavascript
  
• https://leanpub.com/javascript-allonge/read
  
• https://leanpub.com/javascript-spessore/read
  
  The JavaScript language:
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Effective-JavaScript-Specific-Software-Development/dp/0321812182
  
• http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742
  
  And as a general language reference, MDN is the best: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/
  
  Hope that helps!

Give Eloquent JavaScript a whirl. It’s a bit terse for absolute beginners, but should be good for someone who knows Python.

Or, if data is your thing, try Data Visualisation with Python and JavaScript. The author’s JS isn’t perfect IMHO, but it has the advantage of building on stuff that you probably already know.

I can't tell you anything about Code Avengers, but the Codecademy course, even after the major overhaul they did to improve it, the javascript courses(and a lot of the other courses, but we'll leave those out) are still lacking in my opinion. Some are just soooo awfully written that you're forced to go to the Q&A section to just copy and paste and answer. Even on the courses that were understandable and worked alright, they were monotonous and I also feel that some of the lessons were stretched out for some reason; perhaps for fear that the information wouldn't stick.

However, I don't think that sites like that should necessarily be used for learning; I'd rather point you to books such as this and video tutorials for really learning the language. Sites like codecademy are positively wonderful for review; I doubt there's a more engaging way of reviewing and fine-tuning your mind for programming other than actively using the language, which is what really makes a programmer.

Proof of my account

Everyone says it, because it is true. The best way to learn a language is to work with it. Put up a personal website, and start writing little code bits to do different things.

If you want to learn the language and understand the technical details of it, I recommend this book. I bring one of these pocket books with me whenever my wife makes me go with her to a store.

http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Pocket-Reference-OReilly/dp/1449316859/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420511897&sr=1-2&keywords=javascript+o%27reilly

Here's the thing;

You can look at learning a programming language like learning a spoken language. You can get by just learning key phrases like "where is bathroom" and the equivalent to limited personal pronouns like document.getElementById().

But to really learn the language, and how it works you have to get into the nuts and bolts. Understand prototype inheritance, what javascript types are beyond string and int, you have to read a book like this.

Having said that, beginner books are great so long as you read with that realization.

I started with O'Reilly | Javascript & jQuery: The Missing Manual and it was good to me. Haven't read it in too long and I'm by no means an expert, but have fond memories.

Does the back end receive the price of the item from the client's HTTP request or does the back end get the price from a separate server? If it's getting it from the front end, that is bad practice. What you would want to do is attach some piece of meta-data to every type of item sold. Typically this is handled via an SKU, UPC code, or manufacturer's code. Now you can check the price of each item by checking another server for the price for that given SKU/UPC code.

Think of your application from this structure:

1. Product Showcase / front end of the website
   
   
2. Shopping cart
   
   
3. Back-end and database
   
   Each product should have an SKU, UPC, or manufacturer's code attached to it. Take this DDR4 memory as an example from Amazon. At the end of the title of the product we have "HX429C15PB3AK2/16". This is a manufacturer's code and it's used to specify the exact model of RAM in question. For your client, you could use this information to do a lookup on another server for the price.
   
   If you're not too familiar with it, I would also recommend you look into the MVC or Model-View-Controller paradigm to get an understanding of how the front end should interact with the back-end so that very little user input is actually trusted by the back-end.
   
   However the key thing to look into is: does your contract specify that YOU must build out the shopping cart application or can this be handled through a third-party application?
   
   A key thing you'll really need to spend time investing in and learning is PCI Compliance. In order to handle credit card transactions across the internet, generally a credit card company requires the vendor/merchant they're working with to be PCI compliant.

These really helped me...

A Smarter Way To Learn HTML and A Smarter Way To Learn Javascript

Never heard of it. Looked it up:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1949815005/

> Douglas Crockford starts by looking at the fundamentals: names, numbers, booleans, characters, and bottom values. JavaScript’s number type is shown to be faulty and limiting, but then Crockford shows how to repair those problems. He then moves on to data structures and functions, exploring the underlying mechanisms and then uses higher order functions to achieve class-free object oriented programming. The book also looks at eventual programming, testing, and purity, all the while looking at the requirements of The Next Language. Most of our languages are deeply rooted in the paradigm that produced FORTRAN. Crockford attacks those roots, liberating us to consider the next paradigm.He also presents a strawman language and develops a complete transpiler to implement it. The book is deep, dense, full of code, and has moments when it is intentionally funny.

If I had to guess, I would say books tend to appeal more to those learning JavaScript and this book seems to cover more advanced topics which could make it less appealing. Its also still early. The book hasn't been out for a month yet. But my first impression is that the cover is not doing much to help. To me it looks dated :P

He's correct; JavaScript for Kids is a great book!

I liked reading Zakas's books, like this one: Understanding ECMAScript 6: The Definitive Guide for JavaScript Developers, and his object-oriented javascript book.

Great, I've been wanting to join the previous groups, hope I can follow now, I am a backend developer with a serious front-end disfunction hehe, and I need it badly for my current project, we use lots of backbone.

Do you have a planned roadmap for the 8 weeks that I missed, or you will post weekly plans?

I've been wanting to dig into FP, what are your thoughts on the http://www.amazon.com/Functional-JavaScript-Introducing-Programming-Underscore-js/dp/1449360726 book? would it be a good mix for this course?

PS. I've tried to finish the good parts, I never can. Also I bought the javascript ninja book, but I never started it...

Thanks!

I bought these, i havent gotten to the javascript portion yet, but this book is really really good.. I recommend it. You can get them separate.

I have https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01C2XX8Y2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500323890&sr=1-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=Loiane+Groner and it's pretty solid.

I prefer Algorithms by Sedgewick and Wayne though honestly. It's written with Java but the syntax is so close and they don't use any advanced language features so the transition to JavaScript is trivial.

Maybe try using both if you want. I used the first for AVL trees and the second for red-black trees since that's what they covered respectively for self-balancing search trees.

Also sorry for any weird formatting. I posted this comment on my phone and the Reddit client really blows

What mobile phone are you on that is so shitty that links are difficult? Buy nexus 5x cheap and great! Get the Reddit relay app!.

For OP:


https://www.udacity.com/course/javascript-basics--ud804

http://www.amazon.com/Object-Oriented-JavaScript-high-quality-applications-libraries/dp/1847194141

https://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/


http://javascriptissexy.com

Im in the same boat as you are, here's a few things Ive come across:

Data Structures in Javascript with Visualizations & Hands-on Exercises

Traditional Computer Science algorithms and data structures implemented in JavaScript

Learning JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms

Javascript Artificial Intelligence: Made Easy

I don't know, man... there's tons of stuff out there. Just a simple Google search:

http://www.techfutureclassroom.com/projects/code-in-javascript-with-intel-and-coderdojo/play/code-in-javascript-with-intel-and-coderdojo/more-about-algorithms/algorithms-in-javascript/

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-JavaScript-Data-Structures-Algorithms/dp/1783554878

Sounds like you know JavaScript, so why not just find a good source on algorithms and solve them using the language you know?

I hate to sound like a dick, but go hire a programmer or read a couple books. This is /r/learnjavascript, not /r/domyworkforfree