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Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

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Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#91

Post by tuananh »

gmiller123456 wrote: post #49
fredophile wrote: post #22

I found JavaScript: The Good Parts useful. It's very short and gets right to the point. The author focuses on the parts of the language people tend to use every day and highlights some gotchas and common mistakes that you might not expect (like == vs ===) if you're coming in from other languages.

IMHO, this is not a good book for learning JavasScript. It's probably a good read for someone with intermediate knowledge of JavaScript looking to expand their understanding of the language. But it covers nothing about the DOM, or how to use it on a web page, which is what virtually 100% of anyone learning JavaScript will be wanting to learn it for. So, yes you can learn the language from this book, but if you actual…

Agree. For fun, yes but for new people to learn about JavaScript, no.

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#92

Post by nfriedly »

partizanos wrote: post #81
payne92 wrote: post #53

And anti-answer: consider learning JavaScript from something other than a book. The publication cycle for conventional box is relatively long, relative to the pace of technology evolution. By the time the author writes it, it's published, and you read it, the information can be dated, sometimes extremely so. There are gobs of online resources, and the best resource is rarely mentioned: reading other peoples code. Onc…

Which ones would you propose as "good-to-be-read" js projects?

I'd recommend reading the source of things you're working with (or want to work with) first.

If you're doing front-end work, then React and Redux (or Angular, or jQuery, or whatever.)

If you're doing Node.js, try reading through the lib/ folder of Node's source (the js code goes in lib/, the c++ goes in src/), and follow that with packages like express and request.

When you hit an interesting/confusing/etc. dependency, track it down and read it's source too.

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#93

Post by thojac »

old_chap wrote: post #64
cdumler wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My go to for people new to JS.

I'm learning Javascript. I can safely say im comfortable with most fundemental programming concepts...then the book starts talking about recursive functions. Suffice to say once I hit that section I went back to codeacademy finished the course (which never brought them up and I'm not sure if that's good or bad) now I'm back in Eloquent Javascript...it get's really hard really fast.

To get comfortable with recursion, you should check out a simple functional language like Scheme (https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html)

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#94

Post by ciw1973 »

"Eloquent Javascript" (http://eloquentjavascript.net/) definitely gets my vote, as it starts with concepts that someone new to programming would need to understand before diving into the specifics of the language. Available to read online for free, although well worth spending money on a physical copy to thumb through, but it may be a little too slow to get going for someone who already has experience with other languages.

For developers, I'd recommend Kyle Simpson's "You Don't Know JS" books, in particular "This & Object Prototypes", followed by "Scopes & Closures". Well written, with plenty of example code, these are deep dives into specific areas which make Javascript different/weird. They're available to read in his Github repo (https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS), but consider buying them, as he deserves to get paid.

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#95

Post by ciw1973 »

"Eloquent Javascript" (http://eloquentjavascript.net/) definitely gets my vote, as it starts with concepts that someone new to programming would need to understand before diving into the specifics of the language. Available to read online for free, although well worth spending money on a physical copy to thumb through, but it may be a little too slow to get going for someone who already has experience with other languages.

For developers, I'd recommend Kyle Simpson's "You Don't Know JS" books, in particular "This & Object Prototypes", followed by "Scopes & Closures". Well written, with plenty of example code, these are deep dives into specific areas which make Javascript different/weird. They're available to read in his Github repo (https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS), but consider buying them, as he deserves to get paid.

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#97

Post by koshelew »

Having conducted over 100 interviews for JS positions, here is my advice.

- You have to start with ECMA5. 95% of new features in later versions can be transpiled back to it, and examining resulting code is usually the easiest way to comprehend them. Oh, how many candidates I've seen that talk about 'modern classes' with a flare and then can't explain prototypical inheritance at all. So, the best start is "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition".

- Be very careful about what you read online. Blog platforms are full of script kiddies trying to feed you their misconceptions without a second thought. I generally only 'trust' two sources - Mozilla Developer Network and http://2ality.com/ by Axel Rauschmayer (I believe his books are mentioned in other answers too).

- Whenever you are faced with a particular library/technology - look from books/posts from their creators or someone associated with them.

Re: Ask HN: Best current book to learn JavaScript?

#99

Post by cfus89 »

payne92 wrote: post #53

And anti-answer: consider learning JavaScript from something other than a book. The publication cycle for conventional box is relatively long, relative to the pace of technology evolution. By the time the author writes it, it's published, and you read it, the information can be dated, sometimes extremely so. There are gobs of online resources, and the best resource is rarely mentioned: reading other peoples code. Onc…

All excellent points payne92. More than that,JavaScript study for a front-end developer(for example) demand MongoDB. Or you must know elementary programming in any language first off.
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