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How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

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Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#61

Post by brlewis »

skipants wrote: post #60
brlewis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's definitely worthwhile moving past jQuery, but no you don't have to do everything described in this article. There's a lightweight framework called Mithril that when used with MSX will give you the feel of React, i.e. the state of your app flows in a straightforward way from the state of your objects, rather than from a series of imperative jQuery operations. Just start with this example and customize to wha…

This comment is kind of ironic, isn't it? OP asked whether he has to use a framework (albeit a seemingly-complicated one) and you suggest another framework for him to use. Not saying you're wrong, or anything. I just found it kind of funny.

What comment are you referring to where someone asks whether he has to use a framework? The comment I'm answering is this one:

I guess I'm behind the times in that I still use jQuery. Is it really worthwhile to go through everything described in this article to create a simple filterable table?

There's a vast difference between everything described in this article and using a framework.

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#63

Post by istjohn »

This was spot on for me as a hobbyist who has returned to JS after a hiatus of roughly 3 years. On the one hand, it's exciting to see JS evolving into a sophisticated language with dozens of new constructs specced out. On the other hand, as a casual enthusiast I feel trapped between using a small subset of the features available, or wrestling with a tangle of temporary crutches while implementations catch up with the new standards.

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#64

Post by voidfunc »

Just a couple days I got into a conversation with my coworker about UI stuff. I had to test something against our dev UI. Last time I did UI work was back when having index.html, img/, css/ and js/ directories with maybe a script or two was the norm. I had to fucking run make and I still have no fucking idea what was going on when I ran make which compiled a bunch of shit. There was all this NPM shit going on (isn't NPM part of Node.js which is a server-side framework? WTF?). I got it working and promptly noped the fuck out that horror show.

The web is a giant fucking pile of dog shit in 2016.

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#66

Post by at-fates-hands »

FrancoDiaz wrote: post #50
at-fates-hands wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> You would be fine just learning ES6, a front-end technology like Angular or React, and a bundler like Webpack In nearly every circle of developers I know, they insist you learn plain, vanilla JS first. Jumping in Angular without knowing what a JS object is, understanding how closures work, understanding callbacks, or understanding how JS's "this" works in detail. All things someone should be fluent with before the…

I was assuming that JavaScript would already be known to a certain degree. I would actually recommend React over Angular for a beginner, because (assuming Angular 2 here) they're going to have to learn Typescript too. That's a big undertaking. A beginner could also use plain old ES5 with a JSX transpiler right in web page with React. VueJs might be a better choice than both of those, but much more limited job opportu…

>> I was assuming that JavaScript would already be known to a certain degree.

That's totally fair and then I would completely agree with your comment.

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#67

Post by sotojuan »

blacksmythe wrote: post #55
FrancoDiaz wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "flavor of the week" is mostly a meme. You would be fine just learning ES6, a front-end technology like Angular or React, and a bundler like Webpack. Learning Webpack is painful, but there are other choices. The front-end is harder IMHO, but as another poster mentioned, the opportunities are tremendous.

>> fine just learning ES6, a front-end technology like Angular (2) or React And in 2015 you would have been just fine learning Ember or Angular 2. And in 2014 you would have been just fine learning Angular 1 or Ember. And in 2013 you would have been just fine learning Backbone and Ember. And in 2012 you would have been just fine learning Knockout and Backbone...

So Ember's the right choice? :-)

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#68

Post by jpinnix »

theseanz wrote: post #58
natmaster wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

React is really very simple. It only takes a short amount of time to learn it, and then when you do you won't get headaches all the time trying to keep track of state. You don't need to know all the toolchains and crap if you just use create-react-app.

I did not have a simple experience with React. I did front end development for years, ending with jQuery-driven AJAX sites pulling from REST APIs (2013), and when I tried to learn React this year it was all voodoo. Is there a good tutorial out there for lapsed front-end devs?

reactforbeginners.com

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#69

Post by rtkwe »

sotojuan wrote: post #67
blacksmythe wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> fine just learning ES6, a front-end technology like Angular (2) or React And in 2015 you would have been just fine learning Ember or Angular 2. And in 2014 you would have been just fine learning Angular 1 or Ember. And in 2013 you would have been just fine learning Backbone and Ember. And in 2012 you would have been just fine learning Knockout and Backbone...

So Ember's the right choice? :-)

No no no Ember is too old to take advantage of $featureX that you just HAVE to use. There's a couple forks like Coal or Ash that try to enable it but you're still stuck using Embers $designPatternThatWasHotShit5MinutesAgo instead of $newDesignPattern.

Re: How it feels to learn JavaScript in 2016

#70

Post by arctangent »

voidfunc wrote: post #64

Just a couple days I got into a conversation with my coworker about UI stuff. I had to test something against our dev UI. Last time I did UI work was back when having index.html, img/, css/ and js/ directories with maybe a script or two was the norm. I had to fucking run make and I still have no fucking idea what was going on when I ran make which compiled a bunch of shit. There was all this NPM shit going on (isn't…

It doesn't have to be this way. Unfortunately, we live in a world where younger developers "show their skill" by making things overcomplicated in order to create unnecessary barriers to entry to our proto-profession. My usual response is to refuse to work on such a project if I don't have the authority to change how things are done to make them more sane.
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