Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#1

Post by Ocho-Bits » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 5:34 AM UTC

I'm starting my developer career in this area, I'll love to hear some opinions from you guys. What should I learn? Know?

Thanks.

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#2

Post by dstein » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 5:53 AM UTC

Write a video game using JavaScript/Canvas. Game programming is the fast track to becoming a great developer because of the mix of skills it requires (math/algebra, animation, graphics, sound, resource management, testing and debugging).

And don't cheat by using some fancy pants game engine.

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#3

Post by aonic » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 6:03 AM UTC

Start with basic HTML/CSS knowledge, understand the CSS/DOM rendering differences between browsers. Learn jQuery, and JavaScript in general.

Understand the DOM, and how traversing in jQuery/JS works. Understand and learn how to debug JavaScript, and CSS rendering.

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#4

Post by bee » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 9:10 AM UTC

A scripting language (PHP,ASP,Python,etc), sql, html, js, css. And the best way to start learning is to start doing projects, smaller at first, then bigger and bigger. You can try doing some project with something that you need.

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#5

Post by malandrew » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 9:20 AM UTC

Designing w/ Web Standards, 3rd edition by Jeffrey Zeldman

Dom Scripting by Jeremy Keith

Eloquent Javascript by Marijn Haverbeke - http://eloquentjavascript.net/

Learning JQuery by Jonathan Chaffer

"Dive into HTML5" by Mark Pilgrim - http://diveintohtml5.org/

"CSS - The Definitive Guide" by Eric Meyer

"Javascript - The Good Parts" by Douglas Crockford

==========================================

Those should pretty much cover everything you must know if you are starting now. Start with Zeldman's book first and end with Crockford's book, besides that go ahead and choose your own adventure by reading the rest in any order you want.

While you will probably get more practical usage out of reading Learning JQuery before DOM Scripting, I think you will get more value out of Learning JQuery if you read DOM Scripting first.

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#6

Post by Ocho-Bits » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 2:42 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #5

Designing w/ Web Standards, 3rd edition by Jeffrey Zeldman Dom Scripting by Jeremy Keith Eloquent Javascript by Marijn Haverbeke - http://eloquentjavascript.net/ Learning JQuery by Jonathan Chaffer "Dive into HTML5" by Mark Pilgrim - http://diveintohtml5.org/ "CSS - The Definitive Guide" by Eric Meyer "Javascript - The Good Parts" by Douglas Crockford ========================================== Those should pretty muc…

Great suggestions. Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Which skills do you think a front-end developer should have?

#7

Post by Ocho-Bits » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 2:44 PM UTC

dstein wrote: post #2

Write a video game using JavaScript/Canvas. Game programming is the fast track to becoming a great developer because of the mix of skills it requires (math/algebra, animation, graphics, sound, resource management, testing and debugging). And don't cheat by using some fancy pants game engine.

Great idea! I'll always wanted to write a video game and also learn canvas.