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How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

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Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#161

Post by mkawia »

smlacy wrote: post #90

No. Not this. Net even close to this. Let me illustrate: How to become great at Sports: - Read books about sports. - Watch other people play sports. - Read in-depth analysis of past sports games. How to become great at Playing Violin: - Read books about playing violin. - Real sheet music by the great masters. - Listen to many concerts. It's inherently obvious that the above approaches are totally and completely wrong…

People already 'practice Javascript' a lot .It's the only language where people start writing without ever formally learning it.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#162

Post by ohitsdom »

a3n wrote: post #77
wlesieutre wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't gotten much into Javascript yet, but is there any reason I would not terminate with semicolons? Without understanding which "certain cases" won't have them inserted automatically, relying on that feels like asking for trouble.

My understanding is that the original decision was to make life easier for the programmer: if you forget, we'll put one in there for you. Myself, I'd rather be told that I made a mistake, then have it ignored, because how does the compiler know what I really wanted? Here's a good one: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18986144/javascript-compi... Instead of being told there's some problem with the code, it inserts a…

> Would probably make compiler writers' jobs easier if they just spit out errors.

If this is your preference, JSLint has you covered. Really, every JS developer should be using a linter and tweak it to fit their coding preferences.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#164

Post by agumonkey »

smlacy wrote: post #90

No. Not this. Net even close to this. Let me illustrate: How to become great at Sports: - Read books about sports. - Watch other people play sports. - Read in-depth analysis of past sports games. How to become great at Playing Violin: - Read books about playing violin. - Real sheet music by the great masters. - Listen to many concerts. It's inherently obvious that the above approaches are totally and completely wrong…

I agree, one must oscillate between theory and practive. Acquire data, follow your intuitions, reflect on it, explore alternatives, communicate with others a little.

What do you think about Platonic teaching ? asking question to direct exploration without giving 'free' (~bad) knowledge.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#165

Post by tempodox »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #87
tempodox wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As minimalistic as your comment is, I think it points to the single most important truth about JS: It's practically impossible for human beings to write “good” JS code. The only hope you have is using a sane language with sane concepts that can be compiled down to the JavaScript of the week (ES6, ASM.js, the works...). I would argue that JS should be handled analogously to Assembler: Good for you if you understand it…

> I think it points to the single most important truth about JS: It's practically impossible for human beings to write “good” JS code. I'm sorry, but that's just an absurd statement. JS isn't that bad or confusing.

So, what's the point of WebAssembly?

https://brendaneich.com/2015/06/from-asm-js-to-webassembly/

Do you write that manually, too?

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#166

Post by mikejholly »

smlacy wrote: post #90

No. Not this. Net even close to this. Let me illustrate: How to become great at Sports: - Read books about sports. - Watch other people play sports. - Read in-depth analysis of past sports games. How to become great at Playing Violin: - Read books about playing violin. - Real sheet music by the great masters. - Listen to many concerts. It's inherently obvious that the above approaches are totally and completely wrong…

This is bad advice. Theory is vastly more important in computer science and math. Given your logic, one will simply practice their way to linear algebra, machine learning or AI. Good luck with that. There's a giant toolbox of shortcuts that seem like magic to the inexperienced. Becoming a great _user of tools_ (programming languages, etc.) is level 1.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#167

Post by jhildings »

edwinnathaniel wrote: post #89
jhildings wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you been doing a lot of JS for web stuff, and used SO etc to check things but don't have a thorough understanding of the language I would recommend the book "JavaScript the good parts"

JavaScript the Good Parts shouldn't be the recommended book anymore (and I think even Crockford himself said something along that line in one of his newer videos, couldn't find it though... it's been a while)

Why not? I found it more useful than Eloquent Javascript at least

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#168

Post by aaron-lebo »

tempodox wrote: post #165
aaron-lebo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it points to the single most important truth about JS: It's practically impossible for human beings to write “good” JS code. I'm sorry, but that's just an absurd statement. JS isn't that bad or confusing.

So, what's the point of WebAssembly? https://brendaneich.com/2015/06/from-asm-js-to-webassembly/ Do you write that manually, too?

I think the point of it is that so people have choice on the client side. That doesn't make JS impossible to write or a bad language.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#169

Post by Nadya »

Roboprog wrote: post #158
Nadya wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only evil people put their return value on a second line... Regardless: http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr... Although to be fair: http://benalman.com/news/2013/01/advice-javascript-semicolon...

Wow, I got schooled. Did not realize rule 4 about lines starting with array subscript brackets or function argument parens. (regardless of the line's intent of perhaps being an array literal or simply starting with an expression to be evaluated early) The sad reality, taking the second link to its satirical conclusion, is that all JS should be written on one line, with semicolons between statements. No guessing about…

While I favor Ruby/Python syntax, I'm impartial about semicolons. There are bigger battles to fight! For example, heretics who use comma-first arrays.

Re: How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer

#170

Post by pixel67 »

I just want to point out that 'JavaScript the Good Parts' is not a good first book for beginners. David Flanagan's book is a much better book to start off with or Zakas book `Professional JavaScript for Web Developers` is the one I would suggest, then Crockford's book. Nothing trumps practice though,just keep coding and breaking things just to fix them, that, imo is the way to learn anything.
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