Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 5 years ago.
Improve this question
Currently, I am using Javascript - The Definitive Guide for learning Javascript from scratch. Having learnt Java, PERL and other programming languages, I am in a habit of solving small exercises to check/better understand what I have been learning as well. In case of Javascript, I found the book to be severely lacking in exercises. Infact, I did not find exercises in the only other book [ Beginning Javascript ] I have either.
Is there any source that I can refer to for exercises in Javascript?
Once you get a good grasp on the syntax,
Crockford has a page that compares javascript with Scheme and takes you through a short book The Little Schemer. The article is appropriately named The Little JavaScripter.
After reading the book, I was changed. Or perhaps transformed. Or altered. In a good way. There are very few books that deeply change the way that you think. This is one of those books.
He's gone through the chapters and translated the functions into javascript. As an exercise, you could do the same and compare your solutions.
I learned Ruby using Ruby koans, and they are an awesome way to learn any language. There is a set of Javascript koans.
Try them for a day or two, use it if you like it.
I would suggest reading everything Douglas Crockford has to say about JavaScript, reading The Good Parts, writing as many programs as possible and running them all through JSLint with "the Good Parts" and rewriting them until it stops complaining, and reading the source of jQuery. It also wouldn't hurt to read Dmitry A. Soshnikos' rendition of the ECMA-262 spec. (It's very specific and goes into minute detail but it also covers every possible aspect of the language)
It would probably be good to mention that you don't need to follow Crockford's conventions to the letter if you don't want to (though I would recommend writing for ES5 strict) but limiting yourself to them while you learn the language is definitely the way to go.
Check developer.mozilla.org
I'd try out http://www.codecademy.com/ They are fairly new, and offer a nice step by step lessons that require bits of code for each step. They have some nice challenges too (build a cash register, build a blackjack game). The forums are extremely helpful as well. Best place I've found to learn javascript.
I have checked out so many guides online and came to these conclusions:
Check out Codeacademy for the basics. After you're finished there, go to javascript.info - this guide covers a LOT and is very detailed and well explained, with exercises.
i used http://w3schools.com/js when i first learnt JS - they have a functional but far from great 'try it yourself' editor to modify their examples, not quite the same as exercises but may give you the same benefit (fiddling to better understand)
Related
Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it can be answered with facts and citations by editing this post.
Closed 8 years ago.
Improve this question
I did check (and read) a few similar questions here, but this really applies to everyone differently since no one learns the same.
My question is not on what resources to use, for that I have plenty.
I am working my way through JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (and I have the good parts as well).
I'm reading up on the core language but I don't feel like the information is sticking (or rather I'm not getting much out of it).
My question is should I just write an application in JavaScript and reference my books (I'm a very hands on person, but do enjoy reading), or should I keep reading the book, do the exercises, and then write a program?
In short: should I just write js app first and reference my book, or read the book first doing the examples and then write a js application? I've done some basic programming in PHP/Python (nothing meaningful yet).
I always learn math this way and I suppose, I'm conflicted in how I should tackle learning a language. I feel like I could read many books, but perhaps this isn't the best way for me (I know others learn differently).
For starts, I'm considering writing a simple calculator in JS.
Like for any languages I would suggest to do both.
You have to immediately start applying what you are studying. This way you will focus what you learned and understand better how the language works.
JavaScript is a highly flexible language. You can start soft, then learn new things each day and it will grow with you. You will never stop learning with JavaScript because it's easy to start but difficult to master.
You can start with really small scripts. When you start to feel confident you can create more advanced scripts, start using frameworks, write plugins for them, and ultimately your own library of functions.
I only suggest you to start learning best practices as soon as possible, because there are many things you have to avoid while programming in JS.
Then as a last word, always do what you feel like is better, don't go crazy trying to learn everything immediately. Everyone learns and works at his own pace.
Closed. This question needs to be more focused. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it focuses on one problem only by editing this post.
Closed 7 years ago.
Improve this question
I really need to learn professional javascript in two days because I am gonna have to hit the
ground running (real world project). I have little which can be approximated to no knowledge of JavaScript or website development. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
Seriously, two days is about enough to get a feel for the basics. It's nowhere near enough time to get to "professional" level (whatever that means exactly). The more experience you have with other languages, the easier it will be, though.
Don't cram for a programming language, especially learning it professionally, unless you have previous programing experience.
http://eloquentjavascript.net/
See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4744906/would-you-recommend-starting-from-html5-css3-for-beginners for resources on learning web technologies.
Go through video lectures by Douglas Crockford at http://yuiblog.com/crockford/. You could be able to get rid of some assumptions, misconceptions and pick up some really good concepts in less than 10 hrs of video.
Nevertheless, it is indeed a great place to start.
This article is a great source of up to date, modern JavaScript resources:
http://blog.reybango.com/2010/12/15/what-to-read-to-get-up-to-speed-in-javascript/
If you need to learn JavaScript, you can follow these courses if you have little previous programming experience. They are interactive and you can code all the examples in the explorer (and they are free).
1 - JavaScript Fundamentals
2 - JavaScript
And finally, a library called jQuery to make a little bit easier JavaScript programming.
3 - jQuery
This won't take you to days, but is a good beginning to be a JavaScripter.
Good luck.
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 7 years ago.
Improve this question
Currently I've finished studying the book name "Beginning JavaScript 3rd Edition", so I just wonder what should be my next step in order to strengthen myself on using and manipulating this language?
Besides, how can I improve myself in programming in JavaScript? Is it by thinking something cool myself, and start coding it? Or googling around the internet to find some task and question offered?
Is there any book that teaches the correct method of coding? Thank you
One recommended resource would be
http://eloquentjavascript.net/index.html
It is a combination online tutorial + online book
After that, it depends on whether you want to focus on clientside or serverside JS.
Have a look through http://howtonode.org/
for Serverside.
I would recommend that you avoid relying on a javascript library until you are able to make a good assessment of its quality. And pick YUI3 once you can ;)
Is it by thinking something cool
myself,and start coding it?
yes - think of something that would be funny/cool to code and try to do that (and, of course, ask mr. google if you get to a problem somewhere)
You could take a look at "Javascript: The Good Parts", Douglas Crockford, O'Rielly & Yahoo Press:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748
I suggest that you check out Douglas Crockford's JavaScript site for some quality articles on style and usage of the language itself. On top of that you should be constantly coding in it, look for interesting problems to solve and implement solutions using the techniques you have picked up.
As an aside I would also say that if you're looking to truly go further with the language and not just "get stuff done", stay away from jQuery etc for now until you have a good understanding of how it is likely to be working under the hood -- once you have this understanding though it'd be worth picking it up purely for efficiency.
Visual Studio allows you to develop mobile applications using JavaScript for all platforms. You can try your skills there
Watch the Crockford on JavaScript videos.
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 6 years ago.
Improve this question
I'm reading some tutorials now about jQuery.. function creating,plugin creation etc. but these tutorials are missing some basic explanations like they mention things like
function prototype, anonymous functions, umm putting (jQuery) after the }); .. and stuff like that .. is there a tutorial/website/book that explain these I'm not sure how to call them "terms" from beginner level to advance. I'm mean I have a knowledge of some jquery syntax but not enough to understand this, can anyone recommend useful resource?
Google doesn't help much, I googled "advance features of jquery" don't really get me the things I wanna know.
EDIT
Also if someone can share his/her story steps on how to become comfortable with javascript, how to overcome this "terminology" or whatever is called
For JavaScript, there is: Javascript The Good Parts
For jQuery, I'd suggest: The jQuery CookBook
I'd also suggest some podcasts and screencasts:
yayQuery
jQuery for Designers
John Resig (creator of jQuery) has a small website/tutorial on this very subject of Advanced Javascript.
It's quite enlightening:
http://ejohn.org/apps/learn/
It's basically excerpts from his upcoming book, Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja
It sounds as though you could have some gaps that could quickly be address by reading about the fundamentals, e.g Wikipedia Javascript.
Whilst what you are doing may seem advanced, you may get better results searching for Javascript Tutorial without the advanced keyword. Advanced Javascript is a lot more complicated than what you're doing. I'd even be so bold as to suggest that it is more basic Javascript knowledge that would help if improved.
Search for jquery on http://net.tutsplus.com and google visual jquery. They have some beginner tutorials.
Closed. This question does not meet Stack Overflow guidelines. It is not currently accepting answers.
We don’t allow questions seeking recommendations for books, tools, software libraries, and more. You can edit the question so it can be answered with facts and citations.
Closed 7 years ago.
Improve this question
What is a good javascript (book or site) that is not just focused on syntax but does a good job explaining how javascript works behind the scenes? Thanks!
The JavaScript resources at the Mozilla Developer Center are pretty nice. They have a guide to JavaScript as well as a a reference.
The guide isn't really that great, but the reference is awesome. If I'm looking for something, I just use google with 'mdc' (or 'mdc javascript' in ambiguous cases) + keyword as search terms.
It might also be a good idea to read the 3 1/2 page long sections 4.2 and 4.3 of ECMA-262. Also, consider reading chapter 10.
The rhino book is an excellent book to have on your desk.
If you don't want a book that starts with explaining JavaScript syntax, then:
Watch the video lectures of Douglas Crockford in YUI Theater:
The JavaScript Programming Language,
Advanced JavaScript,
An Inconvenient API: The Theory of the DOM.
Read Pro JavaScript Techniques by John Resig (the author of jQuery library).
This book already assumes, that you are pretty familiar with JavaScript syntax and goes in-depth to the really hard and important issues you face in your life with JavaScript. It teaches you what goes on under the hood of a JavaScript library like jQuery and how you would go to implement your own.
Eloquent Javascript is a pretty great resource, and it also includes an in-browser environment to test out javascript.
In order of precedence,
Flanagan's Definitive Guide ("The Rhino Book", which I upvoted above), followed by
anything written or googled for by Douglas Crockford.
W3 stuff is great for their try-it-yourself sandboxes.
Others have made some great suggestions (The Rhino Books, Mozilla Developer Center, and references such as W3 Schools). Once you get a good grasp on the language, I highly recommend JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford.
I've always found the w3 schools site excellent for not just for javascript but css and much else web related too. Has a nice combination of quick syntax reference with example code and tutorials for more depth when required.
Eras ago, I used WebMonkey to edumacate me some. Nowadays I usually just Google around for specifics - most of it is just finding remembering syntax I find anyhow.
crockford does a good job of explaining JS. check out the articles on his website and his new book:
http://www.crockford.com/javascript/
JavaScript: The Good Parts