JavaScript: The Good Parts

I will admit to having been an anti-JavaScript elitist (without really knowing JS.) This video changed my mind: [this video] (google tech talk, "JavaScript: the good parts") Two facts mentioned in the video that I didn't previously know and make me feel better about JavaScript: 1- JavaScript is lisp in disguise 2- The name JavaScript is an inside joke referencing the language's differences from Java, not its similarities. That was enough to make me change my mind, and I'm currently enjoying learning JavaScript unashamedly. Browser differences and lack of standards are a PITA, but OTOH, they all have awesome debuggers - HTML+JavaScript may be the only UI toolkit + dev environment that comes packaged with ALL computers, and for that reason has the widest reach. There's no question that the JS world is a bit wild west compared to other languages, but there's also no question that the situation is getting better over time, and that depending on what you're coding, there are huge advantages to using it.

A good place to start is MDN (Mozilla Developer Network): [link] MDN Javascript resources: [link] Before starting the tutorials, take some time to learn what's available in the Firefox developer tools. You won't need most of them at first, but knowing what's available will help as you gain experience. The two developer tools you'll probably use most when leaning are the Scratchpad ( [link] ) and Console ( [link] ) [link] & [link] will also be very useful while learning JS I haven't taken any but Udacity has some javascript courses ( [link] ), just tick the "Javascript" checkbox under "Technology" in the left menu Some additional resources: [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] Dated but still worth watching: [this video] [link] edit: added addl. resources

TGP is mostly dogma. The title should make that very clear, but unfortunately, as usual, Crockford is short sighted so the title of his book is misleading, implying you might learn something about the language by reading it. A much more appropriate title would've been "JavaScript: Crockford's Best Practices for Experienced JavaScripters", or "What's Wrong With JavaScript According to Crockford." Then it's pretty clear what the book is doing, and doesn't trick readers into thinking it's an introductory or learning book. A few of Crockford's opinions are fairly widely accepted as good advice, but much of it is controversial at best, and in practice incorrect or misguided. If you are considering buying it, just watch the talk instead: [this video] . As for the article: it's mostly sound advice. I will reiterate reading the source to underscore and backbone. I started recommending this lately to people after they get comfortable with the language. Many popular patterns and techniques are used in these code bases and they're very approachable from a reading perspective. I read both a few months ago to get up to speed on a new project and I found it quite enjoyable compared to reading the likes of jQuery or Angular.