Getting Better At JavaScript

I’ve been building websites since 1999. In that time, I’ve seen JavaScript transform from a hard to use and implement language into a powerful tool for building online experiences. It used to be hard to get any JavaScript code to work cross browser, so I learned jQuery so it could handle all of the browser inconsistencies and I could focus on solving the problem at hand.

Now, JavaScript has come a long way and browsers are more consistent at implementing how it works. That means less time worrying about if a snippet of code will work in every browser, and more time building the awesome thing.

Since it doesn’t look like JavaScript is going anywhere soon, I’m taking some time to improve my JavaScript skills. There are courses, both free and paid, that will help. They are all beneficial, but the most important part is actually going through them.

Right now I’m taking 30 minutes at the beginning of each day to go through a video or two. By the end of the next couple months, my goal is to be much more aware of what is possible with JavaScript, and using it more in everyday projects.

Here’s my current list of resources. I’ll add more as I find them.

JavaScript Learning Resources

JavaScript 30
Vue 2 on Laracasts
JavaScript for WordPress

1 Comment

I think this is a good use of any web developer’s time at this point in the evolution of the web. I can’t think of a single useful web application that doesn’t use at least some JavaScript and most web applications seem to use a lot of it. In fact, I think it is safe to tell clients of a line of business application that JavaScript is required for correct operation in most cases.

Content sites should work without JavaScript, I think.

I found this really straightforward post on the difficulties of learning modern JavaScript for someone who is primarily a backend developer. I like it a lot and hopefully it is useful to you.

I’m interested to hear more thoughts on Vue – I’ve got a tab open about with the view documentation right now and have looked through it a bit in the past. To be completely honest, I’ve shied away from larger frameworks and have just used Knockout in most applications I’ve built. It is much less full-stack, and much closer to native JavaScript (I’ve found).

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