The Best Way To Learn JavaScript

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By Shanna McNeil


Before starting to learn JavaScript, or any programming language for that matter, it is always a good idea to take a minute to understand what it is used for. Not to mention what kind of functionality it is capable of providing for in said application. For starters, readers should know that JS is one of the languages used by web browsers. To be more specific, it is a client-side programming language that is platform independent.

JS does not need a compiler and a development environment in order to make the program executable. A snippet of JS code inserted into the HTML source code of a web page will ensure the script is called and executed by the browser. Don't worry if this sounds too complicated. It'll all be clear soon enough after a few practice runs.

A static web page built using CSS and HTML can be made interactive using JS. A working knowledge of both HTML and CSS (as in web page design) is a prerequisite for anyone considering wading into JS. No prior programming knowledge is required, though, so this can be a good starting point for new programmers learning their first language.

This might also be a good time to clear up any confusion regarding the differences between Java, JS, and jQuery. The first two are object oriented programming (OOP) languages with similar structures. JS has a simple syntax and not too many complexities. JQuery is a JS library with prebuilt blocks of code. Its use will reduce the amount of coding work that needs to be done.

Getting started with the actual process of learning JS requires only a web browser and text editor. Unlike other languages, it does not require some special program development environment, compiler, debugger, and other tools. There is no software or files to be downloaded and installed. All that has to be done is to write the code in a text file and open it in a browser.

Those who have not yet picked up the syntax can copy-paste some sample code into a text file in order to see how it works. Learning JS syntax is as easy as can be. The code goes into a tag, so that the browser knows it is not HTML, but a script that needs to be executed. The "type" attribute () inside the script tag tells the browser it is JS code.

The rest of it is mostly about learning how to create variables, arrays and objects, and assign values and properties to them. Try using all this in simple loops and conditional statements. It would be impossible in this short space to explain in more detail the logic behind object-oriented programming and the exact syntax used in JS. Let's just say that JS makes it a lot easier as compared to C, C++, or Java.

Once the basics are clear, start using jQuery and other JS libraries to build complex scripts that are actually used in practical applications. Inserting calls to these library functions ensures the program does not have to be coded line by line from scratch, and it will reduce the coding work load by a huge amount. Readers who have come this far and are able to do most of the things mentioned above will learn JavaScript in a few hours or a day at most.




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