Becoming a JavaScript developer
We are living in a digital era where companies like Facebook, Google, Airbnb, Amazon and Uber are setting new frontiers and reshaping the global business ecosystem. None of this would be possible, however, if it were not for the work of programmers, including JavaScript developers, of course.
Why JavaScript?
JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language. It is designed for creating network centric applications. It is complimentary to and integrated with Java. JavaScript is very easy to implement because it is integrated with HTML. It is open and cross-platform.
1: Learn the basics.
At first, set up your machine. Whether it’s Windows, Linux or Mac, get a programming IDE, or in newbie’s words “programmer’s text editor”, like Webstorm or Atom. Then try writing Hello World (1. below) in the selected IDE/editor.
Some JavaScript Basics tasks:
Task 1: Creating a script Block
Task 2: Hiding Your JavaScript Code
Task 3: Providing Alternatives to Your JavaScript Code
Task 4: Including Outside Source Code
Task 5: Commenting Your Scripts
Task 6: Writing a JavaScript Command
Task 7: Temporarily Removing a Command from a Script
Task 8: Using Curly Brackets
Task 9: Writing Output to the Browser
Task 10: Creating a Variable
Task 11: Outputting a Variable
2: Work on the first homemade little project.
This is a very important step. You need to have an idea of how to connect the bits. Create a very simple static website, such as: Calculator or Traffic lights simulator.
3: Take a course to strengthen what you have learned.
If you’ve learned a second (or third) language, you went to classes. It’s the same for programming languages and JavaScript is no different.
4: Learn ECMAScript 6.
ECMAScript (ES) is a scripting language specification standardized by ECMAScript International. It is used by applications to enable client-side scripting. Languages like JavaScript, Jscript and ActionScript are governed by this specification.
ECMAScript introduces new concepts that you definitely need to learn:
Arrow functions
Promises and async/await enhancement
Collections (maps, sets)
5: Learn the first framework.
In JavaScript land, the leading JavaScript frameworks out there are Angular and Ember. Angular: Actively developed by Google developers. A great framework with all of the functionalities that a simple project needs. Very friendly to learn, with great documentation.
6: Improve your skills in CSS and learn HTML 5.
Selectors, including special characters like > and +
Precedence of tags, classes and ids
Flexbox and its rules
Bonus points if you learn:
One of the CSS preprocessors like SASS or LESS
Some CSS patterns like BEM or SMACSS
Naturally along with CSS you should become very comfortable with HTML and its extension HTML5:
New tags: section, article, header, footer, nav
Canvas
Dataset and classList
7: Learn algorithms and how to increase performance of your solutions.
You should probably start with sorting algorithms like Quick Sort and Merge Sort and then move on to the graph algorithms, breadth-first search and depth-first search.
