When I started learning JavaScript, I spent most of my time finding the right resource and places to study it in a good or bad way. I just wanted to learn JavaScript. I was a desperate and determined kid.
I’m not someone who started coding at a very young age or got his first computer at the age of 7. Everything came a little late in my life but, it’s okay.
Maybe in another post, I may write how I started learning to code and started working, or how I ended up working for a few startups. But in this post, I’ll mostly try to put everything which I used to learn to code. I’ll add a few more things as well. Hope it will help those who are willing to learn JavaScript but are confused because there are tons of courses available which confuses them to the core when it’s about choosing the right one!
I learned JavaScript mostly by reading the free books, and others’ code. Even though I learned more by reading others’ code but I believe books helped me a lot by making me a patient person. It’s not easy to read a book especially when you are not interested or when it’s your first attempt to learn a new language. You look for something interesting because you want to build cool things but one thing that you lack is the fundamental knowledge of the programming language which you are studying.
I was in the same lane. I just wanted to build cool things but, I didn’t know shit about anything at that point in time, and so I had to force myself to read books, and I did. If I’d not have forced myself, I’d have been still in the same lane, and it sucks to be in that lane where all you’ve is your silly imagination but no power to do what you want to. My desperation and determination helped me a lot. I was managing to finish the books which I wanted to. It was fun and win-win for me, and most importantly, I started to enjoy learning.
I believe that programming tests our patience, determination, level of desperation, willingness to solve a problem, and ability to do the right thing in a right way, and if we pass all the tests, we become what we want to, i.e., A Programmer!
It’s time to find out the right resources to learn JavaScript. I’ll mention all the books which I used to learn to code in JavaScript. Everything will be in order, so, don’t worry if you are a beginner. We’ll move step by step, in a right and easy way.
At first, I thought it would be good for me to read tons of books related to JavaScript but, it was a bad idea. I don’t exactly remember how many books I read but, I do remember the name of those books which I started and finished in the chronological order.
To be honest, I never asked anyone to help me. I knew that if I google my problems, I’ll have the solution right in front of my eyes. Moreover, I did not want to irritate anyone with my silly questions. No, I wasn’t ashamed of asking them, it’s just that I realized that asking questions from a fellow human being on the social media is a time-consuming thing, and I did not want to waste either my or their time in any way possible. In the end, with the help of Google, torrent, and my needs. I found some amazing books.
I can’t give full descriptions but one thing I know that if I’d have not studied these books, I’d still have been pretty poor in JavaScript. I won’t write what you’ll study in these books because it’s already known. So, start with the first book, and go accordingly, slowly, stepwise. Dedicate and force yourself to learn, and read from the book because, in the end, it’s all about how much you’ve learned.
1. JavaScript For Kids
- Author: Nick Morgan
- Source: Download the PDF
2. Eloquent JavaScript
- Author: Marijn Haverbeke
- Source: Read Online or Download the PDF
3. Speaking JavaScript
- Author: Axel Rauschmayer
- Source: Read Online or Download the PDF
4. JavaScript The Definitive Guide
- Author: David Flanagan
- Source: Download the PDF
5. JavaScript The Good Parts
- Author: Douglas Crockford
- Source: Download the PDF
6. JavaScript Patterns
- Author: Stoyan Stefanov
- Source: Download the PDF
7. You Don’t Know JS
- Author: Kyle Simpson
This series comes with six freaking awesome parts. Worth reading each, and every one of them. Although it will be hard to find the PDFs of all the books through a simple google search, you can find all of them on the Torrent.
- You Don’t Know JS: Up & Going: Read Online
- You Don’t Know JS: Scope & Closures: Read Online
- You Don’t know JS: this and Object Prototypes: Read Online
- You Don’t know JS: Types and Grammar: Read Online
- You Don’t know JS: Async and Performance: Read Online
- You Don’t know JS: ES6 and beyond: Read Online
8. The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript
- Author: Nicholas C. Zakas
- Source: Download the PDF
9. Effective JavaScript
- Author: David Herman
- Source: Download the PDF from the Torrent.
10. Understanding ECMAScript 6
- Author: Nicholas C. Zakas
- Source: Read Online or Download the PDF from the Torrent.
11. Exploring ES6
- Author: Axel Rauschmayer
- Source: Read Online or Download the PDF from the Torrent.
Now, the following are the sites which I use/used if I face any problem in JavaScript.
That’s it. These books and sites are enough for a person who wants to learn and invest his/her time in JavaScript. Learn to implement from what you’ve learned through the books. It’s important to implement. Otherwise, things are quite useless.
GitHub played an important part in the early stage of my life. I already had a good habit of reading code because of the books. It turned out to be a Wikipedia for me. It was enough. I used it as another book to read the code. But the only difference was that I could tweak what I was reading and see the result in real-time. It was a big thing for me and maybe enough to keep my full interest in programming.
Rishi Giri 