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.

Crockford's "JavaScript: The Good Parts" is the gold standard for best practices. Pretty much anyone who works in JS will recommend it. Here's a video which is a condensed version of what's in the book: ▶ this video

The best way I've found to learn JavaScript is through anything by Douglas Crawford. 'JavaScript the Good Parts' is especially good. link ▶ this video

Surprised that no one has mentioned Douglas Crockford. I would recommend his book JavaScript: The Good Parts link And his Google Talk, ▶ this video This is for plain JS.

Unfortunately I don't know about the list you have, but if you are interested in one good way to approach JS basics (not suggesting you don't know the basics -- am saying I found the following resource useful for the basics, which help with building more advanced apps): JavaScript: the good parts talk is a useful resource, IMHO. ▶ this video

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

Classics John Resig : The Dom is a mess link Javascript, The Good Parts ▶ this video Speed up your Javascript link Brendan Eich : Fluent 2013: Brendan Eich, "JavaScript at 18: Legal to Gamble" link Paul Irish : 10 things I learned from the Jquery source link Less known but very interesting Building High-Performing JavaScript for Modern Engines link

3 awesome videos on very specific topics: Dr James Grime / Numberphile - Encryption and HUGE numbers link Les Hazlewood - Designing a Beautiful REST+JSON API link classic: Douglas Crockford - JavaScript: The Good Parts ▶ this video

I found the book "JavaScript: The Good Parts" by Douglas Crockford to be very helpful in understanding the language. It's short and covers the main things you'll need to know. It's a good starting place. In fact, he gave a tech talk on the main topics of his book which you can find here: ▶ this video

I didn't see any links to videos - here is one from his Google tech talk in February: ▶ this video . He also has a number of videos on YUI Theater ( link ). I also recommend checking out the javascript page on his website, plenty of javascript related material to keep you busy for hours: link

When comparing Office 2007 (and 2010) with Office 97 one can clearly see these are not "the same old apps". Especially when combined with the Office Servers. JavaScript isn't such a bad language. It's essentially Scheme in C cloths. It has first-class functions, lexical closures, prototype-inheritance and more. Just avoid the bad parts. See this Google Talk by Douglas Crockford ▶ this video

Reminds me of JavaScript: The Good Parts by Crockford: ▶ this video Strip away an older language's bad features. You end up with a sub-language with the advantage of portability and better maintainability. The problem can be deciding (and agreeing on) which language features are good and which are bad.