Ronaldo Vitto Lewerissa

Software engineering learning documentation.

So You Wanna Learn JavaScript?

Previously, I made a series of post named JavaScript for Noobs. Not because I'm sort of 'the Javascript guru', but more less of a documentation of my studies around the technology.

Javascript is a pretty mean language, isn't she?

It's an easy way through at the start, but as times go on, it's an undoubtedly nightmare. That is because Javascript has a "steep learning curve".

What I meant is this:


As you can see, the amount of time required to enhance your skill right from the kickoff is genuinely steep, that is, with a little amount of time, you're able to posses lots of knowledge/skill.


when your skill levels at a certain scale, the graph moves much more gently, which probably close to a parallel of the x-axis. This, is when things get ridiculously hard.

By the way, the graph aren't quite illustrating what I'm saying, so let's change it:

steep learning curve

Aha! Now this does a great job emphasising what I meant.

Anyway, why would someone in particular want to learn Javascript? Besides, there are dozens of other programming languages worth to learn too.

You should definitely watch the following video:

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Scott Hanselman, one of the top web developers I'm currently admire of, suggesting that if you know Javascript and an enterprise language (such as C# or  Java), you basically can create anything on any platform.

Javascript is EVERYWHERE!

One hell of a shortcut on learning Javascript is to team up with developer bootcamp. I'm particularly aiming for a bootcamp known as the Hack Reactor. I'm after the remote beta, since my geographic location is not particularly helpful.

Anyway, the key point of this post is to elaborate several resources in regards to learning Javascript.

For now, I would give you the resources to it's concept, tune up for next post in regards to practices!


I came across with several sources, I find these references helpful in terms of bringing up the basic concepts of Javascript nor the primary building blocks.

  • PluralSight

It's one of the best and complete reference yet, but in came with a price (monthly/annually subscription). But, if you really mean of learning Javascript, you can nail it for a month. Go check it's Javascript learning path. I must warn you that some of it's content are not beginners stuff, although it is labeled for beginners (or probably is just me).

  • Javascript Is Sexy

I'm sure you heard of it. In fact, it now has an official website for it's course, similar like a bootcamp. By the release of this post, Javascript is Sexy is going for their second cohort. That one thing I love about this website is their meticulous attention to detail. They are giving step by step guide on learning Javascript properly, so you won't messed up, or jumping randomly and miss some fundamentals.

  • Eloquent Javascript

It's a reference book and yet free! You can read it online here, or get your own paperback copy of it. There's a decent amount of exercise on some it's chapters, and you can play around with it's Code Sandbox. The Hack Reactor suggest you to read chapter 1 - 5 before proceeding to their technical interview.

  • You Don't Know Javascript (YDKJS)

The free open source Javascript which available to public through gitHub. Tons of Javascript expert have been spending time contributing to this project, thus giving you insight on how deep this book might goes. You can get the paperback copy too through O'Reilly publishing.

Once you reach an intermediate state, you might find yourself need to find the perfect design pattern out there. The design that would gives your code the desired maintainability, reusability, and reliability to solve existing problems.

  • eJohn

I personally haven't check it's content, but if you consider so, please refer here. It did mention that it's an advance Javascript.

I'll gradually add this list by time.

Cheers :)

Written by Ronaldo Vitto Lewerissa

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