Learning Javascript
Hey guys, quick question on how you learned Javascript. I have been reading books and doing online tutorials/projects for the most part, but I think that there is probably a more efficient way to learn all of this. How did you all do it?
Trending on Indie Hackers
I find books and tutorials can only only take you so far. Start building something, it won't be easy you will come across problems which will need researching to solve but that never ends it's part of the job/fun! Good luck
I agree with @iainfreestone that the best way to learn javascript is to build things using javascript. When I need to look something up, I usually consult one of these resources:
It's also worth mentioning Eloquent Javascript (https://eloquentjavascript.net/). It's a fantastic textbook written by an amazing programmer, Marijn Haverbeke. It starts with the basics and progresses to more advanced topics. With the online version you can do the exercises right there on the page, in an embedded sandbox.
Don't focus too much on learning everything about Javascript. These days there is a lot of free and paid content available that you can get lost trying to consume everything. Once you grasp the language basics (like syntax) , start building something iteratively. You can learn more about a specific topic when you need to. I feel that the most valuable thing you can do is to master this process of learning. Languages and frameworks might come and go. Do give it some time as well and don't forget to enjoy learning.
Aside from doing practice projects, maybe stuff like JavaScript 30 (Wes Bos), maybe some FrontEndMasters (for in-depth stuff).
This stuff does naturally take time and repetition is a part of it, depends how good you want to get.
If you just want to build a product , just focus on the most basic MVP, one feature at a time, then iterate on it.
Check out crash courses by Traversy Media on YouTube they're pretty quick. Hopefully you know about basics of code in general eg. what is an Array, a for loop, if else conditions, etc... then maybe look into dom targeting(web) and event binding, etc... depends what you're doing.
I tend to find learning by doing works best for me. I usually get a book or read online tutorials to get the fundamentals and then start working on a project I tend to learn more by actually working on something.
Do you have any existing experience in other languages? I think personally, coming from a C/C++ background, the thing that made Javascript really click was understanding the event loop (especially if you're doing back end programming with NodeJS):
https://flaviocopes.com/javascript-event-loop/
If you're brand new, then learning the basics through tutorials then getting stuck into building something is the best bet (and then come back to the event loop once you want to get a better understanding of how all the asynchronous functions you're using are handled).
Read JavaScript library source code on GitHub. Start with small libraries that you use (e.g. a single React component) Don’t start with huge frameworks such as React.
Think about what would be a cool thing to built and then try to built yourself and ship it. It’s fun and it’s the best way to learn in my opinion.