The JavaScript Way

A modern introduction to an essential language.

Copyright © 2017 Baptiste Pesquet.

This content is in beta stage: expect some typos, glitches and mistakes. Feel free to correct them!

Overview

This book aims to be a useful companion for anyone wishing to (re)discover the many facets of JavaScript. Numerous brain cycles were spent to make it:

• Beginner-friendly yet comprehensive. From the very basics of programming up to front-end and back-end web development, a lot of topics are covered in a simple and accessible way. No prior knowledge needed!
• Standards-aligned. The book is entirely written using the recent ES2015 syntax, avoiding awkwardnesses from the past. From start to finish, it enforces good programming habits, embraces the ubiquitous JavaScript tools ESLint and Prettier and closely follows the popular AirBnb Style Guide.
• Hands-on. No real learning happens without practicing! Each chapter is accompanied by a series of exercises to put your newly acquired skills into action. A three-part project will guide you in the creation of a social news web application (see it in action).
• Easy to follow. Code along directly in your browser or build an efficient JavaScript development environment on your local machine.

This repository contains the book manuscript files, free to read for everyone. Your contributions are most welcome.

Read a bit more about this project here.

Table of contents

• Introduction
  • About this book
  • Welcome to programming
  • Introducing JavaScript
• Part I: Learn to code programs
  • 3, 2, 1... Code!
  • Play with variables
  • Add conditions
  • Repeat statements
  • Write functions
  • Create your first objects
  • Store data in arrays
  • Work with strings
  • Understand object-oriented programming
  • Discover functional programming
  • Project: a social news program
• Part II: Create interactive web pages
  • What's a web page?
  • Discover the DOM
  • Traverse the DOM
  • Modify page structure
  • React to events
  • Manipulate forms
  • Animate elements
  • Project: a social news web page
• Part III: Build web applications
  • Web development 101
  • Query a web server
  • Use web APIs
  • Send data to a web server
  • Discover Node.js
  • Create a web server
  • Project: a social news web app
• Conclusion
  • Summary and perspectives
  • Acknowledgements
• Appendices
  • Environment setup
  • Style guide

Other versions

This content is also available as a multi-format, DRM-free ebook, with an option to get the commented source code for all exercises and projects. An interactive online course is under way.

If you like what you find here and want to support this effort, your financial contribution would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!