A gentle introduction to an essential language.

Copyright © 2017-present Baptiste Pesquet.

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, giving you future-proof knowledge. 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.

You can also download the entire book as a PDF file.

For a better reading experience, this content is also available:

As a multi-format, DRM-free eBook on Leanpub.

As a DRM-free Kindle or paperback book on Amazon.

As an interactive online course on Educative.

A lot of time and energy went into this content. If you find it useful and want to support this effort, here's what you can do:

Buy it under one of the available formats (see above). Any financial contribution would be much appreciated.

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Thanks in advance for your support!

Introduction

  About this book

  Welcome to programming

  Introducing JavaScript

  Environment setup

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

  Style guide