The JavaScript Way

A gentle introduction to an essential language.

Copyright © 2017-2020 Baptiste Pesquet.

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, 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.

Publishing

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.

Supporting this work

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.
• Rate it or leave a review on Goodreads or Amazon.
• Spread the word about it.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Table of contents

For your convenience, source code for exercises and final project is available.

• 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