RallyDev.com
Fri 9 Sep 2011
Upping your JavaScript game
Let’s face it, JavaScript is taking over. It’s the top language on github, and it’s no longer confined to the browser. If that comes as a surprise to you, it might be time to up your JavaScript game. How, you might ask? Here are a few places to start.
Read a book
Not exactly a novel idea, but there are some great books out there that will help you get up to speed.
JavaScript: The Good Parts
Douglas Crockford cuts out the superfluous and gets to what you need to know about core JavaScript, sans any library.
Pro JavaScript Design Patterns
First part Object Oriented JS, second part JS design patterns. It helped me think more about performance and memory usage in JS, even if a lot of the concepts will be taken care of by whichever JS libraries you use.
Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja
John Resig, creator of jQuery, digs into the skills necessary to write your own JS library. For the JS journeyman looking to be a master.
Go to a conference, or watch the aftermath
If you can’t make it to a JavaScript conference check out the session videos for free.
JSConf/NodeConf (over 100 videos since 2009)
Sencha (videos from SenchaCon and meetups)
jQuery Conference 2011 Bay Area
Go to a local meetup
There’s no better way to learn JS than to learn it with some local people interested in the same thing. Check out these places to find a meetup near you.
beer.js – Around the world, JS geeks love to gather, drink, and occasionally code.
meetup.com – Join a group near you, or start one
Follow the Tweets
If you want to stay in the loop, keep track of what these guys are up to. This is who I follow, definitely not comprehensive.
@jeresig @sh1mmer @voodootikigod @jamespearce @souders @tjholowaychuk @dalmaer @ded @thomasfuchs
Have more suggestions? Let us know!
Awesome post! Thanks for the list and pointers to learning materials.
But seriously, Ruby kicks JavaScript’s ass.
Additional JS suggestions:
Books:
JavaScript Patterns by Stefanov – Not really “Design Patterns” per se, more like idiomatic JS usage. Lots of patterns now used by stuff like CoffeeScript.
High Performance JavaScript by Zakas – Not just about optimizing, but really gets into details about JS engines and their quirks.
Conferences:
Rich Web Experience – It’s NoFluff, but for JS, HTML5, and CSS3.