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Ask HN: Which (physical) book should I get to learn JavaScript/TS?

7 pointsby luxpsychoalmost 2 years ago
I&#x27;ll ask the question about me specifically, as it&#x27;s too generic otherwise and there exist more than enough articles about this already. I&#x27;ll describe my circumstances, so everyone can assess for themselves how relevant it is to them.<p>I am a DevOps Engineer. I describe myself as a &quot;good conceptual programmer&quot;: I understand algorithms, data structures, etc. (I used to do some C, which I credit with a lot of that.) I also have very good knowledge about the internet: networking, routing, IP, DNS, HTTP, its methods, headers, return codes, API best practices, etc.<p>However, my knowledge rapidly drops to zero when front-end &#x2F; the browser is involved. For reference, when I last working with HTML&#x2F;JS, you couldn&#x27;t rewrite the URL in the user&#x27;s browser without reloading the page. Single-page apps seemed like magic to me until I figured out this is now possible.<p>So I (assume I) would like&#x2F;need a book that doesn&#x27;t spend too much time with algorithmics &#x2F; data structure explanations, but at the same time explains all the lower-level relevant concepts: DOM and friends, execution contexts, browser-side security&amp; permissions, local storage, etc.<p>I used to say I hated JS, but I must admit at this stage that&#x27;s mostly just ego anymore, as I really don&#x27;t know 2023 JS. (Also, should I just go TS? Or is TS only accessible to people who already know all of the context of JS, alluded to above?)<p>For reference, I felt vaguely the same about Python, but after reading and developing a crush on Fluent Python (Luciano Ramalho), I really understood the language, conventions, community, and now love it!! I am effectively looking for the same with something I can develop webpages with—which has gotta be JS&#x2F;TS, right?<p>Thanks! (I hope the formatting is okay; written on my phone.)

4 comments

rshnotsecurealmost 2 years ago
You Don&#x27;t Know JS by Kyle Simpson. The PDFs are one of the most starred repos on GitHub: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;getify&#x2F;You-Dont-Know-JS">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;getify&#x2F;You-Dont-Know-JS</a><p>Also more to your question, &quot;The Browser Hacker&#x27;s Handbook&quot; and &quot;The Web Application Hacker&#x27;s Handbook&quot; I also think are really helpful in understanding how browsers work. Sadly a not better documented subject.<p>Visiting the list of APIs on Mozilla&#x27;s website is also helpful.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.mozilla.org&#x2F;en-US&#x2F;docs&#x2F;Web&#x2F;API" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;developer.mozilla.org&#x2F;en-US&#x2F;docs&#x2F;Web&#x2F;API</a>
spharsalmost 2 years ago
Eloquent Javascript: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eloquentjavascript.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eloquentjavascript.net&#x2F;</a><p>Available online&#x2F;digital download (free) or you can buy a physical copy.
thorinalmost 2 years ago
I would concentrate on modern JS without frameworks and TS initially. I can&#x27;t recommend a book really as the last ones I read are 10 years old now e.g. JS - the good parts.<p>You mention devops stuff e.g. networking &#x2F; routing that I&#x27;ve never been great at - would you be able to recommend a &quot;real&quot; book on that stuff?
austin-cheneyalmost 2 years ago
Look at table of contents hinting at these key concepts:<p>* Functions as first class citizens<p>* Lexical scope<p>* Events<p>* Callbacks and promises<p>* Bonus material: performance, DOM, Node.js or Deno