If I Can Write A Javascript Book — Front-End
What I want to include in my first JavaScript Book
The idea of this article is to share my thoughts about how I will organize my Javascript Book(Front-end) If I can write one in the near future.
History of JavaScript(Front-end Development)
To learn the JavaScript history will enable people to understand JavaScript more deeply. For example why it is called JavaScript and why JavaScript is designed to be like this.
There are several milestones in the front-end development world. Here is the mindmap to show the brief history of the front-end community.
When we talk about front-end history we can't ignore these milestones in history. From the creation of JavaScript(Allowing us to write logic code for website) to Node.js(allowing us to run JavaScript without Browser). Without these efforts from the community, we cannot create those complex and user-friendly applications.
For more history about JavaScript you can check this javaScript History page
Well-known developers(personal view definitely biased)
This part will list some of the developers who made a great contribution to the Front-end community(In no particular order). Without efforts from these great developers, the community cannot be such successful.
- Brendan Eich(creator of the JavaScript programming language)
- Ryan Dahl(creator of node.js allowing javascript run without browser)
- Miško Hevery(creator of Angular.js)
- Evan You (creator of Vue)
- …
Future — Javascript(Front-End Development)
It is really hard to predict the future, especially for this fastest-growing area.
I truly believe that in the near future we do not need so many coding in front-end as Machine learning(CV + NLP) can automatically generate style code and part of the logic code.
For the future front-end developers, they need to focus on architecting front-end applications given ML will automatically generate thousands of pages per day. Imagine how complex will that application be. Front-end Architecture will be really important.
Javascript Permanent Knowledge(Front-End)
This part refers to the knowledge that is really important and transferable. To put it simply, developers need to learn how JavaScript runs. This is the knowledge we may not touch on a daily basis but it is the points that make you become a qualified developer.
This chapter will also cover the good and bad parts of JavaScript. We all know that there are some bad design “this” or “new”, which are borrow from Java(given Java is really popular during that period of time). These bad parts make front-end developer headaches every single day.
Javascript Temporary Knowledge(Front-End)
Temporary knowledge does not necessarily mean it is unless on the opposite they seem to be more useful than permanent knowledge(in the last section).
For example, you cannot even find a job without hand-on experience with a popular framework(Angular, React, Vue…). Temporary means it is useful for now but maybe not that useful in the near future.
People may argue to learn from the framework’s source code is a really good practice. I can’t agree more. Learning the practices from the source code(e.g. react) belongs to the permanent knowledge. This should belong to the design pattern section.
As we all know that there are so many Front-end libraries have been created every single day. Developers should only pick the most useful ones. In this chapter, we can discuss how to choose the right tool and only learn the useful one. Because Life is short.
Learn JavaScript By Job Description
Front-end development is always a good choice for those people who do not have a computer science degree who would like to shift their careers to the IT industry.
This chapter is designed for people without a computer science background. I always see questions like this: How to learn front-end and How to prepare for Front-end interview. The answer to these two questions is the same. Take a look at the job description and create your learning plan based on the requirements on it.
I believe this is the most effective way for those people without a CS degree to secure their first IT job opportunities.
Learn JavaScript By Example(learn by Doing)
There are so many good open-source projects on Github. This is chapter will focus on finding some good JS/TS code on Github/GitLab. For example, the following JSON.ts is a good industry-standard code for us to learn the best practice and also review the lexical analysis.
The idea behind this chapter is to make sure we can learn from the best. People struggle to find the top-quality code and learn from it. To bridge this gap, I would like to provide a high-quality code example and explain the thinking behind it.
Summary
The reason why I write this article is to share my thoughts about what a good JavaScript book should look like and also say thanks to those who make a contribution to the front-end community. I do believe the front-end community has a bright future.
I also would like to invite you to do this exercise(create your own JavaScript book table of content and draw a mindmap). It is a good way to make your front-end knowledge more structured and review all the knowledge you have learned so far.
