Head First JavaScript Programming: A Brain-Friendly Guide

This book keeps you engaged, and keep you moving - even if you don't have a good reading practice of Technical books. I have read about closures in Java 8 and groovy articles, but I completely understood it only from this book. The coining of the word 'free variables' - variables which are neither local nor global, but declared in the enclosing functions is very good. The definition and explanation that - functions returned from other functions which has also free variables attached to it (in its environment), and those free variables are live variables and not a copy is a very good explanation. For experienced programmers in other languages (say 5 to 9, which I am ) , you will find this book interesting only if you write answers to the problems and have a pencil with you all the time. Else, it will be a book containing very basic programming constructs which you might know it already. but, if you write the answers, you may find that you made some mistakes and you will wonder why For experienced javascript programmers, I am not sure whether you will find it more exiciting, but certain chapters on - Objects, Prototypes, event handling will help you to keep your basics strong. Few instances are 1. In a chapter - "they build a War Ship Game", the whole code will be divided into Controller, Model and View. This is well explained and would let you think that, even a small peice of code should not hang on the JS file, but go inside a object as a method or a property. The control should start and end like this : EventHandlers triggered by windows.onload --> Controller -> Model ->View 2. The transition from each topic was very good. They described about variables and functions (global and local), and then they explained why it has to be inside a Object Literal. and later described why they have to be inside a Contructor (Object object rather than Object Literal), and then they explain why all the commonly used functions and variables should be inside a Prototype, and finally, they explained Prototypical inheritance. 3. All the hanging functions (alert, prompt etc.,,) and objects (console) are properties of window object. Also, all the user defined global variables and functions would be attached to the window object 4. Also, by default "this" would be pointing to window object. Whenever you call a function on a Object Literal or object, the "this" will point to that object instance(that is why you refer the variable with this inside a member method). also, whenever you can a constructor with new, an object will be created, and "this" will point to that object inside the constructor. 5. Also, when a instance is returned by the constuctor, a Constructor.prototype object (an empty object) will be also be attached the object instance. this will help you to understand prototypical inheritance a lot better in the later chapter. 6. Math is an Javascript supplied object. Date, RegExp are constructors. That is why you would always write Math.random(), and new Date(), new RegExp(/^\d{3}-?\d{4}/). This book is NOT for javasript programmers who are very good in their basics. I cant comment on this a lot, because I just now started to work on my first javascript project, but aspiring to be a good one by end of this year. For aspiring programmers (who were never programmers), I think, this is a very good book to start your career.

Is it strange to say that a Javascript book has a great ending? Well, this one did. I'm not one of the people who was asked to do a review. I just bought a hardcopy and actually read every word on every page for my own use - just a regular web developer looking to deepen my understanding. My skill level: I've been studying Javascript for a couple of years and have used it a lot at my new job in the last 6 months. Sometimes I inherit projects that have pre-existing Javascript that is sometimes pretty complex. We also use some frameworks and libraries like jQuery, Express, nodeJS, and AngularJS. So, I got this book to understand all those things better. About the Book: The book itself is steady and clear with a variety of projects and written in a friendly tone. It starts from zero, so if you know nothing, you're in the right place. If, like me, you've been working in it and have wondered what some of the parts do at a fundamental level but haven't had a chance to get to the bottom of it, this book will probably cover it. Even though it covers the basic stuff, it also gets into advanced topics. In fact, the last three chapters are worth the cost of the book alone. The chapter on prototypal inheritance upped my game in one evening. No kidding. My Experience with the Book: It's over 600 pages but flows pretty quickly considering the topic. If like me, you've been working with Javascript, you might find the first 400 pages or so to be a refresher and zoom through. After about pg. 400, I started running into more bits of info and concepts that really clarified some things. That's where I really started getting grateful that they'd done all this hard work. As I went through this book, I was also going through the 12 hour series "Crockford on Javascript" at the same time. He gets pretty in depth in some of it and on a spooky number of occasions I'd just learned a concept the night before in this book that Crockford would then discuss. Much to my delight I understood everything he went into where I know I would have missed things had I not had this book in my back pocket. My Full Assessment: Just get the book. It's great - every page. Work your way through it and then watch the 'Crockford on Javascript' series (free on YouTube) and you'll prove to yourself just how cool you are. Then go get that dev job. They don't use dollar signs in programming languages for nothing. :)

I am a big fan of the Head First books. I thoroughly enjoyed learning Java and JavaScript by reading two of their books. I am retired now, but was a senior software engineer for 30 years programming in 360/370 assembler, RPG, cobol, visual basic, ibm series one edl, c, c++, java and proprietary 16bit and 32bit languages. I wish these books were around back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s when they could have jump started my learning in various languages. These books are quick study guides that cover the basics and include lots of fluff that you can skip over if too verbose. The use of examples with handwritten annotation is perfect to get the important learning concepts across. For now, I am using my new JavaScript language knowledge to create interactive web pages that get served from an ESP32C6 microcontroller to report information and allow remote control of devices attached to it.

Engaging and Fun - I've not finished the book but am surprised at how well the interactive exercises work for me and I'm eager to get back to work on it every day sometimes multiple times each day. While taking breaks from the book, I look for online learning, and while reading many of the sample code examples I'm very pleased to see how much I comprehend from the books presentation and programming examples. Structure and Intent - Much work and clever thought was apparently put into the narrative and layout of the teachable moments throughout. There are many great websites for learning, but the teaching method used in this book is something everyone should try. Finally, they say it often, if you don't know HTML and CSS, get the companion book. It will help somewhat. I knew a little from awhile back and yet wished I had bought and worked through the book first. It's easier than I imagined to understand the coding efforts needed and that eventually are presented. I'm planning to re-read and workout the coding for the 2nd half of the book. I got ahead of myself on the reading and found that I was losing confidence in my coding. I'll follow their advice; complete everything in one chapter before moving to the next.

For the last two years, I have been struggling with learning to code. This was due to a mix of having a busy schedule that hasn't always been conducive to learning code in my spare time, along with having cobbled together a number of tutorials online and never coming out of any of them feeling like I truly understood the concepts. I had ignored this book for a while now despite seeing it recommended now and again. It seemed juvenile in its approach. Instead I attempted to jump straight into more advanced books, always having to stop reading them after a few chapters because concepts weren't sinking in. Finally, after putting down code for half a year and realizing I'd forgotten nearly everything, I decided to pick up this book. I honestly wish I had purchased this two years ago. This book does a wonderful job at explaining concepts as simple as how to assign a variable and as advanced as closures and object prototypes. The conversational approach to this book means that when you're first starting out, you don't have to waste time attempting to interpret an extremely technical explanation of concepts, as I found with this book I understood almost straight away in most cases. The book's difficulty level does ramp up around the time the Battleship game is built in chapter 8. (By the way, this chapter does a great job of introducing MVCs without actually having you use one that's pre-built.) Therefore I would even recommend this book to intermediate learners if they have had trouble truly understanding advanced object construction, closures, how to use prototypes - essentially everything chapter 8 onward. The exercises in this book also give good practice to solidify what you're learning. What this book doesn't cover, or only lightly touches upon: (1) Writing complex algorithms. The book's focus is on getting a good understanding of concepts, not on working through challenges that require much algorithmic thinking. (Unless you want to build Battleship on your own in chapter 8.) A supplemental resource would be necessary for this. (2) Any JavaScript library or framework, including jQuery. There are 2 pages that touch upon jQuery at the very end of the book. This is a good thing. Too many resources online have you learning jQuery without understanding vanilla JavaScript. (3) Making API calls. (4) Promises (5) Anything else that is seen in chapter 14 ("Top 10 Topics We Didn't Cover"). Overall I strongly recommend this book. Like any resource, it should not be the only thing you use to teach yourself to code. However, it is a great starting resource for beginners as well as a supplemental resource for anyone who has the basics down but needs to clarify some of the more complex concepts later in the book.

First a comment about the "head first" book concept. The concept was up to the promise: easy to read, still covers advanced topics, lots of exercises and puzzles, but I actually did them all, when i tend to ignore them in other books. This is because the exercises had the perfect dosage of difficulty and time required. Also even if the book is 650 pages thick, I never felt submerged by text or discouraged. Now about that specific book: i was an advanced beginner when started reading this book, and this was an easy and pleasant read. What I liked most, is that the book tries to teach not just the feature of the language in isolation, but as a whole. It's the first book I read that tries to show you what it really means to program in an oriented object way, and thinking functionally. That is very different than just explaining what an "object" or "function" is. For this alone this book stands apart. I look at my code differently now, and try to see how to leave behind the procedural way of programming. This books also made me realize there is a long long road ahead to become truly efficient with object oriented and functional programming. This can only be reached with experience, but at least I know in which direction to go. This is perhaps the best first book for an aspiring Javascript programmer. Make no mistake, this is not a reference book, but a teaching book. It will teach you the grammar of the language. For the vocabulary, look at Flanagan's Javascript definitive guide.

Head First JavaScript is an excellent resource for anyone looking to strengthen their JavaScript fundamentals. The book is easy to follow, engaging, and well-structured, making even complex concepts feel approachable. The interactive style and real-world examples helped me feel more secure in my understanding of JavaScript fundamentals, reinforcing key concepts in a way that sticks.

In the end, I learned to love this book. It didn't start out that way though. I had worked extensively with JavaScript in the 90's when the biggest challenge was getting DHTML to work on both Navigator and Explorer. In those days I used JavaScript much like any other classical language. Functions were functions, not objects. However, I spent most of the 00's doing back-end development, only returning to interface development in 2014. To my horror, I realized that I had become a dinosaur -- really Kafkaesque. The way JavaScript was being used in the modern browser bore no resemblance to the language I once knew. It was baffling. What had these kids done to my language!? Not ready for the professional bone yard, I went about retraining myself and took a class at a local community college where this was the required text. My first response to the book wasn't positive -- in fact it was resentful. I hated the way it seemed to pander to millennials -- this idea that the reader needs to be continuously entertained if you are to EARN and keep his/her attention. It seemed like a For-Dummies joke-tech-lit book turned up to 11. Truth is though, I was bitter, resentful, and perhaps even a bit curmudgeonly. As I worked through the book though, I became a convert. Technically the book is very sound, taking the reader a long way in a little time. The examples and exercises are quite good, and, once I relaxed a bit, I found that I enjoyed the playful tone of the book as well. In does make retaining the information easier. The comparison to a Dummies book was unfair. In short, this is a great place to start for anyone new to JavaScript or re-building their web development skills.