Intro
Currently, JavaScript is dominating the web world. Uses of JS are everywhere. Not only on the web but also on mobile and desktop too. Some other computer science fields use JavaScript too. One thing should remember, Java and JavaScript are not the same. Many of the new ones are confused between these two. That’s why JavaScript is known as the most misunderstood programming language.
The creator of JavaScript is Brendan Eich and first released 4th December 1995. Now it’s officially managed by Mozilla Foundation.
The short form of JavaScript is JS. In this article, we will try to demonstrate a basic overview of JavaScript. And also will cover some other stuff.
Learning JS is comparatively pretty easy. Its syntax is also easy to learn. That’s one of the reasons for JavaScript’s popularity. On the other hand, you must have to deal with JS if you are in the web field, more precisely front-end development. There is no alternative to it.
The current web field heavily uses JavaScript. JavaScript’s popularity has increased to a new dimension after the advent of ES6. Currently, it’s being used equally in both front-end and back-end on the web. Previously JS was a browser-based language and was only used on the front end. But after the release of NodeJS (JavaScript Runtime Environment) in 2009, it went beyond the browser. That’s why most full-stack developers like this language. Sites using JS in their back-end are much faster. Not only on the web but also JS is used to create mobile and desktop applications. Though in this case, JS is not always the first choice.
It has a good and friendly developers community. It has many popular frameworks and libraries.
Frameworks/Libraries
I would never recommend learning frameworks or libraries before learning the language very well. First, you have to learn the language. At least having a good understanding is a must.
There are so many famous frameworks and libraries. If you are a beginner, you might get confused. But you don’t need to worry about it. You don’t have to learn every framework/library. Just pick one framework based on the context which is suitable for you. And try to be good at it. Switching frameworks is easy if you learn and understand your first one well.
Speaking of the JS frameworks/libraries, first, we need to talk about the three most popular frameworks of the front end. These are ReactJS, VueJS, and AngularJS. Even though there are many popular font end frameworks. But these three are the most popular. You can learn one of them. If you can’t decide, I will suggest ReactJS.
There are also many frameworks for the back end. These are ExpressJS, KoaJS, AdonisJS, Meteor, etc. For developing API, express would be the best choice. On the other hand, Adonis follows the MVC pattern. If you are familiar with Laravel, it may seem familiar to you.
If we want to work with the mobile app, we can use React Native, NativeScript, Ionic, etc. There are so many popular mobile app that uses React Native. Click here to see.
For creating a desktop app, JS would be one of the good choices. Many popular desktop apps are made by using JS. Such as Skype, Github Desktop App, Slack, etc. Electron is one of the popular frameworks for creating a desktop app.
Learning Resources
So many resources you will find on the internet to learn JavaScript. And it’s up to you which one you choose to learn. I will suggest some good resources for the beginner. You can start to learn from any of them.
- FreeCodeCamp
- W3Schools
- Codecademy
- JavaScript30
- MDN JavaScript (Official Documentation)
Last Words
The use of JavaScript is increasing day by day. Nowadays, it is used widely in the tech industry, not limited to web, mobile, and desktop. According to the StackOverflow survey, JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages. So, this is high time to learn JavaScript.
