Jun 182011
I recently began seriously trying to learn Javascript and JQuery. Up til now, I knew just enough to tweak a script or make some WordPress behavior changes when needed, but if I were to do a complete project in Javascript from start to finish, it would probably look like a mess of PHP. (ooh, zing!)
In case anyone out there is in a similar position, with a reasonably solid coding background, but looking to beef up Javascript, I found the following resources really helpful:
- Javascript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford — Most JS developers have probably heard of this book, and for good reason. This book really helped clarify how the language should be used properly to avoid many pitfalls I saw myself running into while playing around.
- In fact, Douglas Crockford is kind of the man when it comes to Javascript. His entire web site is full of goodies.
- http://jsfiddle.net/ — Great IDE for playing with the language, different platforms, and of course the HTML and CSS on the page. Hooks up everything you need to quickly play around with ideas quickly.
- The Javascript Guide on the Mozilla Development Network–very complete, well-written, and well-organized.