They said “You can’t get very far in tech without running smack into Javascript”. I presume you are here for that reason, and you’ve made a wise decision.
A quick definition: Javascript is a scripting language used to create and control dynamic website content. Anything that moves, refreshes, or otherwise changes on your screen without manually reloading a web page can be written in Javascript.
For my 4th project requirement with Flatiron School, I have created a simple and basic Budget Tracker App built with vanilla Javascript frontend and a Rails API backend. I found myself fascinated (and mentally exhausted) with the language’s complexity. I had the most difficult 8 weeks learning the fundamentals and still can’t get enough of it. Most programmers will say that it will take at least 6–9 months to learn the basic JavaScript and really be comfortable with it. Even then, you will still spend years gaining new skills and a deeper understanding of JavaScript.
Here are some of the most basic things to understand about Javascript.
Primitive data types and variables.
There are three ways to declare a variable:
var is the ES5 way of declaring a variable. This is a generic variable keyword.
let is a new ES6 variable keyword. This will assign a variable much like var, but with a little bit different behavior. Most notably, it differs by creating “block level scope”.
const is also new in ES6. A const variable is a variable that cannot be changed. It’s short for “constant”.
Primitive Data Types — String, Number, Boolean
Strings are blocks of text. Numbers are just that, numbers. Boolean means true or false in Javascript.
…and so much more…but until then!
(Will definitely be adding content to as I learned more.)
