The Ultimate Step-by-step Guide
JavaScript is a programming language that's easy to learn, with a huge community and plenty of tools. It's also used by virtually every developer in the world, so learning it will open up a lot of opportunities for you. You can learn JavaScript quickly if you set clear goals and focus on practicing widely — but doing so will require some discipline and motivation.
Set a clear goal
Setting a clear goal is a crucial part of your success. Why? Because once you know what you're working towards, it's easier to stay motivated and focused on the most important concepts.
How do you set a clear goal? First, write down what you want to accomplish in the next 90 days and why it matters to you personally. Then ask yourself: How will I know if this project was successful? What metrics can I use to measure my progress? Once accomplished, how will my life be different than before starting this project (and don't forget about any side effects!) If nothing else, knowing these things will help keep your motivation levels high when things get rough along the way!
Choose a comprehensive learning resource
The first thing you'll need to do is choose a learning resource. This can be an online course, a book or tutorial, or even just code snippets posted on GitHub. You want to make sure that the resource has what you need:
- It should match your learning style – Do you learn well through reading? Or maybe watching videos is more effective? The type of material presented in a given lesson will determine how successful you are at learning it.
- It should match your skill level – Some of the most popular resources have great tutorials for beginners and others are geared towards experienced programmers who want to learn JavaScript from scratch. If this isn't specified by the author then look for reviews from other people who have used them before so that you can get an idea about their effectiveness in teaching concepts at different levels of expertise.
- It should match your budget – There are many free options available online nowadays but if money isn't an issue then paying for premium content might provide better quality materials, especially when combined with professional instructors who know what they're doing
Three of the best online resources (in my opinion) for learning JavaScript online are Treehouse, Codecademy, and freeCodeCamp. Here's a comparison of each:
- Treehouse is a paid online learning platform where you can create an account and access a wide range of courses, including JavaScript. It has a lot of content for beginners, but can also be used by more advanced programmers who want to learn about new technologies. They have videos and text lessons as well as projects that you can complete to practice what you've learned.
- Codecademy is a free site that has both text and video lessons as well as projects you can complete. It's great for beginners who are looking to learn the basics of JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and other programming languages. They also have some more advanced courses that teach you how to build apps using frameworks such as AngularJS or ReactJS.
- freeCodeCamp is another great site for beginners who want to learn how to code. They have a variety of topics that include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as well as other technologies like SQL and Python.
Practice
Practice is the best way to learn any language, including JavaScript. The more you code, the better you'll get at it. The better you get at coding, the more proficient in different programming languages (like JavaScript) you'll become. This can be a tricky concept for beginners because they don't know what success looks like when they start writing code for the first time. You may end up wasting time trying to figure out how something works or why your code doesn't work as it does in other tutorials on YouTube or Stack Overflow answers from experts who have been doing this for years and years.
You want that feeling of getting something right immediately because it's fun! When we're learning something new it's hard not to compare ourselves with other people who seem so much better than us so quickly – especially when we start as complete novices just beginning our journey into coding with no idea where all of this leads (and those feelings only get stronger as we progress further down this path).
But it's important to remember that the path you're on is your own. And if you're feeling discouraged or frustrated, it means that you are learning!
One of the best ways to practice JavaScript is by building real-world projects. For this, I recommend doing JavaScript30 by Wes Bos. Here's a quick rundown:
- Each day, you will build a new project. The projects are focused on building something useful and helping you to practice different skills.
- There is no programming experience required (but if you have some JS experience, that's even better).
- You can work through the course at your own pace (but I recommend doing it in as close to thirty days as possible).
Stay up to date
Stay up to date with the latest technology
The pace of change in the JavaScript world is fast, with new frameworks and libraries being developed all the time. Make an effort to stay current with the latest best practices and technologies. It's also important that you're aware of any security issues that might arise when using a particular library or framework, so you can make informed decisions when choosing what tools to adopt in your projects.
Join a community
While there are many great resources online to learn JavaScript, joining a community is also a great way to learn. You can find others who are learning the same thing as you and get advice from them or even just share experiences.
There are many online forums, meetups, and communities where you can connect with other people who are learning JavaScript. These can be great resources for asking questions, getting feedback on your code, and finding motivation and support.
Don't be afraid to ask for help
At some point, you will get stuck on a problem or concept. Don't be afraid to reach out to others for help. Whether it's through a forum, your friends and family, colleagues at work, or your teachers in school — asking others for advice is not only okay – it can be extremely beneficial!
If you do decide to ask someone for help online or via messaging services like Slack (a great tool for teams) make sure that your questions are clear and concise so that other people have no trouble understanding what's going on.
Have fun
Learning to program is a challenging process, but it should also be enjoyable. You're going to feel like you're learning a language that nobody speaks and that you'll never get good at, but don't let that discourage you. Remember that even the most experienced programmers have struggled with programming at some point in their careers. Programming has a steep learning curve with lots of frustrating moments, but if you just keep pushing through and following this guide, I promise it will pay off!
A Step-by-step guide
Here's an example of the steps you could follow on your 90-day journey. This is especially helpful if you've decided to use Codecademy as your learning resource (as it's broken into modules), but it can still be applied to most online platforms:
Month 1:
- Day 1: Introduction to JavaScript and the basics of programming
- Day 2: Data types, variables, and operators in JavaScript
- Day 3: Control structures (if/else statements, for loops, etc.)
- Day 4: Functions and scope in JavaScript
- Day 5: Arrays and objects in JavaScript
- Day 6-7: Review and practice what you've learned so far
- Day 8-14: More practice with JavaScript fundamentals
Month 2:
- Day 1: Introduction to object-oriented programming in JavaScript
- Day 2: Classes and inheritance in JavaScript
- Day 3: Asynchronous programming with promises and async/await
- Day 4: Working with the DOM (Document Object Model)
- Day 5: Introduction to jQuery
- Day 6-7: Review and practice what you've learned so far
- Day 8-14: More practice with advanced JavaScript concepts (this would be a great time to incorporate JavaScript30)
Month 3:
- Day 1: Introduction to modern JavaScript frameworks (such as React or Angular)
- Day 2: Building a simple web application with a JavaScript framework
- Day 3: Working with APIs and making HTTP requests in JavaScript
- Day 4: Advanced debugging techniques in JavaScript
- Day 5: Best practices for writing clean and maintainable code in JavaScript
- Day 6-7: Review and practice what you've learned so far
- Day 8-14: More practice building web applications and honing your skills as a JavaScript programmer
I hope this outline helps! It's important to remember that learning a new programming language takes time and effort. The fact that you're even considering learning JavaScript is a great sign, but don't get discouraged if it feels like there's so much to learn! If you break down the process into small steps and practice consistently, you'll soon find yourself making real progress.
Set yourself up for success
- Set a clear goal.
- Choose a comprehensive learning resource.
- Practice, practice, practice!
- Stay up to date on new versions of JavaScript and how they affect your code base.
- Join a community where you can share your knowledge with others and learn from them as well! Don't be afraid to ask questions in this community – everyone was once a beginner at coding!
Conclusion
If you're eager to learn JavaScript and become an ace programmer in 90 days, then these tips will help you get started. By setting yourself up for success from the beginning, you can avoid many common pitfalls and learn more efficiently in less time.
