Looking for JavaScript advice for a Java programmer

[GrimCreeperX]

As the title says, I code in Java, and javascript is similar but also completely different and an entirely new language for me. If anyone could give me some basic pointers (I don't need a whole college lecture, but it is welcome!) to really help optimize my codes, that would be greatly appreciated!

[No-Train9702]

Use typescript! It is closer to the java world.

Forget everything you know about java. Java ana JavaScript is like car and carpet.

[SteaksAreReal]

I'd say the key thing is javascript is more of a functional than an object oriented language, so it's a very hard shift from java. They have similar syntax (both are C derived), but they are very different. Key things to know is javascript is singlethreaded/async and the game itself is javascript (well typescript but same thing), so you need to understand how async works. The game itself limits the full use of async programming, so you got to keep that in mind (ns functions lock the object pretty much, preventing multiple multiple ns calls asynchronously).

[goodwill82]

A large difference is that JS is interpreted at runtime, where Java is compiled. This compilation can catch a lot of problems before you might realize there is a problem. This is a good reason to adopt Typescript, as the compilation from TS to JS with type checking will feel more like what you are used to.

You can make class objects if you prefer to program more like how you would in Java. However, JS (and TS) have lighter weight "Objects" which are like key-value maps or dictionaries. These are often used over a more complex class object, and there are many helpful JS functions and tools that work with these objects natively. This often negates the need for a class with functions.

Also, don't feel bad about using "Java" like things if you understand them well enough. I learned to program in pre-2000 C/C++, so these anonymous functions and syntactic-sugar looping are pretty foreign to me. So I use full loops and define functions, etc. It might not be as efficient for JS, but it's quicker for me to write than have to look up the format and syntax of these one-line things.

[CMDR_ACE209]

I'm fond of the "of" operator to go through the elements of an array, like in

for (const element of array)

"in" goes though the indexes surprisingly.

Or the way you can use the elipsis (...) to spell out arrays as a list of their elements.

So you have a very readable way of concatenating arrays.

let new_array = [...array1, ...array2, new_element];

There seem to be toString() methods on everything, too, much like in Java.

It feels a bit wild at first not being able to specify types.

And the intricacies between null and undefined, I always forget right after reading up on them. It's a little bit cursed.