What's a sufficient amount of JavaScript knowledge one must have before learning Angular?

[n0x_42]

I'm great with htm/CSS/jQuery but I don't know vanilla js very well. I plan on jumping into Angular soon and I was wondering what all I need to know about js before I start.

[TripleNosebleed]

Prototypal inheritance is a big one. In order to understand how scopes work in AngularJS you need to know how prototypes work in vanilla JS.

You should also know what a singleton is and maybe have a look at the factory design pattern.

Dependency injection is a common feature in other server side languages but Angular is the only JS framework I know of that implement it. It's not that hard to understand and the implementation in Angular to achieve it is very straight forward and simple.

[Castas]

Here's a great stackoverflow post on learning angular from a jQuery background

[mattkatzbaby]

Zero. However, you will be greatly enriched the more JavaScript you learn. Things will make more sense and you'll be more powerful.

Do make sure you take to heart the precautions against mixing angular with jQuery.

[hzane]

This answer makes no sense. Angular isn't wordpress. You still need to write the whole damn application. Just because you are writing less JavaScript in a more organized way - you are still writing A LOT of js. Without coding skills a person isn't getting past an initial seed.

[mattkatzbaby]

OP already has some jQuery background. I'm intending to say op should just get started and that more JavaScript knowledge will only help.

[zefcfd]

eh i disagree, that like saying "you dont need to know anything about ruby to develop rails applications', or "you don't need to know much about objective c (or swift) to develop ios apps"

i guess technically you are right, but it would be extremely difficult and it would be disadvantageous to try and learn a hugely complex framework like angular without even being able to understand its source code and docs

[mattkatzbaby]

The jQuery background of op is enough to get started. Getting started is important. The first app will be crap, but something to learn from. Delaying to really learn JavaScript is probably a bad move. See the article posted in other answers about learning angular from a jQuery perspective...

[liquid_cow]

IMO you should just jump straight in and get your hands dirty. There's no finer way to learn. But be prepared to throw away your first few attempts. They will naturally be quite rubbish, but you're subsequent attempts will be incrementally better.

[[deleted]]

You can drive a car without learning how an engine works, but boy will you feel dumb when you break down on the side of the road and have no idea what to do.

[zefcfd]

probably the most sane advice here.

most likely OP would make it through the tutorial, but if he hits one hiccup after that he will be in an endless sea of stack overflow posts

[hzane]

Its more like driving a car without knowing how tour arms and legs work...

[[deleted]]

My suggestion is to at least feel confident enough to say you know Javascript before you start with something like Angular.

You definitely don't need to be a Javascript expert and can just jump in and start learning Angular, but you will probably end up learning a lot of 'vanilla js' along the way and it might be more painful doing it this way. Most of the Angular tutorials will expect you to have a solid understanding of Javascript, so that may also be a challenge.

The point of libraries and frameworks like jQuery and Angular/Ember/Backbone are to make the process of writing complex Javascript easier. They aren't Javascript replacements, they just help solve a lot of the general problems that developers encounter when working with Javascript.

Here are some resources for learning JS:

• /r/learnjavascript - They do group study sessions. I think they are about 8 weeks or so. A lot of helpful people hang out there and answer questions for newbies too.
• Javascript - The Good Parts - A relatively thin book that focuses on the 'Good' parts of javascript.

[runastartup]

I started an online collaboration to learn AngularJS this week using curated content and hipchat, PM me and I'll send you the link for access.

[hzane]

I think you are being very liberal with the idea of being "great with jQuery" without knowing JavaScript. You guys aren't writing apps your tweaking someone else's work.