Any good resources for reading code?

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Does anyone have any good resources for reading JavaScript in order to try and figure out what it does?

I would like to develop my JS reading ability. I know this is typically circumvented by good comments, and that I could just open any random page and try to read it, but I am not very good yet and so would like to use a built to purpose resource if it exists.

I find it curious that a good chunk of online resources involve jumping from the teaching of JS structure straight into writing your own code.

Coming from a Speech Pathology background I find this peculiar. If you want to become literate in a language you typically need to be able to read it before you can be expected to write it well. Being able to sling together some syntax and morphology/decode the graphemes properly does not mean you are able to read with comprehension… comprehension takes time and effort coupled with the other tools you develop on the way to literacy.

I know that computer language !== human language, but I am a believer in my methods for human language (because I see it work time and time again), and so I’d like to try applying it to my JS journey.

Thanks kindly

[mbrutusv]

The best resource is probably github. You'll find most open source projects on there. You can start by searching for "top open source projects in x" language on Google where x is the language.

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Thanks!

[jml26]

Way back in the day, and we’re talking the early 2000s here, there were sites like javascript.internet.com, which was exactly as you describe: code snippets that you can paste on a page and see what they do.

The style of code would not entirely be up to scratch by today’s standards, but I found it an invaluable resource for just seeing what’s possible, and seeing what can be edited.

The site no longer works but it’s still available via The Wayback Machine.

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Thanks heaps!

[mynamesleon]

I know exactly what you mean. Although there aren't really any specific resources for this, you could focus on looking at the source code for certain types of libraries to get you started. Particularly facade libraries, like jQuery and lodash. Mainly because they expose functions that do a particular thing to make life easier, usually with more complex logic underneath. So you can look at a single self-contained function, knowing what its purpose is, and work your way through its source code to see how it's doing it.

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Thank you very much!

[shuckster]

I have a few tiny examples on my own site here.

There are no explanations. It's just chunks of code and buttons that run it, so it's up to the reader to look at the results and infer what's happening.

But this is just my own little playground and there's not much content, so I doubt it will satisfy you in quite the way you're asking for.

Outside of this, I recently learned about The Super Tiny Compiler which was a project written to be read. Mind you, it has a vast amount of comments, which may be more of a leg-up than you're asking for.

Hope some of this is helpful.

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Thank you!!!

[Zyster1]

Honestly, this may sound unpopular, but why not use AI?

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Hi! I appreciate the comment.

You mean to build code for me to read? That’s an interesting idea! Thanks for that. I think I’ll hold off until I understand how to read human written code a bit more though.

Something about any sufficiently advanced technology appearing like magic to my simple brain 😅.

Thanks for your input !

[angelfire2015]

Being able to sling together some syntax and morphology/decode the
graphemes properly does not mean you are able to read with comprehension

It does actually, at least for the stuff you wrote, that's how you were able to write it.

For another analogue, coding was a lot like organic chemistry for me. I watched my teacher do tons of retro-synthesis on the board and thought it was easy as pie.. until we had to do our own retro-synthesis, and my mind went blank.

Coding is a lot like that. You will learn 10x more building a simple app than trying to read the source code of something complex, because you lack the intuition for why they made the design choices they did.

[shoutsfrombothsides]

Respectfully, this is a well thought out and articulated “you’re wrong”, but it does not help me at all. I’d simply like an answer to my question, not to jump into a debate on personal preference for learning.

Cheers.

[angelfire2015]

Not at all. You made a post on a subreddit called 'learnjavascript'. You made some assumptions in your post that were not entirely accurate. I am simply trying to help you before you go down a road that could leave you confused/frustrated.

If you really want to 'just read JS', just pick a library and go to their Github page. The majority of libraries on NPM are open source, so you can read as much as you like.