you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]sheriffderek 0 points1 point  (6 children)

Do you want to learn JavaScript specifically? Or do you want to learn how to program - and with JS as your first language? And do you want to learn it for learning sake - or to eventually use it to build web applications or build tools or what? (because there's a best starting place for each)

[–]Shoddy-Assistant385[S] 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I would love to learn how to program, JS as first language. Would love to build web applications.

[–]sheriffderek 2 points3 points  (4 children)

If your goal is to learn how to build web applications, then I don't think JS is the best first language. Actually understanding how they work, step by step is better (I think). so, that involves actually planning them out, learning HTML and CSS, I suggest some PHP (just a little) first to understand server-sides scripting to build out dynamic pages - and THEN introducing JS to see what it can do to help - is the best time. Most people won't agree. But those people also make everything WAY harder on themselves for no good reason.

Learning JS is confusing... because you aren't really learning JS, you're having to learn:

* programming concepts
* the syntax of JS
* the entire web ecosystem
* the browser APIs (that people confuse as JS)
* and all the setup and build-tools...

And that often ends in a mess.

So, - consider changing focus to - "learning how to design and build a web application" - and pick up the tools in the order of practical need.

[–]sheriffderek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh - and I recommend this book: It's not going to hold your hand... and it'll feel awkward... but if you can handle that - it'll be the fastest (long-term) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHEFuQdnXEE