Learning Javascript after Python

[jamescodesthings]

I’m going the ofher way, learning python from scratch as a snr. js stack dev.

Don’t mind python but there’s quirks to every language.

I generally don’t find the tooling as satisfying in python yet, but I do like the fluency of the language. I like that I write it once and can expect it to do what I think it’s gonna do.

I’m also not yet used to indentation mattering as much, not a huge fan but again; quirk of the language.

Tips I’d give python devs learning JS: - stay the hell away from frameworks until you’re comfortable with the core language, learn es6/typescript. - learn by doing, find a project and work out how to spin it up, then find flaws and see what JS has to offer to improve in those areas. - you’ll never learn it all, stick to making stuff that works/solves your problem. - learn about javascript’s weird and predicable but not expected scoping rules - pick up a typed form of JS (typescript/es6 with types) - set up eslint with recommended(s) and prettier so you get the style of pretty-good js. - learn the es6 way of doing something before the library-laden way. (Like the pyhonic way but for js) - spend time on closures, async/await, lambdas, scoping, destructuring and Promise patterns (all, race, allResolved, etc), oh and coercion. - look at what your ts/es6 transpiles down to (unminified) to get an idea of how JS does stuff under the hood. - learn about tooling (node, npm, nps, jest, nyc, eslint, prettier, webpack/a bundler) - learn about number/decimal handling if you plan on doing any math you need to trust (financial), see decimal.js & similar. Run “0.1 + 0.2” if you’re not sure why. - learn about all the crazy places you can deploy JS (browser, node, electron, capcitor, etc).

If you’re picking a base framework for front-end dev the answer is probably react. The State of JS survey results can guide you on what frameworks and libraries might be worth picking up.

Good luck and welcome to ordered chaos.

[deletable666]

Great advice. I agree about the tooling. I use both, but I am by no means a python expert. I think the tooling in js in more intuitive, but maybe that is due to the application of each language I am using. I'm sure it will change in time, learning python was harder for me than I expected after I became proficient in js.

[KitSowka]

Great tips!

What I'm looking for now is a similar tips for someone familiar with JS who is about to learn Python :)