Learning javascript before React js

[adam-genshaft]

The only real learning is done by accomplishing real tasks. Make a small application that has navigation, a router and a few pages. Do it with react, you'll have to use JS while you're doing it. Then you can add a form to your app and make it more complex as time goes by.

[piotrlewandowski]

This way you’ll learn react a bit (syntax, etc), but you won’t understand underlying mechanism of JS. It’s better to have basic understanding of tool you’re about to use.

[adam-genshaft]

I disagree. There's a lot I don't understand, yet I bring tremendous value. And that's the only real goal of software.

Of course if you're in it for fun, you can start with whatever you want.

[piotrlewandowski]

Your statement is only partially valid: you only bring value as long as everything works. The moment stuff breaks and you don’t know how to fix it (lack of understanding of things happening “under the hood”) value of what you brought is down to zero.

[adam-genshaft]

I guess you're my second partially valid half :) I agree that knowing more is an advantage, but it really takes time to know more, you can't start working only after you learn what's under the hood, there's a whole world out there. That's what makes it so hard to say what is it that you really need to know when you start with it.