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Francis Isberto
Courses Plus Student 25,343 PointsHow to be a Full-Stack Javascript developer?
I'm taking on the Front End Web Development track and HTML and CSS was a breeze. However Javascript is a little bit challenging. And I'm very much aware that JS is used in millions of web pages and server applications worldwide.
That is why I want to be an expert on JS, jQuery, AJAX, JSON, frameworks like Backbone, React, or Ember, NodeJS, and the popular Angular. It also wouldn't hurt to learn to use Grunt.
So for those who are expert in JS kindly give me some tips here.
Question No 1 : How many hours per day or days per week so I devote myself on engaging on JS? Do you think it will take more than a year?
Question No. 2 : Will it be more effective to practice my JS skills on projects? If so, what projects so I work on?
Question No. 3 : With so many things to learn from JS, what is the first thing that I should master in before moving to the next subject?
Question No .4 : Do you think JS will be the language in the future or should I concentrate on others like Python or Ruby?
Question No. 5 : There's an ongoing battle on JS frameworks. Instead of repeating what is already out there, I wanted to look at the battle from an employability perspective. Which framework has entered the paying marketplace, and how much will they pay you for it?
3 Answers
Erik Nilsen
20,433 PointsFrancis,
First off I recommend reading this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/faq#wiki_which_programming_language_should_i_start_with.3F
How many hours per day or days per week so I devote myself on engaging on JS? Do you think it will take more than a year?
I'm not sure what your end goal is. Languages and Frameworks are constantly changing. I would devote as much time as you are comfortable with but be careful you don't want to burn out.
Will it be more effective to practice my JS skills on projects? If so, what projects so I work on?
Pick something you're passionate about. Solve a problem that you deal with everyday. There are tons of resources for ideas.
With so many things to learn from JS, what is the first thing that I should master in before moving to the next subject?
I'm not 100% sure what you mean by this. I would just familiarize yourself with the syntax, then use JS to understand core CS principles etc.
Do you think JS will be the language in the future or should I concentrate on others like Python or Ruby?
Agian look at the link I posted. Not only is that section good but the rest answers a few questions you have already asked.
There's an ongoing battle on JS frameworks. Instead of repeating what is already out there, I wanted to look at the battle from an employability perspective. Which framework has entered the paying marketplace, and how much will they pay you for it?
I don't know of a JS frontend framework that isn't used by at least one company. Pick the one that you like best and use it. Another good post on this topic is: http://kukuruku.co/hub/programming/do-not-learn-frameworks-learn-the-architecture
Hope this helps :)
edit: thanks Marcus Parsons
Francis Isberto
Courses Plus Student 25,343 PointsErik Nilsen, thanks for the tip. I appreciate it! In some way your able to give me the proper directions on JS. life. Just needed to keep on coding!
Erik Nilsen
20,433 Pointshaha no problem. let me know if you need any other help
Francis Isberto
Courses Plus Student 25,343 Pointsrickycatron, It seems to me that your more into Python, Django. Your in the right direction buddy. Keep it up!
Ricky Catron
13,023 PointsHaha I am. Simply the language I fell in love with. I am moving into JavaScript now. I just hoped I could contribute some language agnostic advice.
Goodluck! --Ricky
Marcus Parsons
15,719 PointsMarcus Parsons
15,719 PointsHey Erik,
I like how you're separating the questions from the rest of the content. I don't know if you've seen this, but you can use the > sign to denote a set of block text and it will format it much better (and is a ton easier) than wrapping each question in backticks:
Again, look at the link I posted. Not only is that section good but the rest answers a few questions you have already asked.
^ the above just looks like this:
>Do you think JS will be the language in the future or should I concentrate on others like Python or Ruby?
Again, look at the link I posted. Not only is that section good but the rest answers a few questions you have already asked.
Ricky Catron
13,023 PointsRicky Catron
13,023 PointsErik Nilsen you nailed it! I am no JavaScript expert myself but exactly.
Question 1 How many hours per day or days per week so I devote myself on engaging on JS? Do you think it will take more than a year?
Answer 1: Devote however much time you can comfortably, you can burn out in this field fast. Take breaks, enjoy life, love what you do and you will never work a day in your life(Not my Quote).Yes it will take a lifetime to master the language and all its parts.
Answer 2: I cant say it any better then Erik
Question 3 With so many things to learn from JS, what is the first thing that I should master in before moving to the next subject?
Answer 3: Raw JavaScript and JQuery. Work on these in tandem, JQuery for the how and JavaScript for the why. You should understand how a JQuery function works, maybe not all the way through but at least enough to explain it to someone else.
Question 4: Do you think JS will be the language in the future or should I concentrate on others like Python or Ruby?
Answer 4: A language is a tool, nothing more. If you can explain the why and how in JS you should be able to jump into Python or Ruby with some work. Languages are easy, concepts are hard.
Answer 5: See above ^. Learn a framework and the concepts it teachs then apply them to a new framework.
Summary: The tools we use today might be "old" tomorrow. Focus on learning to learn, key concepts of development, and your personal workflow(whatever makes YOU the most productive, not Google, not Mozilla, focus on YOU)
Goodluck! --Ricky