Practical use

Variables, in my opinion, are the bread and butter of JavaScript. Being able to set variables adds a dynamic ability to your site that otherwise might just contain some HTML and CSS. Whether it is setting a trigger for a scrollTo script or using variables for user based input, variables can add so much to a site.

I use console.log all the time to check variable data without stopping my script halfway through. By using console.log, I can easily see where specific variables might not be set correctly and can debug my code more accurately.

When I tutored in college on web development I would always break it down like this. Your website is a paper airplane. The HTML is the paper and the specific folds, your CSS is the color and what makes it visually appealing and your JavaScript is the model rocket engine that you duct taped to the back.

Thanks for your response. Html and css i am very comfortable with, javascript is my next step.

I am only just starting the javascript foundation deep dive, and as i am slowly getting to grips with it but where we are just going through different things like variable and loops, what i feel isnt really being explained is how to apply it within a website!

Maybe, well hopefully, that will come further on as i work through the stages.

Thanks again

Hi Robert James,

JavaScript can be applied to websites and web applications in a huge variety of ways. You can use it to do simple things like reveal a modal window or trigger a CSS animation. You can also use it for more intermediate purposes, like fetching data from the server without refreshing the page. You can even build complex web apps that use JavaScript for things like page templates or browser-based games.

All of these things require foundational knowledge of the most atomic programming constructs in JavaScript, like variables, loops, arrays, if statements, and more. Even for something as simple as manipulating a page element, you'll likely need to traverse the DOM tree (your HTML) using a loop and then store a selected element in a variable. If you're working with JSON data fetched from a web server, you'll probably need to parse it and store things into an array. All of the basic language components can be used in concert to form more complex ideas, so even though they don't seem useful on their own, they become more useful later on in your learning.