Preface
JavaScript! JavaScript! JavaScript!
This language keeps popping up in more and more areas. Web
developers agree: You just can't get around JavaScript! That opinion
is backed up by a number of reliable sources, including the RedMonk
Programming Language Rankings, a website which rates
programming languages by their popularity. JavaScript currently holds
the top spot there, followed by Java, PHP and Python.
The JavaScript language specification standard ECMAScript 2015 is
almost completely supported by modern browsers. Instead of starting
with "old" JavaScript and then going on to show why things are better
with the modern elements of the language, we'll teach you the "new"
JavaScript right from the start. So let's throw away all the old baggage
and get right to the "cool stuff".
Even though this is a beginner class and we try to break you into
JavaScript as gently as possible, we also do place a high value on
good code quality. Even more important than code which runs is code
which is well-written — this means code which is easy to understand,
easy to change and easy to extend. This is the belief already
championed by the well-known Software Craftsmanship Manifesto,
signed by thousands of software developers worldwide.
In short, our goal is to bring you, in the shortest possible time, up to
the point where you're programming clean, up-to-date JavaScript
code.
You already know JavaScript? Then let yourself in for a surprise and