JavaScript is been around for a long time and it’s here to stay.
The history of the language is interesting – it’s C-like syntax, no relation to Java, and varying implementation across browsers make it a candidate for the most used, least understood language that developers are using today.
But it shouldn’t be that way. As many frustrating aspects of the framework as there are, JavaScript is a great programming language and if you know how to leverage its strengths, you can write some impressive applications with it.
Douglas Crockford is currently the senior JavaScript architect at Yahoo! and is arguably the leading authority on the JavaScript programming language.
Not long ago, he released a book called JavaScript: The Good Parts.
For those of you with a development background, you’re likely familiar with K&R’s The C Programming Language which is known more or less as the authoritative book on C. Crockford’s book is to JavaScript what K&R’s book is to C.
JavaScript: The Good Parts gives a killer walkthrough of the constructs of the language, what parts to leverage, what parts to avoid, and tips for writing cleaner, more maintainable code.
For those of you that are much more interested in JavaScript as a true programming language rather than a way to make slick things happen on the screen, I highly recommend that you grab a copy of the book.
It’s one that I constantly have sitting on my desk.
[…] if you’re ever read The C Programming Language by K&R or if you’ve ever read JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford, then you know just how good books that cover an entire programming language […]