How to Learn JavaScript - 238 Bootcamps to Get You Started

JavaScript is used at both ends of the development spectrum. It helps make web pages interactive using both client-side and server-side programming. JavaScript is the driving force behind the activities of a web page. It helps prime user engagement through the creation of dynamic and user-friendly web applications.

Before JavaScript, users had to endure static web pages, which couldn't deliver timely content updates or react to user activity in real-time, and pages were devoid of the responsive features we take for granted today. JavaScript has advanced beyond its traditional role of scripting web browsers and is currently used to develop games and mobile apps as well.

Web browsers remain the most used application, whether on mobile devices or desktops. JavaScript is the only language native to the web browser. Because it's currently the most important scripting language for the web³, JavaScript is crucial to learn in order to start developing web applications.

Stack Overflow's annual survey cited JavaScript as the most popular programming language with 67.8% of respondents in 2019. The demand for JavaScript among employers is just as robust, with the 2019 Devskiller Global Technical Hiring & Skills Report showing that 70% of companies seek to hire JavaScript experts.

JavaScript is essential to creating dynamic web components. Therefore, JavaScript is indispensable to enhance audiences' user-experience. The program is also relatively easy to learn and implement so it can be a universal language for many coders.

Anyone who wants to be relevant as a developer must learn JavaScript. This is because JavaScript is now everywhere. Its ubiquity and explosion in popularity compelled Jeff Atwood, the Stack Overflow co-founder to release a statement which is now known as the Atwood's Law: “Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.⁴

JavaScript is also necessary to develop a responsive web application by manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM) on the browser to create a richer interaction with web pages for users. However, the advantages of learning JavaScript extend beyond the browser since it can also be used for server-side programming.

Programmers can get a variety of web development jobs using JavaScript, especially building the visual parts of a website such as the front-end, user-facing components. Apart from front end development, JavaScript full stack developers can use new systems like Node.js to delve into back end infrastructure.

With the versatility the language provides and emerging technologies such as HTML5 Canvas, JavaScript developers are also hired to develop browser-based games.

An entry-level JavaScript developer in the United States can earn an average of $71,191 annually. JavaScript developers with a bachelor's degree, more than 2-years of experience, and extra qualifications can earn an average annual salary of $117,729 in the United States.

Libraries in JavaScript consist of reusable functions that allow for easier application development. In a library, each individual function is written to accomplish some type of useful task. Developers design libraries to target certain operations like handling AJAX calls, framework setup, or DOM manipulation.

JavaScript libraries provide high levels of abstraction and implementation of features that have gained acceptance among users such as auto-completion, uniform cross-browser interface, graphics, and so on. Examples of some popular JavaScript libraries are JQuery, Backbone.js, and Polymer.

A JavaScript framework is a pre-written, tried, and tested JavaScript code that developers can use for routine programming tasks instead of rewriting entirely new code. They have become an important aspect of front end web development. These JavaScript frameworks provide a template that developers can use to build a website or web application around. Frameworks often consist of a collection of JavaScript code libraries.

Frameworks circumscribe the entire application by providing a structure that keeps code- especially a large codebase- organized. The difference between a JavaScript framework and a library is the control of flow. React, Angular, Vue, and Ember are some examples of popular JavaScript frameworks.