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I'm actually working through this book right now. I've been away from front-end coding for a bit and my weekend/evening project over the next month is to brush
by neovive 6y ago
I'm actually working through this book right now. I've been away from front-end coding for a bit and my weekend/evening project over the next month is to brush up on modern Javascript and ReactJS. This book is very well written and great re-introduction to JS/programming fundamentals.
For those interested--Besides this book, my current learning plan includes:
Javascript 30 by WesBos
Exploring ES6 [http://exploringjs.com/es6/ http://exploringjs.com/es6/]
Learning React-2nd Edition on O'Reilly Learning
The Beginners Guide to React on Egghead
Data Structures and Algorithms in JavaScript on Egghead.
I also used Kent C. Dodds' excellent "JavaScript to Know for React" article as an outline.
- 3crypto 6y agoThanks for posting these. I need to do some refreshing as well.
- ggregoire 6y agoFor React, why not just read the docs? You don't really need anything else.
- karimdxy 6y agoYes. I 100% agree with you. For whatever reason most people almost alway look elsewhere for the thing while it’s right in front of them.
- cfors 6y agoSure, you're right. They are quite good. But just from my perspective, I've been a backend engineer for most of my professional career and wanted to pick up front end dev. With little javascript/html/css knowledge, I used a couple different resources. I'm still learning, but I've found that just the official documentation doesn't quite get you there if you want to get the full picture. I've been working through the following resources with a decent amount of success I think: 1. Fullstack React: The Complete Guide [0] - a wonderful book with a bunch of practical applications to build 2. Learn CSS Layout [1] - A nice write up for understanding what CSS actually is doing 3. Mozilla HTML Reference [2] - Can't get any better than this documentation 4. Eloquent Javascript 3rd Edition - Book being discussed, really enjoying working through it. Obviously, the React and Redux documentation have been great as well. I don't think that just those really give you the full picture that you need though if you actually want to build professional web applications. Just another side of the coin, I suppose. [0] https://www.newline.co/fullstack-react/ https://www.newline.co/fullstack-react/ [1] http://book.mixu.net/css/ http://book.mixu.net/css/ [2] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference
- karimdxy 6y agoYou’re absolutely correct and I don’t disagree. However I’d like to offer an alternative: unless you build a real world project you won’t ever feel comfortable with your learning. I used to be just like you, try to cover as much ground as possible through (explicit) knowledge (books, blogs, videos, you name it) but whenever I applied that to the real thing, turns out there was always something missing, that I didn’t plan for. (I’m assuming you value your time and try to maximize as much of it as possible) Now what I do: I still look for resources BUT those that cover the minimum required (THE FUNDAMENTALS) and build upon that knowledge through practice and better target research/reading.
- tvanantwerp 6y agoThe React docs are excellent. But many (if not most) other projects have woefully under-developed docs that offer confusion more than clarity. I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming that the docs are not the place to start for learning something new.
- barrenko 6y agoFor me React docs look really great, but I don't get a lot from them, even though I'd say I understand JS. OTOH Python docs usually look like crap, but I get a sense of understanding.
- karimdxy 6y agoThat has a lot to do with the underlying language actually. This is purely anecdotal but react was the first framework I tried to learn. It was hard for many reasons. One Angular internship and one big vue project later, it was no longer hard. Everything just fell in place. It just clicked. The secret? My JS skills got way better.
- barrenko 6y agoMakes sense. It's probably my love/hate relationship with JS.
- nkhodyunya 6y agoNowadays if you face a tool with sparse official documentation or with total absence of it, it's probably better to find another tool or be prepared to learn from the source code.
- karimdxy 6y agoExactly. That’s one of the heuristic I use nowadays to filter things. Does it have a good documentation? Yes? Cool. I dive in head first. No? Hard pass.
- colmvp 6y agoFor me at least, I learn a lot faster by actively doing something (i.e. working on a toy problem/algorithm) than just reading the docs.
- K0SM0S 6y agoI suppose the implication was that you read the docs as you build something — the proverbial learn on a "need-to-nerd-basis" I'm the same, I can read 1,000 technical pages no problem and make you a great talk, but I'll remember nothing past a month (or 12...) if I don't actually use it.
- bJGVygG7MQVF8c 6y agoThought Leaders need to eat
- cjauvin 6y agoThe React tutorial is one of the best of the kind. You can go from zero to a reasonable understanding very efficiently.
- adonese 6y agoI personally was able to finish a side project in reasonable time working only with react docs.
- duxup 6y agoThe docs are great for a given tidbit, but for structure and "why" I personally don't always get that from the docs and I end up reading something from Kent that tells me why. https://kentcdodds.com/blog/usememo-and-usecallback https://kentcdodds.com/blog/usememo-and-usecallback Granted that's probably because on a good day my reading comprehension is not great and learning within a narrative works way better for me.
- gimboland 6y agoKent's stuff is good but I have a niggle with him (and an annoyingly non-zero bunch of other bloggers): no publication dates on his posts. As someone who always makes notes of what I read, and who wants those notes to include publication dates, it annoys me that I have to look at the git source for a given blog post to find out when it was published. (Though at least with Kent I have that option...)
- the_other 6y agoWeb tech moves very fast. A good answer to a problem today will likely get superseded within a year. In such a context, dates become essential tools to help comprehend someone’s post.
- centrinoblue 6y agoThis———^
- ashconnor 6y agoDates are in the RSS feed. https://kentcdodds.com/blog/rss.xml https://kentcdodds.com/blog/rss.xml
- Wistar 6y agoThe undated post thing is a huge pet peeve of mine (as are the relative time stamps, i.e. "2 days ago" rather than a real date/time).
- weaksauce 6y ago
- werber 6y agoI’m personally a dig in the docs kinda person, but I’ve worked with plenty of people who prefer a tutorial with a teacher and projects.
- virvar 6y agoDoesn’t the react tutorial end after what’s basically a hello world project? Some people prefer a lot more guidance than that.
- searchableguy 6y agoNo. They have a bunch of tutorials depending on which concept you want to learn. Basics concepts - https://reactjs.org/tutorial/tutorial.html https://reactjs.org/tutorial/tutorial.html
- throwawaystress 6y agoWhoa! You’re going to finish all seven (six?) of those books over the next month? Just on nights and weekends? How are you so productive? How do you not burn out, given that (I assume) you do software during the day? Honest question, from someone who is often down on themselves for being a slow coder, slow reader, and easily burned out.
- vijaybritto 6y agoMaybe he's just brushing up his past knowledge. Or maybe he's got the photomemory ability like gifted people. Who knows
- hugey010 6y agoI'm beginning to think this kind of memory is hugely important for programming. It sounds counter-intuitive because devs work with text, but maintaining a visual representation of any project, current and future state, as well as the various machine states is a consistent way to be productive.
- vijaybritto 6y agoThat's very helpful. But I'm talking about people with a special ability to remember everything after reading it once. My brother is someone like that and it's insane how much he remembers details of things that happened so many years ago.
- neovive 6y agoDefinitely the former--I'm just brushing up on my core JS skills and learning React for the first time. I currently use Vue for side projects, but I really like the React Hooks API.
- hombre_fatal 6y agoThen again, they're just plans. If announcing plans counted for anything, I'd be jacked with a six pack.
- 6y ago
- 11235813213455 6y agoI guess (online) books speed up the learning, but I've learned all those techs by practice over a few months, official docs (mdn, nodejs docs, react docs, googling, github issues & stackoverflow) and IRC
- neovive 6y agoThe MDN and React docs are amazing! I consistently refer to them while working through the books for a deeper dive into the API's. I tend to have three MDN pages open at any given time.