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I also want to add the great Eloquent JavaScript[0] to this list. While its targeted at learning programming as a whole, its still a wonderful resource, even fo

I also want to add the great Eloquent JavaScript[0] to this list. While its targeted at learning programming as a whole, its still a wonderful resource, even for seasoned programmers, to learn some ins and outs of the language if you haven't had a lot of experience with it. I also want to give mention to JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford[1], and his new book, How JavaScript Workers[2] [0]: https://eloquentjavascript.net/ https://eloquentjavascript.net/ [1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596517742/wrrrldwideweb https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596517742/wrrrldwideweb [2]: https://howjavascriptworks.com/ https://howjavascriptworks.com/

scruple 6y ago
> JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford I've been wondering lately, as I'm moving (back) into a JavaScript-heavy stack (it's been... 4-5 years for me), is this book still relevant in the face of 12 years of JavaScript language development?
- agentultra 6y ago
  The code in it will still run and work but there are much better patterns and features now that help you write more succinct and less error-prone code. ES6 and ES7 are widely supported now and are much better languages IMO.
  - scruple 6y ago
    Thanks, that's kind of what I thought. I recently, finally, took it off of my book shelf and stuffed it into a box in the garage, but it's been in the back of my mind a few times as I've been going through other resources. It's good for the historical understanding but I couldn't see it being terribly relevant today.
- piyh 6y ago
  As a noobie, Eloquent Javascript was much better for me than The Good Parts. The Good Parts was a book of how not to program, followed by the right way of doing it. Eloquent was a guided path to understanding the language without being shown all the dead ends. Knowing the dead ends and the history behind them is nice, but I spent a lot of brain power on the dead ends that Eloquent put towards better use. We're also talking a small book vs a tome of knowledge, but the philosophy is different regardless of size.
- fidelramos 6y ago
  Unless the book has had an updated edition it's missing all the ES6 good stuff. It was good to avoid the pitfalls of JavaScript in the past, but nowadays you should be using ES6, strict mode and, if that strikes your fancy, TypeScript.
- squeaky-clean 6y ago
  I personally never really liked that book even when it was new. It's good if you wanna get up and running with JS fast while coming from another language, and are forced to use JS in places but it's not the main language of your project. But it doesn't really give a strong foundation on understanding the language. It's more like "I know mainstream C-inspired languages, and JS often burns me with its weird quirks like how the this keyword works, I just want to avoid getting burned". But it doesn't really embrace JS itself, just sort of acknowledges that you will be forced to use it in the web so you may as well at least learn the "good" parts. It's still decent at that purpose, but for really strong competency in JS I can also vouch for the Eloquent JS book and the You Don't Know JS series (I've only read the first edition, a new edition is partially complete and available online).
  - kqr 6y ago
    > it doesn't really embrace JS itself, just sort of acknowledges that you will be forced to use it in the web so you may as well at least learn the "good" parts. I'm sure you know this, so I'm just pointing it out for completeness sake: that was indeed the only sensible approach to JavaScript back when that book was written.
mxschumacher 6y ago
Given the publication date of May 2008, isn't "JavaScript The good parts" deeply outdated at this point? Would you still give it to a beginner?
- nogabebop23 6y ago
  I would not give it to a beginner, but definitely to an intermediate-plus developer from a non-JS background. The best parts are the reasonable but strong opinions and the admittance of very bad parts. The code is less valuable today but as mentioned above, still runs fine. Today this book makes a good companion but not a great single source reference.
- hajile 6y ago
  It's a subset of modern JS, but a subset you cannot escape from as all modern features are layered on top of it.
benrbray 6y ago
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the author of "Eloquent JavaScript", Marijn Haverbeke, also created both CodeMirror and ProseMirror [1], which are both extremely well-regarded open source code/text editing tools. I can especially recommend ProseMirror after spending a lot of time with it recently. It's an actually sane wrapper around contenteditable. [1] https://prosemirror.net/ https://prosemirror.net/

scruple 6y ago

> JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford I've been wondering lately, as I'm moving (back) into a JavaScript-heavy stack (it's been... 4-5 years for me), is this book still relevant in the face of 12 years of JavaScript language development?

agentultra 6y ago
The code in it will still run and work but there are much better patterns and features now that help you write more succinct and less error-prone code. ES6 and ES7 are widely supported now and are much better languages IMO.
- scruple 6y ago
  Thanks, that's kind of what I thought. I recently, finally, took it off of my book shelf and stuffed it into a box in the garage, but it's been in the back of my mind a few times as I've been going through other resources. It's good for the historical understanding but I couldn't see it being terribly relevant today.
piyh 6y ago
As a noobie, Eloquent Javascript was much better for me than The Good Parts. The Good Parts was a book of how not to program, followed by the right way of doing it. Eloquent was a guided path to understanding the language without being shown all the dead ends. Knowing the dead ends and the history behind them is nice, but I spent a lot of brain power on the dead ends that Eloquent put towards better use. We're also talking a small book vs a tome of knowledge, but the philosophy is different regardless of size.
fidelramos 6y ago
Unless the book has had an updated edition it's missing all the ES6 good stuff. It was good to avoid the pitfalls of JavaScript in the past, but nowadays you should be using ES6, strict mode and, if that strikes your fancy, TypeScript.
squeaky-clean 6y ago
I personally never really liked that book even when it was new. It's good if you wanna get up and running with JS fast while coming from another language, and are forced to use JS in places but it's not the main language of your project. But it doesn't really give a strong foundation on understanding the language. It's more like "I know mainstream C-inspired languages, and JS often burns me with its weird quirks like how the this keyword works, I just want to avoid getting burned". But it doesn't really embrace JS itself, just sort of acknowledges that you will be forced to use it in the web so you may as well at least learn the "good" parts. It's still decent at that purpose, but for really strong competency in JS I can also vouch for the Eloquent JS book and the You Don't Know JS series (I've only read the first edition, a new edition is partially complete and available online).
- kqr 6y ago
  > it doesn't really embrace JS itself, just sort of acknowledges that you will be forced to use it in the web so you may as well at least learn the "good" parts. I'm sure you know this, so I'm just pointing it out for completeness sake: that was indeed the only sensible approach to JavaScript back when that book was written.

mxschumacher 6y ago

Given the publication date of May 2008, isn't "JavaScript The good parts" deeply outdated at this point? Would you still give it to a beginner?

nogabebop23 6y ago
I would not give it to a beginner, but definitely to an intermediate-plus developer from a non-JS background. The best parts are the reasonable but strong opinions and the admittance of very bad parts. The code is less valuable today but as mentioned above, still runs fine. Today this book makes a good companion but not a great single source reference.
hajile 6y ago
It's a subset of modern JS, but a subset you cannot escape from as all modern features are layered on top of it.

benrbray 6y ago

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the author of "Eloquent JavaScript", Marijn Haverbeke, also created both CodeMirror and ProseMirror [1], which are both extremely well-regarded open source code/text editing tools. I can especially recommend ProseMirror after spending a lot of time with it recently. It's an actually sane wrapper around contenteditable. [1] https://prosemirror.net/ https://prosemirror.net/