JavaScript 101

Materials and Q&A for a JavaScript 101 course aimed at those without a background in development.

Why?

More and more of our application code will live in the browser over time as JavaScript, and perhaps our server code will utilize the same language as well. Luckily, it's pretty easy to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is becoming more central to web applications.

With this in mind, it will be beneficial for non-developers to gain a better understanding of this language, and how it is used in the browser and on the server. We can start out simple, and work up to the level of proficiency required to aid in debugging web app issues, writing automated end-to-end tests. Perhaps you will find yourself developing a web application of your own.

I hope to hold 1 - 1.5 hour sessions every 2-3 weeks, depending on my schedule. Perhaps other developers can assist as well, schedule permitting.

Session Plans

Plans will be tracked in the issue tracker, under the plan label. Milestones will coincide with specific sessions. Feel free to add comments or suggestions to upcoming session plans.

Resources

• Learn Javascript in Y Minutes

Learning/Session Tools

All tools should be web-based, simple to use but powerful, useful for collaboration and after-session reference, and demonstrative of the power of JavaScript.

Github

• Hold/serve code (in a public repo) from sessions for reference
• Q&A from participants via issue tracker
• Suggestions for future topics via issue tracker

Slid.es

• Slides to drive the session content
• Public, so useful for reference

Chrome

• Cutting edge features, highly intuitive.
• The best developer tools console of any browser.
• Useful for creating and executing small code snippets without any other tools

Cloud9 IDE

• Real-time collaborative coding for all participants and presenter
• No-nonsense web-based IDE
• It's cool

JSBin

• Super-simple to create, run, share, and debug a small web app demonstration.