Books to learn JavaScript – 5 best JavaScript books

No matter whether you are trying to learn front-end or back-end development, JavaScript is the language of the web. So learning JavaScript will definitely prove to be beneficial at some in your career. Besides the plethora of online resources, books are also a reliable resource for learning JavaScript. Books can provide you with detailed explanations of specific concepts and topics which online courses and videos often skip. Not to mention random online resources are often very scattered and can leave you confused whereas books are often well structured. In this article, we will briefly look at why you should learn JavaScript and the 5 best books to learn JavaScript fast.

Why should you learn JavaScript?

It is important to understand why you are learning something before you do it. So before we look at the books, let us briefly discuss why you should learn JavaScript in 2022 and beyond.

Firstly and most importantly, JavaScript is everywhere. Apart from it being the language of the web, JavaScript can also be used to create cross-platform mobile apps and even desktop apps. In fact, some of the most popular desktop applications like Discord, and VS Code and developed using JavaScript! There is a famous quote that says,

Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.

by Jeff Atwood

Apart from it being very popular and versatile, the job market for JavaScript is skyrocketing every year. So if you are trying to build a career in tech, JavaScript is a great choice. Not to mention JavaScript is also a great first language for beginners! With that being said, let us look at some great books we can learn JavaScript from.

5 best JavaScript books

Now that we understand why you should learn JavaScript, let us look at the best books you can learn it from. Here are my top 5 books to learn JavaScript in 2022 or beyond. This list is in no particular order, and you can pick any one of the books from this list to get started.

Head First JavaScript Programming: A Brain-Friendly Guide

The Head First series of books are available for many programming languages and are often the first choice among programmers who want to learn a new language. Head First JavaScript Programming written by Elisabeth Robson and Eric Freeman is no exception to that statement. This is a pretty long book that will take you through everything from JavaScript fundamentals to pretty advanced topics.

But that is not all. It also includes puzzles and games in addition to the reading material. You will discover how JavaScript interacts with browsers, JavaScript types, array usage, the power of functions, object manipulation, and much more. At the end of this book, you should be confident with most of the practical JavaScript concepts and topics.

A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript

Working smart instead of working hard applies to learning as well. This book, A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript, by Mark Myers is an excellent read for someone who is new to JavaScript and programming in general. The author goes through all the important topics of JavaScript in very simple terms which can be understood by absolute beginners. Even if you have an intermediate understanding of JavaScript, I can guarantee you will learn something new given the number of concepts this book covers.

Not only that, but the book also comes with interactive exercises after each chapter on their website so that you retain the knowledge better. So this can be a great first book for learning JavaScript.

You Don’t Know JS: ES6 and Beyond

This book written by Kyle Simpson is more catered toward the intermediate JavaScript programmers among us who know the basic concepts of the language and want to upskill themselves to the next level. You Don’t Know JS: ES6 and Beyond will help you learn how to organize code with iterators, generators, modules, and classes, as well as ES6 syntax. Additionally, it demonstrates how collections can be used to work with data more quickly and effectively.

So even though it might not be the best book for beginners, you should definitely consider giving this one a read after you get a hang of the language!

JavaScript: The Good Parts

JavaScript was not always the language we use and love today. It has been through a lot of iterations and naturally has some flaws. The confusing aspects of JavaScript may put off some beginners from learning the language. So as the name suggests, this book JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford will take you through the good and bad of the JavaScript language, and how you can utilize the good aspects of JavaScript and avoid the bad ones.

The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript

Every programmer should learn how object-oriented programming works at some point. The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript by Nicholas C. Zakas explains the object-oriented concepts of JavaScript and how the concept of inheritance in JavaScript is different from traditional object-oriented languages. Along with these topics, you’ll learn how to write your constructors, distinguish between primitive and reference values, and understand inheritance patterns for both types and objects. You’ll also learn about different approaches to generating objects.

This book is definitely not for complete beginners as it assumes some basic understanding of the language and focuses primarily on object-oriented concepts. But it is also a pretty concise book, so give it a read after you learn the fundamentals of JavaScript!

Conclusion

Learning to code is an incredibly rewarding experience, and doing so using JavaScript will definitely prove to be beneficial in your professional life. There are so many resources on the internet for you to learn JavaScript, and it might lead you to become overwhelmed and confused. Books are a focused and well-structured source of knowledge. So in this article, we looked at why you should consider learning JavaScript and the 5 best books to learn JavaScript from. You can safely pick one of the books from this list to get started and proceed to another book if you want to learn more. Now it is your time to study JavaScript from these excellent books. Which one of these books was your favorite? If you have a JavaScript book recommendation, feel free to let me know in the comments!

If you have any questions regarding this article or want to talk about anything technology, you can find me on Twitter. Thank you for reading!