JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting programming language with dynamic typing and first-class functions used as a part of web browsers with the support of client-side scripts. It supports imperative, object-oriented, and functional programming styles. Other fields of use are server-side network programming, game development, and creation of applications. Web-based environments, which relies on JavaScript are PDF documents, desktop widgets, and site-specific browsers.

Don’t confuse JavaScript and Java, because they are unrelated and relies on different semantics. The syntax of JS is influenced by C, the design and semantics are derived from the Self and Scheme languages.

There are a lot of books, tutorials, courses and videos for future JavaScript developers. In this post, you will find the best solutions. But before you start, we recommend you to a look on our post “How to stop fearing and start coding”.

The Best Books About JavaScript

A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript by Mark Myers

The information in this book is divided up into little chunks that won’t overwhelm anyone. The book is also “human-readable” and includes a lot of examples. Most important, there is a website with appropriate tasks designed for practicing with everything you’ve learned.

Download / Buy A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript

Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niederst Robbins

With this book, you will learn how web pages work, and how to build them. By the end, you’ll get enough skills to create a responsive site with multi-column pages. The great emphasis is done on learning how JavaScript works.

Download / Buy Learning Web Design

Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman

Instead of text-heavy approach, this book relies on a visually rich format with the special design. It shows a lot of useful information about JavaScript. If ordinary books are too boring for you, Head First Design Patterns can become a perfect solution for studying not only JS, but also a web design.

Download / Buy Head First Design Patterns

JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford

In this book, you will find a lot of useful information about functions, dynamic objects, loose typing, expressive object literal notation, etc. The author shows all pros and cons of JavaScript in an accessible way.

Download / buy JavaScript: The Good Parts

JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development by Jon Duckett

JavaScript and JQuery covers basic programming concepts and core elements of the JavaScript and jQuery. It also shows how to recreate techniques from different web sites. By the end of the book, you  will be able to create sliders, form validation, content filters, update content with Ajax, etc.

Download / Buy JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development

JavaScript Courses

W3School

W3Schools is a site for web developers about HTML, CSS, JS, SQL, PHP, and JQuery, which covers key aspects of these languages. W3Schools courses are focused on simplicity. They provide easy practice and straight-forward learning. With this site, you will get a lot of simple code explanations and tutorials about how to use them. You start from the basic level and move to the area of professional knowledge. There is an online editor on the site. You can use this tool to edit examples and execute the code to see what is correct and what isn’t. Last but not least is the price –  W3Schools is completely free.

W3School

Lynda.com

With Lynda.com you will get a comprehensive course on learning JavaScript. Unfortunately, it is not for beginners, as it requires a basic JS knowledge. The course is presented by a senior Google developer Joe Marini, who shows advanced JavaScript features and tricks. Such knowledge can significantly enhance a developer’s output. The course on Lynda.com coveres such topics as dynamic and complex events, Document Object Model, and debugging tools. For $25 per month you will get the access not only to the JavaScript course but also to the full library of 1500+ tutorials.

Lynda.com

Treehouse

This course provides the basics of JavaScript. It is separated into six modules represented as badges, which you should earned during the studying. Treehouse provides 33 short videos about the nuances of JS. The teacher uses easy-to-understand language so you will be able to grasp learning concepts as fast as possible. He starts with JavaScript’s basic concepts and goes to more advanced features of this language. The course is targeted towards intermediate students and beginners, it is also suited for companies trying to update their employees. You can get a monthly subscription for $25 per month. The premium option costs $49 per month and includes a library of 600+ videos.

Treehouse

Tuts+

JavaScript Fundamentals course consists of 20 mini-lessons and lasts for more than 5 hours. It is presented by Jeremy McPeak – author of several books on JS and Ajax. There are three main lessons in JavaScript Fundamentals: Basics, JavaScript & The Browser, Events. The course also includes different quizzes designed to measure the retention of course knowledge. JavaScript Fundamentals learning program costs $19 per month. In addition, you will get the access to hundreds other tutorials and more than 50 e-books.

Tuts+

Udemy

You can also get the intermediate JavaScript knowledge with Udemy. The course is useless for novices, but if you have strong JavaScript and jQuery fundamentals, it can help accelerate your existing skills. The course includes 16 lectures and provides 3 hands-on projects. Learn how to build a real-world web app using Backbone JS, Ruby Sinatra, MongoDB, and understand how to work across the web space from the client side to the backend. The course provides an architectural explanation that clarifies all the technical and behavioral aspect. The learning program costs $49. It is a one time fee.

Udemy

Mozilla Developer Network

It is also possible to learn everything about JavaScript with Mozilla Developer Network. You can use a JavaScript Guide, if you are new to JS. In addition, you will get overviews of different technologies, introduction to the web browser JavaScript landscape and Object Oriented JavaScript. For intermediate users there are such lessons as re-introduction to JavaScript; JavaScript data structures; equality comparisons. Advanced programmers can learn more about inheritance and prototype chain; strict mode; typed arrays; and memory management. Courses by Mozilla Developer Network are free.

Mozilla Developer Network

Codecademy

Codecademy provides 10 hours of JavaScript courses with more than 5 mallion enrolled students. This learning program is designed for the beginners. There are 2 lessons in introduction to JS. Then you have to learn everything about functions. Next two stages are about ‘For’ and ‘While’ loops. You will also get all the necessary information about Control Flow, Data Structures, Objects I and II. Thus, you will be able to learn all core principals of JavaScript with Codecademy.

Codecademy

JavaScript: The Right Way

This guide introduces new developers to JavaScript and helps experienced coders to learn more about it. With The Right Way you can start from the introduction (Getting Started) or choose the dedicated topic. The guide provides information about JavaScript code style and the good parts, shows patterns and different testing tools, tells about frameworks and game engines. In addition, the site includes such sections as News, Reading, Podcasts, Screencasts, Who to follow, etc. Keep in mind, that all learning materials are on other websites, The Right Way provides links to them.

The Right Way

Code School

Last but not least is Code School. The course gives you a strong foundation in the JavaScript. In the end of your studying you will be ready to move up to frameworks like Node.js and Angular. The course consists of 4 parts: an introduction to the basics; its continuation; intermediate skills; improved JavaScript development. The first part is free. Code School also provides courses about jQuery, client-side and server-side frameworks.

Code School

JavaScript Video Tutorial