Speaking JavaScript: An In-Depth Guide for Programmers

HTML: free online

free online Ebook: O’Reilly: PDF, ePub, Kindle-compatible .mobi, DAISY (DRM-free) Amazon: Kindle

Print: order via Amazon, O’Reilly, etc. This book covers JavaScript up to and including ECMAScript 5. For material on later ECMAScript versions, check out This book covers JavaScript. For material on later ECMAScript versions, check out Axel’s other books

About the book

Thus, the book’s target audience is programmers who want to learn JavaScript quickly and properly, and JavaScript programmers who want to deepen their skills and/or look up specific topics.

Speaking JavaScript has four parts:

JavaScript Quick Start: Learn a safe subset of JavaScript in less than 30 pages. Background: When, why, and how was JavaScript created? How is it related to other programming languages? What were the important steps that got us to where we are today? JavaScript in Depth: This part is more of a reference: look for a topic that you are interested in, jump in, and explore. I still tried to make it fun to read. Tips, Tools, and Libraries: This part gives tips for using JavaScript: best practices, advanced techniques, and learning resources. It also describes a few important tools and libraries.

About the author

Axel has been programming since 1985 and developing web applications since 1995. In 1999, he was technical manager at a German Internet startup that later expanded internationally. In 2006, he held his first talk on Ajax.

Axel has done extensive research into programming language design and has followed the state and future of JavaScript since its creation.

Customer reviews

"Speaking JavaScript" by @rauschma is THE best book on truly understanding #javascript. (It's also free online) pic.twitter.com/sv5sIZ9xYy — Andre Khromov (@akaButters) July 9, 2014

Speaking Javascript is one of the best books on JS I have read. So simple, yet thorough and deep. @speakingjs — Brandon Hansen (@ready4god2513) July 26, 2014

★★★★★ For beginners and pros

Reads like a good novel. Very comprehensive.

— Reads like a good novel. Very comprehensive. rkrupinski on Amazon

★★★★★ Fantastic new book (especially for people who can already code in another language)

Fantastic book. The format has short sample code following each explanation, and that is EXTREMELY HELPFUL. In addition, the language is very precise. The best JS book I have seen for existing programmers who already know another language.

— Fantastic book. The format has short sample code following each explanation, and that is EXTREMELY HELPFUL. In addition, the language is very precise. The best JS book I have seen for existing programmers who already know another language. TM on Amazon

More customer reviews:

Resources

Forum: for discussing the book and JavaScript.

for discussing the book and JavaScript. Axel’s blog, 2ality: All blog posts on JavaScript Blog posts on ECMAScript 6

Twitter: @rauschma: Axel @SpeakingJS: Speaking JavaScript (very low volume)



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