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Chapter 1: What Is JavaScript?
You don't know JS, yet. Neither do i, not fully anyway. None of us do. But we can all start getting to know JS better.
In this first chapter of the first book of the You Don't Know JS Yet (YDKJSY) series, we will take some time to build a foundation to move forward on. We need to start by covering a variety of important background housekeeping details, clearing up some myths and misconceptions about what the language really is (and isn't!).
This is valuable insight into the identity and process of how JS is organized and maintained; all JS developers should understand it. if you want to get to know JS, this is how to get started taking the first steps in that journey.
About This Book
I emphasize the word journey because knowing JS is not a destination; it's a direction. No matter how much time you spend with the language, you will always be able to find something else to learn and understand a little better. So don't look at this book as something to rush through for a quick achievement. Instead, patience and persistence are best as you take these first few steps.
Following this background chapter, the rest of the book lays out a high-level map of what you will find as you dig into and study JS with the YDKJSY books.
In particular, Chapter 4 identifies three main pillars around which the JS language is organized:scope/closure, prototypes/objects, and types/coercion. JS is a broad and sophisticated language, with many features and capabilities. But all of JS is founded on these three foundational pillars.
Keep in mind that even thought this book is titled "Get Started", it's not intended as a beginner/intro book. This book's main job is to get you ready for studying JS deeply throughout the reset of the series; it's written assuming you already have familiarity with JS over at least several months experience before moving on in YDKJSY. so to get the most out of Get Started, make sure you spend plenty of time writing JS code to build up your experience.
Even if you've already written a lot of JS before, this book should not be skimmed over or skipped; take your time to fully process the material here. A good start always depends on a solid first step.
What's With That Name?
The name JavaScript is probably the most mistaken and misunderstood programming language name.
Is this language related to Java? is it only the script from Java? is it only for writing scripts and not real programs?
The truth is, the name JavaScript is an artifact of marketing shenanigans.