JavaScript is becoming more and more indispensable for any web developer to know. I have heard lost of bad and good stuff about JavaScript but I ask my self if they are not the programmers who write such bad JavaScript code are unpredictable or the differences in the JavaScript engines on various browsers makes us think the language is the problem .I have not really done much JavaScript development in my short and exciting career but I think JavaScript works!! and you can see the power on every client( mobile phones, tablets etc) connected to the web and needs a good experience. Some known JavaScript APIs are Jquery that make it very easy to navigate the Dom , NodeJs for server and client development in JavaScript and finally I should not forget to mention Knockout Js which give you a clean way to write clean JavaScript code binned to your model using the MVVM pattern.
I bought my first JavaScript book Eloquent javascript after reading the online version of the book and I think it worth the money. It shows you how to think and code generally and in JavaScript. I am still reading and try to do solve the assignments in the book before looking at the answers. Its really exciting to play with JavaScript learning about closures and the dynamic and functional nature of the language. I mostly write lots of C# and Jquery code at work but to understand Jquery well , one has to understand JavaScript because that's the source and the beginning.
I have been interested to learn Html5 and I found it rather amazing how easily you can make an animation process with just a few lines of code. I think Html5 is awesome and is good some browsers now accept it. I hope this stays and combining Html5 , Javascript with SignalR that provides a duplex connection to the server one can do some amazing things in real time. May be i should just write a program to prove this.
I think every web developer can bear with me that there is so much going on in the web and is difficult to keep the pace with technologies coming and going. I think the key is know a lot of them but be a master in some of them you love. No matter what is going on the web there is only one language that can do all the magic and that is JavaScript. So maybe its time for you to learn it to. As a developer, learning new stuff, reading and knowing new technologies should be part of your life style.
