javaScript
Humanizing JS
The heaviest lift artists and designers face when creating compelling digital work is programming. I don’t even really count HTML or CSS in this category at all, because they are markup languages and comparatively more intuitive to become accustomed to.
A programming language is an altogether different beast. You are telling a machine what to do. And let’s be clear, computers are powerful machines, but they are dumb. Literal. Left-brained. Logical to an extreme no human can comprehend, because our brains work with so much more than pure logic. Which is why programming is so hard.
The best introduction I’ve read through the eyes of a beginner has to be Murat Kemaldar’s Learning to Code by Writing Poetry.
After reading his essay, visit his interactive LoveBits, which bridges the gap between the semantics of code and the behavior we see on screen.
After Murat’s introduction, find a tutorial below that can allow you to become more fluent in the language. If you completed our project at .code {is=poetry;}, you’ve had a bit of experience with JS, but not quite enough to know what’s going on. If your strategy is to find existing code and adapt it for reuse, you need a basic level of literacy. Even if you rely on a pre-authored library, you need to know what it’s doing. And even if your strategy is to let generative AI do the heavy lifting, it will never write perfect code for you — you’ll need to know how to read what it gives you to adapt it to your purposes.
Everyone can learn to use JavaScript, but no one starts at the same square or has the same confidence. So we have many paths to the same goal: interactives, videos, or text. Choose your level and dive in.
Tutorials
Beginner
Guru99 assumes no prior experience and works with iterative, interactive tutorials to secure basic skill sets. Can vary from 2 to 4 hours.
Intermediate
While this set of tutorials doesn’t assume prior coding experience, it does help to have some conceptual knowledge of code to get value from the video tutorials. Plan on at least 4 hours.
If you are in a studio I teach, visit
https://linkedinlearning.psu.edu/
and log in >
JavaScript Essential Training
Chapters 1-5, 7, and 9 >
If you are not, search Guru99
for a video course that works for you
So you want to be a ninja?
Marijn’s online text, in its first edition, was the source I first used to learn JS. It’s also a book, and it’s also Creative Commons licensed. I enjoy the literate writing style, the comprehensive and logical presentation of material, and the inline sandbox function for all code snippets. It’s very dense and takes at least a few days to navigate. If you consider your knowledge of JS to be intermediate, focus on chapters that take you deeper.