Matthew MacDonald

A Tiny Introduction to JavaScript with Exercises and Puzzles Matthew MacDonald

Real coding for complete beginners.

Join Matthew MacDonald, author of too-many-tech-books-to-count, as he enters the world of JavaScript-accompanied by friendly ninjas, cheating goblins, and at least one rude wizard.

Develop your skills with 35 interactive exercises on CodePen. Best of all, there's no setup required (a web browser is all you need).

Who needs another book about coding for kids?

These days, you can't turn around twice without someone trying to teach you how to code. So why the heck did I write my own book?

When my daughters started learning to code, I discovered that most tutorials were as dry as dust. If you wanted something more fun, you could play a coding game and write commands to move a character around a maze. But unlike real programming, there was no chance to be creative. There was no freedom. There was no invitation to build your own programs.

Here's what makes this book different:

Hands-on practice. If you want to learn a new skill, you need to practice. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of theory swimming around in your head. Friendly for beginners. If you're a beginner, it's not enough to learn the basics of a programming language like JavaScript. You also need to learn the concepts of programming at the same time. No setup required. The world is full of amazing frameworks, tools, and code editors. But who wants to install a bunch of software before you even get started?Tiny. I'm a programming nerd, so I like talking about things like Big O notation. But no one needs to be buried in theory at the start of their journey. In this book, every chapter is a bite-sized lesson that you can usually finish in one sitting. Kinda fun. Not everyone has the motivation to learn from an old-fashioned textbook. But who doesn't want to play dice with a cheating goblin?

So I decided to make something of my own. Then I unleashed it on my family.

This is the result of those experiments.

Why JavaScript?

JavaScript is a great first language for people learning to code. It's not because JavaScript is a great teaching language (it mostly isn't). It's because JavaScript is everywhere-on every operating system, every browser, and almost every electronic device that's more complicated than a toaster.

That means you can effortlessly share your JavaScript programs with friends. Unlike all the rest of computing history, there's no downloading, installing, or configuring. And it doesn't hurt that JavaScript syntax is similar to many other professional languages, like Java and C#. That means the effort you spend to learn JavaScript is never wasted.

Can adults read this book?

Most certainly!

However, this book assumes you're learning JavaScript and programming for the first time. If you already know a bit about programming, you'll probably prefer a guide that focuses on the JavaScript language without re-introducing the concepts you already know.