JavaScript 101: Ultimate JavaScript Guide.

Jackson Mwanaumo💪 — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 15:46:00 +0000

In this guide, I am going to run you through everything you need for you to get started with Javascript or atleast the most important things that will get you started with Javascript. This is from the most commonly used editors you can use to the most important concepts you need to keep in mind to get started.

CONTENT

Introduction
Integrated Development Evironment(IDE)
Hello World in Javascript
Variables
Operators(Arithmetic)
Data Types
Further Reading
Summary

Introduction

Javascript is a cross-platform, object-oriented programming language that is used to make web sites/pages/apps interactive. According to stack overflow's developer survey of 2021, it remains the most popular programming language. Javascript can be used for the creation of a vast of applications (both web and mobile). In the most basic sense, it is used to make responsive websites/applications. For instance, clicking a button and it responds by taking a specific action as specified.

Integrated Development Evironment(IDE)

An integrated development environment (IDE) is software for building applications that combines common developer tools into a single GUI. There are a lot of IDEs or editors that you can use to get started with javascript. The following are my top 5 IDEs reccomendation for Javascript:

Hello World in Javascript

To get started with writing your first line of code, download Visual Studio Code or any other IDE of your choice (I will use VSCode for the guide), when its done downloading, open it up. You will see the welcome page. On the welcome page, click on Open then Create a folder. Once that is done, the created folder will be your wotking directory in VSCode. You can then click on the Create File icon as shown below:

After that, create a file with the name of your choice. The file extension should always be .js. I will name mine HelloWorld.js. Once created, you can then write the following line of code:

console.log('Hello World')

After that, switch to the 'Debug Console' tab, hit the debug button in the left nav bar, and click the run icon (play button)! and Violla!!!!! your code runs!
Note: The Debug Console Requires nodejs to be installed!

Varibles

Variables are containers for storing data (storing data values). Variables are decalred i.e is given a data type and a name. However, when '=' sign is used to assign a value to a variable, then it's called assignment. The four ways to Declare a JavaScript Variable are:

Using var e.g var a = 2+3(assignment)
Using let e.g let a = 2+3(assignment)
Using const e.g const a = 2+3(assignment)
Using nothing e.g a = 2+3(assignment)

From the examples above, you can easily tell that a stores the answer to the expression, so a will contain the answer 5 in all the examples. This tells us that we should always declare JavaScript variables with var,let, or const.

The var keyword is used in all JavaScript code from 1995 to 2015. The let and const keywords were added to JavaScript in 2015. If you want your code to run in older browsers, you must use var.

Wondering what the difference is among these? Well, if you want a general rule: always declare variables with const but if you think the value of the variable can change, use let.

Operators

Operator	Description
+	Addition
-	Subtraction
*	Multiplication
**	Exponentiation (ES2016)
/	Division
%	Modulus (Remainder)
++	Increment
--	Decrement

Assignment

Operator	Example	Same As
=	x = y	x = y
+=	x += y	x = x + y
-=	x -= y	x = x - y
*=	x *= y	x = x * y
/=	x /= y	x = x / y
%=	x %= y	x = x % y
<<=	x <<= y	x = x << y
>>=	x >>= y	x = x >> y
>>>=	x >>>= y	x = x >>> y
&=	x &= y	x = x & y
^=	x ^= y	x = x ^ y
**=	x **= y	x = x ** y

The next concept you need to learn is about data types.

Data Types

JavaScript variables can hold different data types: numbers, strings, objects and more. To be able to operate on variables, it is important to know something about the type. Without data types, a computer cannot safely solve some expressions such as this:

const x = 2 +'Jackson' run this expression in VSCode and you will get the answer //16Volvo

Note: When adding a number and a string, JavaScript will treat the number as a string.

Further Reading

Upto this point, you have a basic understing of how to go about coding in Javascript. The next step you should take is to read more on platforms such as:

YouTube Recomendations

Summary
Always remember that progamming is like an actual language such as English. Thus, for you to be good at it, you need to consistently practice.

Wishing you all the best!

Pdf Upload with Express Js

Jackson Mwanaumo💪 — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 22:36:47 +0000

Need help with coming up with a pdf upload provision to the file system using Express Js(and ejs) Framework. I have actually managed to upload files to the file system but limiting it to only pdfs and converting it to text for extraction has been a challenge. Any Help?

DEV Community: Jackson Mwanaumo💪

JavaScript 101: Ultimate JavaScript Guide.

Pdf Upload with Express Js