DEV Community

Cover image for JavaScript as your first programming language
Sourabh Singh
Sourabh Singh

Posted on • Updated on

JavaScript as your first programming language

If you are a beginner in programming and you don't know where to start from then JavaScript is "THE LANGUAGE" for you.

WHAT IS JAVASCRIPT ?

If we go to the formal definition of JavaScript provided by MDN-Web-Docs JavaScript (JS) is a lightweight, interpreted, or just-in-time compiled programming language with first-class functions.
Many beginners think that JavaScript is only useful for developing web-pages but they are wrong. I'll explain how further in this blog.

JavaScript Showcase Image

WHY JAVASCRIPT ?

JavaScript came into existence around 27 years ago, and since then it has gone through number of improvements. And according to a survey done by GitHub JavaScript has been #1 choice for developers since years.

photo taken from octoverse.github.com

Image showing popularity of various programming languages among developers

If you asked me the same question that which programming language to start with 10-13 years ago, before the existence of Node.js, I must've given a different answer but the improvements that JavaScript got after the entry of Node.js changed my mind completely.

JAVASCRIPT vs. OTHER LANGUAGES 🔥🔥

After the entry of Node.js JavaScript has became very much powerful. Now you can perform any kind of task that any other programming language ( say C, C++, Java, Python) can do. And it also has a large amount of additional features that other languages are not able to perform that easily.

Showcase image for Node.js
Node.js made JavaScript usable even outside the browsers hence made it possible to perform some of the complex tasks like Machine Learning and DSA easier to perform in JavaScript.

POWER OF JAVASCRIPT 💪🏻

At current stage JavaScript is capable of performing various complex tasks very easily as compared to other languages.
THE FLEXIBILITY OF JAVASCRIPT
JavaScript can perform all the following tasks very well.

  • Web Development
  • Application Development (IOS & Android)
  • Computer Application Development(for Windows, MacOS and Linux)
  • Machine Learning (see TensorFlow.js)
  • VR & AR Development (see Three.js, AR.js)

This must've explained that JavaScript is way more powerful than just creating web pages 😄

BENEFITS OF LEARNING JAVASCRIPT

Following are some of the major benefits of learning JavaScript

  • If you are learning JavaScript then you don't need to learn any other language for any other purpose.
  • You can learn and create bigger projects at the same time.
  • There is a very huge demand in the tech industry for JavaScript developers and the supply is very sort so it will bring great opportunities to you.
  • JavaScript has a huge community of experienced and passionate programmers which means a huge support
  • JavaScript will further improve with time and it will become more powerful

RESOURCES TO LEARN JAVASCRIPT

There are various free and paid resources to learn JavaScript both online and offline.
FREE ONLINE COURSES TO LEARN JAVASCRIPT

Must Consider: You Don't Know JS series by Kyle Simpson

  1. Offline Books : oreilly.com
  2. Online Articles: GitHub

Thank You for learning this this article. Please like if you found it useful 😄😄

Top comments (1)

Collapse
 
artydev profile image
artydev

Great than you