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JavaScript: The Good Parts

Google TechTalks · 589.4K views · 2009-02-28 · 1:03:48

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Overview

Douglas Crockford's 2009 Google tech talk on the good and bad parts of JavaScript, based on his book. He argues for using a reliable subset of the language and avoiding its flawed features.

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A classic recommended to people learning JavaScript, even though some find it dogmatic and dated.

Recommended by 11 HN people across 10 months · HN mentions 2009–2020

Topics

Web developmentProgramming language designPython, Ruby & scripting languages
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javascriptdouglas crockfordgood partsbest practicesweb

What people said

dahart · 2013-10 · Strong recommendation

I will admit to having been an anti-JavaScript elitist (without really knowing JS.) This video changed my mind: [VIDEO] (google tech talk, "JavaScript: the good parts") Two facts mentioned in the video that I didn't previously know and make me feel better about JavaScript: 1- JavaScript is lisp in disguise 2- The name JavaScript is an inside joke referencing the language's differences from Java, not its similarities. That was enough to make me change my mind, and I'm currently enjoying learning JavaScript unashamedly. Browser differences and lack of standards are a PITA, but OTOH, they all have awesome debuggers - HTML+JavaScript may be the only UI toolkit + dev environment that comes packaged with ALL computers, and for that reason has the widest reach. There's no question that the JS world is a bit wild west compared to other languages, but there's also no question that the situation is getting better over time, and that depending on what you're coding, there are huge advantages to using it.

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funkah · 2012-01 · Strong recommendation

Crockford's "JavaScript: The Good Parts" is the gold standard for best practices. Pretty much anyone who works in JS will recommend it. Here's a video which is a condensed version of what's in the book: [VIDEO]

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kreek · 2010-10 · Strong recommendation

The best way I've found to learn JavaScript is through anything by Douglas Crawford. 'JavaScript the Good Parts' is especially good. [LINK] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Google TechTalks, played through YouTube.

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