15 Experts on the

Art of JavaScript Programming

JavaScript charting solutions for enterprise-grade applications

Compiled by

Shilpi Choudhury

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New to JavaScript?

We asked a few experts to share some tips on the art of

JavaScript programming

Here’s what they had to say…

“ “

Irene Ros, Data Viz Practice Lead, Bocoup

Learn from other languages, learn from general

software engineering principals, problem solve

issues without a specific language in mind, learn

to write pseudo code - computing is a general

skill and we have so much to learn from each

other across languages and solutions. I know this

isn’t very JavaScript specific, but I find this was

the most important skill I learned early on and it’s

made me a better JavaScript developer.

Learn from each other across languages & solutions

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“ “ Produce code that solves problems

Alexandru R. Ghinea, Senior JavaScript Developer, Vauban

JS development can be cumbersome at times, but never give

up because of that. Take advantage of its flexibility and start

looking at the work of other devs out there to see how they

solve common problems. You can of course go to JS meetings

in your town or watch some on YouTube. Seeing the sense of

commitment and interest from the community will feed your

appetite and inspire you to go further. The real purpose here is

to produce code that solves problems and enables people to

make more engaging apps.

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“ “ Embrace your interests outside of programming

Jeffrey Auriemma, Front-End Developer, Discovery Communications

People who can write decent code according to

instructions are relatively plentiful. What sets a

developer apart is his or her ability to innovate and

draw context from the world around. Embrace your

interests outside of programming and apply those

experiences to the projects you work on. You never

know how your unique past might connect you to

people and opportunities in the future.

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“ “ Practice makes perfect

Arnaud Buchholz, Senior Developer, Helix Enterprise

Collaboration Systems Inc.

Passion and curiosity are important for learning

JavaScript. The more you do something the better

you get at it.

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“ “ Read Crockford’s Good Parts to avoid common

traps

Martin Rinehart, Author: Pro HTML, Pro CSS, JavaScript Inheritance and Object Programming

There really isn't any doubt that some bits of JS

original design were brilliant (the object model!) and

some were kludges (the '==' operator). A quick

summary of Crockford's Good Parts is all you need to

avoid most of the traps. (Use '===', not '=='.)

The ability to do both object and functional

programming is unique with JavaScript. It's a

powerful, expressive language that still amazes me

every time I try a new combination.

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“ “ Test-drive your learning

Eric Mignot, Épicurien du logiciel, TDD addict

For people new to JavaScript, I give the same advice

as for any new language: test-drive your learning

and then continue with test-driving any code you

write.

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“ “ Nurture your abstract thinking skills

Ron Grimes, Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Blue

Coat Systems

I would say the key requirement for

JavaScript, as well as any OO language,

is a high ability for abstract thinking. It is THE

make or break quality needed.

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“ “ Learn to be a good citizen first

Benjamin Tremblay, Director Technology, Virtusa

Some programming languages ( c# for example) mold

you into a programmer who can collaborate on an

industrial scale with other programmers of that

language: just using the language is about conventions.

JavaScript is not like that. If you teach yourself JavaScript

you may learn how to do lots of useful things, but other

JavaScript programmers may have a hard time

understanding you. So it's very important to learn how to

be a good citizen as a JavaScript developer, and

learning the language will not teach you that.

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“ “ Be thorough with your basic concepts

Joseph Khan, Mobile Lead (Hybrid), Yodlee

JavaScript has OOP support if not the classical way but

the prototypal way. So many beginners to JavaScript

find it difficult to grasp initially. That's what happened to

me as well when I started digging more into advanced

JavaScript. But once you grasp the concepts well, it

becomes easy to write scalable apps.

The most important concepts in JavaScript as per me are

Objects, Scope, Functions and OOP programming.

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“ “

Understand design patterns to develop scalable

apps

Ramón García, Co-founder, Culturaweb

In my opinion, important things to learn in

JavaScript include hoisting, scopes, closures...

but the most important is to know design

patterns! It will allow you to develop high

quality and scalable apps.

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“ “ Learn to debug early on

Claude Gauthier, Consultant, Morgan Stanley

As you learn the language, learn the tools available to

help you code, be it the debuggers, the net traffic

sniffers, the lint tools, unit testing tools, build tools, etc.

also, understand the nuances between server-side

coding and browser coding.

If possible don't fall into the trap of learning JavaScript

via a framework or toolkit. Instead, try to understand

why these tools/frameworks are designed the way they

are and how they are coded.

In the end, your debugger is always your friend.

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“ “

Learn Scheme

Colin Carr, UX, Fidelity Investments

As a new programmer, you need to read about

JS so that you can comprehend the object

model (and stop trying to make JS Java) but

coding is just as or more important. The life

lesson would be to learn Scheme.

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Every solution is really often a balance of compromises –

not just in terms of actual code, but in terms of figuring out

a way to work with our colleagues and meeting our

deadlines and navigating company politics – a lot goes

into the job beyond just the code being written. It’s

important to know when to compromise and when to

stand your ground. “ “

Know when to compromise and when to stand your

ground

Brian Rinaldi, Developer Content Manager, Telerik

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“ “

Empathy for users is really important

Cathy Lill, Developer, rtc.io, NICTA

Development for the web is always changing. You

need to be impatient enough to want to always be

learning and updating your skills, but at the same

time patient enough to sweat the small details to

create a seamless user experience. Empathy for your

users is really important.

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The true essence of JavaScript is more in its

concepts than its capabilities. One must spend time

unlearning the classical concepts of imperative

languages and embrace the beauty of functional

programming. Wrap your head around prototypal

inheritance, closures and expression evaluation and

you would come to realize that this is one of the few

languages where creativity is not limited to the

mnemonics defined by the books. Love it for what it

can do and understand the reasons for what it

cannot.

“ “ Embrace the beauty of functional programming

Shamasis Bhattacharya, JavaScript Architect, FusionCharts

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Got some JavaScript development tips? Add them in the comment section below

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