Professional JavaScript

Develop your JavaScript programming skills by learning strategies and techniques commonly used in modern full-stack application development

Key Features

• Write and deploy full-stack applications efficiently with JavaScript
• Delve into JavaScript's multiple programming paradigms
• Get up to speed with core concepts such as modularity and functional programming to write efficient code

Book Description

In depth knowledge of JavaScript makes it easier to learn a variety of other frameworks, including React, Angular, and related tools and libraries. This book is designed to help you cover the core JavaScript concepts you need to build modern applications.

You'll start by learning how to represent an HTML document in the Document Object Model (DOM). Then, you'll combine your knowledge of the DOM and Node.js to create a web scraper for practical situations. As you read through further lessons, you'll create a Node.js-based RESTful API using the Express library for Node.js. You'll also understand how modular designs can be used for better reusability and collaboration with multiple developers on a single project. Later lessons will guide you through building unit tests, which ensure that the core functionality of your program is not affected over time. The book will also demonstrate how constructors, async/await, and events can load your applications quickly and efficiently. Finally, you'll gain useful insights into functional programming concepts such as immutability, pure functions, and higher-order functions.

By the end of this book, you'll have the skills you need to tackle any real-world JavaScript development problem using a modern JavaScript approach, both for the client and server sides.

What you will learn

• Apply the core concepts of functional programming
• Build a Node.js project that uses the Express.js library to host an API
• Create unit tests for a Node.js project to validate it
• Use the Cheerio library with Node.js to create a basic web scraper
• Develop a React interface to build processing flows
• Use callbacks as a basic way to bring control back

Who this book is for

If you want to advance from being a frontend developer to a full-stack developer and learn how Node.js can be used for hosting full-stack applications, this is an ideal book for you. After reading this book, you'll be able to write better JavaScript code and learn about the latest trends in the language. To easily grasp the concepts explained here, you should know the basic syntax of JavaScript and should've worked with popular frontend libraries such as jQuery. You should have also used JavaScript with HTML and CSS but not necessarily Node.js.

Table of Contents

1. JavaScript, HTML, and the DOM
2. Node.js and npm
3. Node.js APIs and Web Scraping
4. RESTful APIs with Node.js
5. Modular JavaScript
6. Code Quality
7. Advanced JavaScript
8. Asynchronous Programming
9. Event-Driven Programming and Built-In Modules
10. Functional Programming with JavaScript

Hugo Di Francesco is a software engineer who has worked extensively with JavaScript. He holds a MEng degree in mathematical computation from University College London (UCL). He has used JavaScript across the stack to create scalable and performant platforms at companies such as Canon and Elsevier. He is currently tackling problems in the retail operations space with Node.js, React, and Kubernetes while running the eponymous Code with Hugo website. Outside of work, he is an international fencer, in the pursuit of which he trains and competes across the globe.

Siyuan Gao is a software engineer at Electronic Arts. He has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Purdue University. He has worked with JavaScript and Node.js for over 4 years, mainly building efficient backend solutions for high-availability systems. He is also a contributor to the Node.js Core project and has had many npm modules published. In his spare time, he enjoys learning about video game design and machine learning.

Vinicius Isola started programming back in 1999 using Macromedia Flash and ActionScript. In 2005, he took the Java Certification and specialized in building web and enterprise applications. Always working on all parts of the stack, JavaScript and web technologies have always been present in his many job roles and the companies he has worked for. In his free time, he likes to work on open-source projects and mentor new developers.

Philip Kirkbride has over 5 years of experience with JavaScript and is based in Montreal. He graduated from a technical college in 2011 and since then he has been working with web technologies in various roles. He worked with 2Klic, an IoT company contracted by the major electrical heating company Convectair to create smart heaters powered by Z-Wave technology. His role consisted of writing microservices in Node.js and Bash. He has also had a chance to make some contributions to the open-source projects SteemIt (a blockchain-based blogging platform) and DuckDuckGo (a privacy-based search engine).