6 reasons to learn JavaScript

Were you ever thinking about learning some new language? I’m not talking about language in terms of spoken language, but about computer languages. In such a variety of existing languages it is hard to decide which one to choose. This decision is even harder because learning anything, and language for sure, require investing big amount of your time. Some people are so desperate that they ask others via internet forums for their advices or recommendations. Questions like “What is the best language to learn?” or “What is your favorite language?” are very common. Media do not help them as well. Headlines like “Best language for year xxxx” or “The best language to learn” or, my favorite, “The best paid jobs in IT”. Today, I want to give you 6 reasons why JavaScript is worth learning.

It is easy, really!

Many people will tell you that JavaScript is hard to learn, hard to use or that it is unreadable. All of these statements are mostly made by people who don’t understand JavaScript well. When you can’t get yourself understand something, it is always easier to blame the subject (think of the school). Learning any language requires putting in effort and time. You will not become master in matter of days, but this applies to learning anything in life. Forget all the assumptions and don’t listen to the people who are trying to discourage you. They want to drag you down because they themselves failed.

Minimal software required

In order to start writing JavaScript code you don’t need any IDE or any compiler. If you are minimalist, notepad is enough. Also you don’t need to learn how to use command line for running your scripts. You only need to have browser installed (or having portable version).This is all setup you need to start developing in JavaScript, it is that simple.

Widely used

When it comes to Internet, JavaScript is everywhere. It is used on almost every site you visit. From simple one-line scripts to whole web apps. JavaScript and Web development are inseparable.

Promising future

JavaScript is living language and so it is still growing and evolving. The latest version of ECMAScript or ES (other name for JS) is scheduled to be released on December 2014. Along with version 6 of ES also code Harmony, JavaScript 2.0 is in development. Some features proposed for this version are full support for classes (more focus on OOP), strong typing, compile time type checking, namespaces, constants and program units. Some of those are already implemented with newer versions of ES.

As you can see, JavaScript is here to stay. What is more, JavaScript also gain big amount of popularity in short period of time. It is now placed as 9th on TIOBE Index which is an index showing most popular programming languages in the world. If you are still in doubt about its popularity, think about how many frameworks and libraries are build on JS. For example jQuery, AngularJS, Ember.js, Backbone.js, Node.js, Underscore.js, Prototype and many others. This only shows how seriously are developers are taking JS and that they count with it for the future.

Web Apps

Another thing are web apps. Applications build with HTML5 and JavaScript are getting more and more popular too. It is now easier to create a mobile app with minimal required resources or knowledge more then ever before. With software like Appcelerator Titanium or frameworks like Phonegap, Meteor etc. you can build apps for any mobile device. You are no longer dependent on C++, Java or Objective-C. The only thing you need is to know HTML, CSS and JS.

Not to forget the “Internet of things”. What language do you thing will control all these devices? Since already existing APIs and web apps are mostly powered by JS, it highly probable that these device will too be controlled by JavaScript. Wait few years and you might talk with your car through lines of JS.

It is just awesome!

Yes, JavaScript is awesome. You can create anything in short time. You can run it on every system and immediately. You can even create a script right in your browser. It is fast and, with enough knowledge, you can almost create magic with it. Do you need any more reasons to remove all the doubts and dive into it?

Summary

If you are interested in learning some new programming language or you are curious, give it a shot and take a look at JavaScript. It may scare you for the first time, but if you persevere and get through initial difficulties, you can see how beautiful language JavaScript is. Remember that most of bad reputation for anything comes for people who failed in that particular subject. Get this crap out of your head and make your own evaluation.

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