One day I was asked what language should I learn in order to quickly increase my advantages in web development work. My thoughts went back to college, when I used Pascal, Fortran, C and assembly languages, but at that time I had different goals.
If you want to do web development, learn JavaScript
Given the current situation and trends, the answer is relatively easy to give: Learn JavaScript. Looking around, the once low-end browser scripting language is now becoming everywhere, from the server side to the client side, there seems to be more choices every day.
A low-born
I remember working on web development a few years ago, learning HTML, and developing CGI scripts with Perl. Netscape introduced a scripting language called LiveScript in its 2.0 browser, and soon after that, the name was changed to JavaScript. It's a cool language, but in the browser war, about a year later, JavaScript was restricted to Netscape's browser due to Microsoft's added support. Its early role was limited to simple tasks like field validation, but it is a very good choice compared to server-side scripts. JavaScript has gradually become a standard under the name ECMAScript.
Over the years, JavaScript has become a cool language for its use for browser interaction, but with the sudden outbreak of Ajax, it has won more recognition for supporting developers to send and receive data from web servers without refreshing web pages. The next wave should be called the jQuery revolution, because it and other frameworks provide easy-to-use features for developing powerful web applications. Even Microsoft has joined the WinJS framework; and Redmond Giant has chosen JavaScript as a platform for developing Windows 8 applications.
When Google added the high-performance JavaScript V8 engine to the Chrome browser, JavaScript made a big leap. This development is helpful for the development of a new paradigm for JavaScript on server-side Node.js. The use of Node.js has always been shocking, as well as the emergence of a large number of JavaScript frameworks for developing various applications from websites to fully functional applications. The last item is data, and the sign that the JSON standard has become one of the most popular ways to transmit data is beginning to emerge, and most important data stores support it.
The momentum continues
Over the past few years, a lot of new technologies have emerged (the evolution of the website provides a great technology timeline), but one important aspect of JavaScript is that it has existed for about two centuries. Today it has firmly become a feature-rich language.
This is far from the beginning. At that time, JavaScript never proudly wrote it on the resume because real programmers disdained to master it. Now, JavaScript is the focus of most recruiters' assessments.
When you are looking for work on web development, I think JavaScript is a great language to get started, here are the important reasons:
Low barrier to entry: JavaScript is relatively easy to learn compared to other languages, and you can find many ready-made scripts and resources online. Additionally, JavaScript can be created by any text editor or various free tools, including Atom, ChromeDev Editor, and jsFiddle.
Cross-platform: All browsers, as well as Node.js-based servers, support JavaScript and also run normally on most mobile platforms. A set of JavaScript skills can be used to develop applications for most platforms. (Note: JavaScript is not a universal tool. For example, resource-consuming applications like data analysis are better in another language.)
Existing technology: Server-side JavaScript may be a relatively new concept, but the core JavaScript language has existed for many years. With the growth of time, it has matured and has been widely accepted as a general web scripting language.
Springboard: JavaScript is better compatible with other platforms, so your JavaScript skills will be required when you have risked adopting Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, PHP and other environments. You still need to learn HTML and some CSS to develop strong web applications through JavaScript.
Popular Techniques: Language is built, but the industry itself has found languages with JavaScript knowledge and skills. Look at the job posts and you will see trends.
Not your buddy's JavaScript
I've heard in the past that JavaScript is described as easy to learn but difficult to master. This may be the case for many languages, but the saturation of the web's JavaScript means that beginners can quickly copy tested code from other websites and use it after making some necessary modifications without fully understanding the code.
JavaScript is the backbone of the web today, so those who want to become web developers should focus on it as the first language to learn.
Do you agree? If you disagree, what is the first language do you think developers looking for web development should learn? Tell us in the comments.