I wasn’t able to attend WordCamp US (cue jealousy rage! :), but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed many of the blog posts that I’ve read about the conference.

It’s easy to be proud of the software and to continue wanting to work with it, isn’t it?

With all the chatter around Calypso, React, and JavaScript, there’s a lot to cover. If you’re a web developer, this is something that may be overwhelming to take in. For some, this is a natural progression of their career.

Regardless, JavaScript is going to be playing a major role in both WordPress and the web in general. This is holding true to Atwood’s Law:

Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript.

Say you’re a WordPress Developer, but you’re just now getting a hold on jQuery. How are you – or we – supposed to pick up on all the new technologies

JavaScript and WordPress

Calypso has spurred conversation around JavaScript and related technologies. It’s awesome, but there’s no need for me to reiterate any of it.

JavaScript in WordPress

No, not that kind of Java. Come on, people.

There have been great reviews and discussions about it all on some of these articles:

And there was a lot said during the State of the Word perhaps the most significant from Matt himself:

Learn JavaScript, Deeply.

Of course, that means it’s time for those who are familiar wth JavaScript and related tools to come out of the woodwork and help the rest, right?

Right.

To that end, I thought I’d share the resources that I’ve found to be useful when learning JavaScript. First, I’ve written a post about some of my favorite books. These still stand.

But if you’re looking for resources on the web, be sure to check out (and bookmark):

And if you’ve got more to add, don’t hesitate to link them up in the comments.

About This Java and JavaScript Business

I also wanted to add a short comment about this confusion that happens for people new to JavaScript.

Specifically, those new to JavaScript often confuse it with Java. Totally understandable (and there’s a history behind this, but that’s for another post).

The short of it is this: JavaScript is not Java. Perhaps it’s best illustrated with this little gem:

Java is to JavaScript as ham is to hamster.

On top of that, there are a lot of tools that are now available that utilities the JavaScript language but are more-or-less built on top of it.

For example:

So there’s a lot of sifting through the various tools, frameworks, and libraries that are available. And some people will claim you need to learn vanilla JavaScript first and then move on to other tools. Others will argue the opposite.

I’m not taking a position on that in this post, but I hope the resources linked above provide a great starting point for your JavaScript homework.

It’s exciting to see this play out and I’m looking forward to picking up a few new things myself (that is, React).