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235 Free Javascript Ebooks, Tools and Resources

235 Free Javascript Ebooks, Tools and Resources
JavaScript is a text-based programming language used both on the client-side and server-side that allows you to make web pages interactive. Where HTML and CSS are languages that give structure and style to web pages, JavaScript gives web pages interactive elements that engage a user. Often abbreviated as JS, Javascript is also a programming language that conforms to the ECMAScript specification. JavaScript is high-level, often just-in-time compiled, and multi-paradigm. It has curly-bracket syntax, dynamic typing, prototype-based object-orientation, and first-class functions. It is a simple and easy-to-learn programming language as compared to other languages such as C++, Ruby, and Python. It is a high-level, interpreted language that can easily be embedded with languages like HTML. It was developed by Netscape Communications Corporation, Mozilla Foundation, and ECMA International.

For those want to learn to program, one of the biggest advantages of JavaScript is that it is all free. You don’t need to pay for anything to get started. It is used across the web development stack, both front end and backend. Google develops and usually open sources it’s own JavaScript tools. The most obvious example is AngularJS. Angular is used most prominently in Google’s DoubleClick advertising platform, but it’s also one of the most popular front end frameworks available.

This is a collection of must-have JavaScript resources. It covers free ebooks, online tutorials and references, videos, free newsletters and various other free tools as well as source codes. Suitable for those who are just starting out or seasoned experts who just want to explore further. We’ve also included some Twitter accounts of JS authors and developers, so you may want to check or follow them.

Free Ebooks

  1. Speaking JavaScript
    by Dr. Axel Rauschmayer: An in-depth guide for JavaScript programmer.
  2. Human JavaScript
    by @HenrikJoreteg. This book will help you build native HTML5 apps.
  3. Eloquent JavaScript
    by Marijn Haverbeke. This is a book about JavaScript, programming, and the wonders of the digital.
  4. You Don’t Know JS
    by Kyle Simpson. This is a series of books diving deep into the core mechanisms of the JavaScript language.
  5. Understanding ECMAScript 6
    by Nicholas C. Zakas

Required Reading

  1. Advanced Performance Audits with DevTools
    In-depth perf case studies with Paul Irish.
  2. Chrome DevTools: State Of The Union 2015
    Walks through the latest updates on your favourite debugging companion; exploring new features like paint profiling, animation inspection and updates to the JavaScript editing workflow with V8.
  3. Computer Science in JavaScript
    by Nicholas C. Zakas
  4. dexteryy/spellbook-of-modern-webdev
    A Big Picture, Thesaurus, and Taxonomy of Modern JavaScript Web Development
  5. ES6 Generators
    A series of blog posts by Kyle Simpson.
  6. Facebook just taught us all how to build websites
  7. Function as Child Components
  8. Introduction to Reactive Programming
  9. JavaScript Application Architecture on the Road to 2015
    Addy Osmani
  10. JavaScript for impatient programmers (ES2021 edition)
    by Dr. Axel Rauschmayer
  11. JavaScript Objects
    An excellent explanation of inheritance in JavaScript by Kyle Simpson.
  12. JavaScript Scene
    Learn JavaScript Essentials (for all skill levels) by Eric Elliott, author of Programming JavaScript Applications.
  13. JavaScript Training Sucks
    99 out of 100 JS developers lack the skills they need to fill hundreds of thousands of jobs. We can change that.
  14. JavaScript-Garden
    JavaScript Garden is a growing collection of documentation about the most quirky parts of the JavaScript programming language.
  15. javascript-sdk-design
    A guide for people building JavaScript client SDKs.
  16. Learn JavaScript Essentials (for all skill levels)
    One clear path to JavaScript mastery
  17. Making NetFlix.com Faster
    Performance isn’t an option if you’re aiming for an amazing user experience. A compelling post on how Netflix improved on how fast Netflix.com renders by @kristoferbaxter.
  18. miguelmota/javascript-idiosyncrasies
    A bunch of Javascript idiosyncrasies, kinda.
  19. MindBEMding – getting your head ’round BEM syntax
    BEM – meaning block, element, modifier – is a front-end naming methodology thought up by the guys at Yandex. It is a smart way of naming your CSS classes to give them more transparency and meaning to other developers. They are far more strict and informative, which makes the BEM naming convention ideal for teams of developers on larger projects that might last a while.
  20. Mixins Are Dead. Long Live Composition
  21. Modularity
    A pragmatic take on the tiny modules vs batteries included approach
  22. Reactive MVC and the Virtual DOM
    Great read, even if you’re not a React user.
  23. Smart and Dumb Components
  24. Taming the Asynchronous Beast with CSP in JavaScript
    by James Long
  25. The Dao of Immutability
    The Way of the Functional Programmer
  26. The General Theory of Reactivity
    What is all this talk about reactive? Functional? Promises? This is the beginning of a reactive programming bible.
  27. The Tech Behind the New Twitter.com
    The Twitter.com redesign on 2010, publicly switched to client-side templating, turning the server into something more like a simple API
  28. The Two Pillars of JavaScript Part 1: Prototypal OO
  29. The Two Pillars of JavaScript Part 2: Functional Programming
  30. Typed JavaScript
    Excellent post about the state of typed JavaScript by Axel Rauschmayer
  31. Typed JavaScript
    Excellent post about the state of typed JavaScript by Axel Rauschmayer
  32. wearehive/project-guidelines
    A set of best practices for JavaScript projects
  33. Why Functional Programming Matters
    by John Hughes, 1984.

Required Viewing

  1. Asynchronous Programming at Netflix by Jafar Husain
  2. Classical Inheritance is Obsolete: How to Think in Prototypal OO by Eric Elliott
  3. Composition Over Inheritance by Mattias Petter Johansson
  4. David Nolen: Immutability: Putting The Dream Machine To Work by David Nolen
  5. Delivering the Goods by Paul Irish on one of the most important but overlooked topics in the development world today – page load times.
  6. Everything You Never Wanted to Know About JavaScript Numbers by Bartek Szopka
  7. Immutability: Putting The Dream Machine To Work by David Nolen
  8. Introduction to React by Jordan Walke
  9. JavaScript API Design Principles by Ariya Hidayat
  10. Making WebGL Dance by Steven Wittens
  11. Simplicity Matters by Rich Hickey
  12. Slay’n the Waste Monster by Colt McAnlis
  13. Supercharging Page Load by Jake Archibald
  14. The Essence of FRP by Conal Elliott
  15. The Pixel Factory by Steven Wittens

Dailies and Weeklies

  1. A Drip of JavaScript
    One quick JavaScript tip, delivered to your inbox every other week.
  2. CSS Weekly
    A weekly e-mail roundup of css articles, tutorials, experiments and tools curated by Zoran Jambor.
  3. Data Science Weekly Newsletter
    A free weekly newsletter featuring curated news, articles and jobs related to Data Science.
  4. DB Weekly
    A weekly round-up of database technology news and articles covering new developments, SQL, NoSQL, document databases, graph databases, and more.
  5. DevOps newsletter
    The weeks best DevOps articles delivered every Sunday to thousands of great people.
  6. DevOps Weekly newsletter
    A weekly slice of devops news brought to you by Gareth Rushgrove.
  7. Docker Weekly newsletter
    Get the latest and greatest Docker content delivered to your inbox monthly.
  8. EchoJS
    Echo JS is a community-driven news site entirely focused on JavaScript development, HTML5, and front-end news.
  9. Ember Weekly
    The latest Ember.js news, tips & code delivered directly to your inbox.
  10. ES.next News
    ES.next News: 5 ECMAScript.next links every week, in your inbox.
  11. Founder Weekly
    A free weekly newsletter for entrepreneurs featuring best curated content, must read articles.
  12. Fresh Brewed Frontend
    A weekly reading digest for frontend developers. One email. Handpicked articles. Every Tuesday.
  13. Go Newsletter
    A weekly newsletter about the Go programming language.
  14. HTML5 Game Development Newsletter
    Weekly newsletter about HTML5 Game Development.
  15. HTML5 Weekly
    A once–weekly HTML5 and Web Platform technology roundup.
  16. JavaScript Jabber
    JavaScript Jabber is a challenge to become a top JavaScript developer. Each week our expert panel and our guests discuss the things that JavaScript developers need to know to stay current and level up.
  17. JavaScript Weekly
    A free, once–weekly e-mail round-up of JavaScript news and articles.
  18. Mobile Web Weekly
    A weekly round-up of the releases, articles, and links that affect Web developers working on the mobile-facing Web.
  19. Node Weekly
    A free, once–weekly e-mail round-up of Node.js news and articles.
  20. NoSQL Weekly
    A free weekly newsletter featuring curated news, articles, new releases, jobs etc related to NoSQL.
  21. Offline First Reader
    We live in a disconnected & battery powered world, but our technology and best practices are a leftover from the always connected & steadily powered past.
  22. Postgres Weekly
    A free, once–weekly e-mail round-up of PostgreSQL news and articles
  23. Python Weekly
    A free weekly newsletter featuring curated news, articles, new releases, jobs etc related to Python.
  24. Responsive Design Weekly
    A free, once–weekly round-up of responsive design articles, tools, tips, tutorials and inspirational links.
  25. Ruby Weekly
    A free, once–weekly e-mail round-up of Ruby news and articles.
  26. Servers for hackers newsletter
    Teaching the server tech you need for development and production. Eliminating the frustration of server configuration.
  27. Web Design Weekly
    A once a week email with no spam, no rambling. Just pure awesome links to the best news and articles to hit the interweb during the week.
  28. Web Development Reading List
    A handcrafted, carefully selected list of web development related resources. Published usually every week.
  29. Web Operations Weekly
    A weekly newsletter on Web operations, infrastructure, performance, and tooling, from the browser down to the metal.
  30. Web Tools Weekly
    Tools for web developers – once–weekly e-mail.
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Spec

  1. ECMAScript 2016 Language Specificiation
    It contains the content of the most recent yearly snapshot plus any finished proposals (those that have reached Stage 4 in the proposal process and thus are implemented in several implementations and will be in the next practical revision) since that snapshot was taken.
  2. ES5 Spec
    An annotated, hyperlinked version of the ES5 spec.
  3. ES6 Spec
    ECMAScript® 2015 Language Specification.
  4. ES2016 (ES7) Spec
    This Ecma Standard defines the ECMAScript 2016 Language. It is the seventh edition of the ECMAScript Language Specification.

Conf

  1. JSConf
    Conferences for the JavaScript community.
  2. Fluent Conf
    The O’Reilly Fluent Conference was first launched in 2012 as a new event for developers working with JavaScript, HTML5, and other web technologies. Fluent covers the full scope of the Web Platform and its associated technologies, including WebGL, CSS3, mobile APIs, Node.js, AngularJS, ECMAScript 6, and more.
  3. Forward JS
    Web technology summit.

Building

  1. Webpack
    Bundle modules for the browser.
  2. Husky
    Git hooks made easy.
  3. pre-commit
    Easily configure pre-commit hooks for your package.
  4. Browserify
    Bundle modules for the browser.
  5. jspm.io
    Frictionless browser package management.

Testing / Lint / Quality checkers

  1. ESLint
    The pluggable linting utility for JavaScript and JSX.
  2. ESLint no-inferred-methodname
    A custom rule for a common problem.
  3. Istanbul
    Code coverage reporting.
  4. nyc
    A code coverage tool built on istanbul that works for applications that spawn subprocesses.
  5. tape
    Dead simple unit testing.
  6. tap-browser-color
    Prettify tap output in the browser. Works well with Tape.
  7. faucet
    Prettify tap output in the console. Plays well with Tape.
  8. Supertest
    The best way to test HTTP endpoints.

Transpilers

  1. Babel
    Transpile ES2015 (ES6), ES7 to ES5, JSX to React.
  2. TypeScript
    TypeScript’s structural types are worth a look.
  3. CoffeeScript
    CoffeeScript is a little language that compiles into JavaScript. Underneath that awkward Java-esque patina, JavaScript has always had a gorgeous heart. CoffeeScript is an attempt to expose the good parts of JavaScript in a simple way.
  4. Emscripten
    Frequently used to compile C/C++ to JavaScript.
  5. Traceur
    Traceur is a JavaScript.next-to-JavaScript-of-today compiler that allows you to use features from the future today. Traceur supports ES6 as well as some experimental ES.next features.
  6. ES6 tools
    Addy Osmani’s ES6 Tools list.
  7. You Might Not Need TypeScript
    TypeScript has gained a lot of popularity since the Angular 2 project decided to adopt it and write all their documentation examples in TypeScript, but is it really worth the investment?

Libraries

  1. stats.js.org
    JavaScript repos ranked by popularity.
  2. Express
    The most popular framework for Node.
  3. Lodash
    Like Underscore, but much faster, and featuring a more expressive API.
  4. cuid
    GUIDs are broken – use cuid, instead.
  5. React
    What do Facebook, Instagram, Netflix and PayPal have in common? React.
  6. RxJS
    Reactive extensions for JavaScript.
  7. Moment
    A lightweight JavaScript date library for parsing, validating, manipulating, and formatting dates.
  8. UpUp
    Make sure your site works even when your user is offline.
  9. The Universal React Boilerplate
    Write apps using the same code for both the client and the server using Node, Express, and Browserify.
  10. NodeGoat
    Identify security vulnerabilities in your Node apps.
  11. lightning.js
    Async fetch load 3rd party JS & expose a promise API.
  12. Deep Freeze
    Deep freeze objects.
  13. jQuery
    Most popular JS lib by a landslide.
  14. Ramda
    Like Lodash and Underscore, but with all functions automatically curried, and parameters arranged so that the data to be operated on is supplied last.
  15. express-request-language
    Best implementation I’ve seen for Accept-Language negatiation in Express.
  16. accept-language
    If you don’t use express, accept-language is the low-level lib that powers express-request-language for language matching & fallback.
  17. Globalize
    i18n / translate your app for many languages and locations (locales).
  18. dotenv
    Easily manage environment variables.
  19. Leaflet
    Interactive map UIs made easy.
  20. Lusca
    Secure your Express application. By the Kraken team at PayPal.
  21. Stampit
    Create objects from reusable, composable behaviors. Prototypal inheritance with stamps.
  22. Countly
    Open source mobile & web analytics and marketing platform.
  23. node-jsonwebtoken
    Easy JSON Web Token auth.
  24. velocity
    Velocity Motion Designer (VMD) UI animation library.
  25. is-my-json-valid
    A fast json-schema validator.
  26. is-express-schema-valid
    is-my-json-valid as Express middleware for req.body, req.query and req.params.
  27. inquirer.js
    Great library for building CLI tools.
  28. rimraf
    Util for nodejs. Great for npm scripts.
  29. cross-env
    Use environment variables with npm scripts cross-platform.
  30. es5-shim
    Stable, production ready.
  31. es6-shim
    Somewhat stable, but a few things I thought were solid got shifted to ES7.
  32. es7-shim
    Experimantal. Use with caution.
  33. native-promise-only
    An ECMAScript standard promise polyfill by Kyle Simpson.
  34. isomorphic-fetch
    A WHATWG fetch standard polyfill.
  35. RxJS
    Reactive extensions for JavaScript. https://medium.com/javascript-scene/the-two-pillars-of-javascript-pt-2-functional-programming-a63aa53a41a4
  36. Moment
    A lightweight JavaScript date library for parsing, validating, manipulating, and formatting dates.
  37. Globalize
    i18n / translate your app for many languages and locations (locales).
  38. Stampit
    Stampit – create objects from reusable, composable behaviors. Prototypal inheritance with stamps.
  39. Credential
    If you write Node apps with password logins, you need Credential.
  40. cuid
    GUIDs are broken – use cuid, instead.
  41. json-schema
    Great for model validations.

React

  1. Introducing React
    Tom Occhino and Jordan Walke spoke about React.js at Facebook Seattle.
  2. React blog
    Official React blog
  3. JSX Looks Like an Abomination but it’s Good for You
    Take on JSX.
  4. React Pure Component Starter
    Learn React pure components.
  5. Baby’s First Reaction
    Build your first working React component.
  6. Immutable Data and React
    by Lee Byron.
  7. eslint-plugin-react
    React specific linting rules for ESLint.
  8. Redux
    Predictable state container (store) for JavaScript apps.
  9. Redux Devtools
    DevTools for Redux with hot reloading, timetravel debugging, and customizable UI.
  10. redux-saga
    A synchronous-style side-effect library for Redux.
  11. MobX
    Simple, scalable state management with TFRP.
  12. react-native
    React for mobile devices.
  13. Elemental-UI
    Modular UI component library for React.
  14. velocity-react
    The excellent Velocity UI animation library for React.
  15. react-canvas
    React for canvas.
  16. react-three
    Three.js rendering for React.
  17. react.rocks
    Pinterest-style directory of online demos with available code.
  18. TodoMVC in React
  19. JSX Specification
    JSX is an XML-like syntax extension to ECMAScript without any defined semantics. It’s NOT intended to be implemented by engines or browsers.

Web Components

  1. FIRST
  2. Polyfills
  3. HTML Imports
  4. Custom Elements
  5. Templates
  6. Shadow DOM
  7. x-gif

GraphQL

  1. GraphQL at Facebook
  2. Getting started with GraphQL and Node.js
  3. GraphQL Specification
  4. GraphQL Reference Implementation
  5. graphql-server
    A GraphQL server implementation with Mongo / Mongoose.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

  1. Native Apps are Doomed
    Intro to PWAs.
  2. Why Native Apps Really Are Doomed
    Why we need PWAs – packed with stats you need to know if you’re building an app.

QA / Deployment / Monitoring / CI

  1. PM2
    Process monitoring / self repair.
  2. Pingdom
    Response monitoring and alert management (because incidents happen).
  3. New Relic
    Deep insights into the performance and health of your production apps.
  4. Sauce Labs
    Cross platform web application testing with great collaboration and integration support.
  5. CircleCI
    Continuous Integration and Delivery.
  6. Codeship
    Continuous Delivery with Codeship: Fast, secure and fully customizable.
  7. Docker
    Run your CI process using the same OS configs as your production systems.
  8. Shippable
    Docker-based hosted build / CI.
  9. Tensō
    A thin API facade in Node.
  10. Kong
    API/microservice extension and management layer, centralize auth, cache, logging, rate limiting, etc… plugins in Lua).

Community

  1. ES Discuss
    The mailing list where all the ECMAScript standard discussion action is.

Pasting / Sharing Code

  1. Codepen
    CodePen is a social development environment for front-end designers and developers.
  2. RequireBin
    RequireBIN is a community of tech-savvy professionals focused on improving web development and tech accessibility.
  3. JSBin
    Embed editable code snippets.
  4. jsFiddle
    Your humble code playground.
  5. Plunker
    Plunker is the best tool to prototype, experiment, share and debug your ideas on the web platform.
  6. RegExr
    Learn, build, & test Regular Expressions.

Contests

  1. DemoJS
    The JavaScript demoscene party.
  2. JS1k
    JavaScript demos in 1k of memory.
  3. JS13k Games
    JavaScript games in 13k of memory.
  4. Node Knockout
    The legendary Node competition.

Hackable Hardware

  1. Nodebots
  2. Cylon
  3. Nodecopter
  4. Espruino
  5. Onion Omega

For Kids

  1. Screeps
    A strategy game you control by writing JavaScript.
  2. CodingGame
    Programming puzzle games.
  3. LearnToMod
    Mod Minecraft with JavaScript.
  4. The Young Person’s Guide to Programming in Minecraft
    Minecraft is an open-ended 3D game where you can build and craft anything you like. Minecraft can be extended and enhanced using ‘Mods’ (short for ‘modifications’) – additional bits of code that are added to the Game. ScriptCraft is one such Mod – it lets you program in Javacript right within the game, making it possible to build using simple javascript statements. It can also extend the game in other interesting ways – add new Items, change the game behaviour and create mini-games.
  5. CodeCombat
    RPG adventure controlled by JavaScript.

Twitter

  1. Addy Osmani
    App architecture expert, Chrome dev tools champion.
  2. Angus Croll
    Author, “If Hemingway Wrote JavaScript”.
  3. Axel Rauschmayer
    ES Next evangelist, author.
  4. Brendan Eich
    Created JavaScript.
  5. David Nolen
    Great functional programming content.
  6. David Herman
    Author, “Effective JavaScript”.
  7. EchoJS
    News and links.
  8. Eric Elliott
    That’s me. O’Reilly author. JavaScript architect. JS Instructor.
  9. Jafar Husain
    Great talks on RxJS, ES next, etc…
  10. James Halliday
    aka Substack – author of one million Node modules you probably use.
  11. James Long
    CSP, functional programming advocate, Mozilla developer.
  12. JavaScript Cheerleader
    Mover & shaker, JavaScript evangelist, documentary film maker.
  13. JavaScript Daily
    News and links.
  14. Jordan Harband
    Keeping us ahead of the JS curve.
  15. Marijn Haverbeke
    Author, “Eloquent JavaScript”.
  16. Nicholas C. Zakas
    Author, speaker.
  17. Nick Morgan
    Author, “JavaScript for Kids”.
  18. Paul Irish
    Developer evangelist, Chrome dev tools champion.
  19. Reginald Braithwaite
    Author, “JavaScript Allongé”, speaker, GitHub.
  20. YDKJS
    You Don’t Know JS, O’Reilly book series by Kyle Simpson.