Learning Jquery before learning JavaScript

[Anonymous]

i’m wondering if it’s okay to learn Jquery before learning Javascript. Javascript looks like a very intimidating language and i didn’t have this much trouble when i was learning HTML and CSS on my own. So is learning Jquery before JavaScript something that is recommended or not? and if not, what are the best ways to learn JavaScript?

[Senff]

I’d learn the bare basic of Javascript first for sure, because you will need it.

You might not really need to know all the underlying Javascript details of how a jQuery fade-out is done, or whatever other transition, but you’ll definitely need to know how a Javascript loop is done, or if/then/else, or how to assign and check variables, and so on. You’re still going to use that with all that jQuery.

[Alen]

I think it’s totally ok to start with jQuery. You’ll learn some basic interaction stuff without any knowledge of JavaScript. Once you feel little bit more comfortable you can dive into the back end and see what jQuery is doing. From there you can take on some more advance topics.

Free:
[30 Days to Learn jQuery](https://tutsplus.com/course/30-days-to-learn-jquery/)

Not Free:

[JavaScript Fundamentals](https://tutsplus.com/course/javascript-fundamentals/)

[JavaScript Advanced](https://tutsplus.com/course/advanced-javascript-fundamentals/)

[Object-Oriented JavaScript](https://tutsplus.com/course/object-oriented-javascript/)

Also, Code School has some great courses: http://www.codeschool.com/courses

And I’m sure others can give you some more resources.

[contentJones]

I’m in the same boat and struggling. Learning js takes time.

I’ve used the first few chapters of http://eloquentjavascript.net

[pixelgrid]

If you plan to learn javascript anyway and dont just want to make some hover effects,take time to learn javascript.Its a beautifull language.Just to understand what jquery is doing at every line.Then using jquery will be a tool not a struggle

[Mottie]

I actually started out trying to learn javascript and struggling. I didn’t read much, but I was able to follow and learn by example… this made it even more difficult because of inconsistencies between browsers. Some bits of code turned out to be hacks to get around browser issues and everything got really confusing.

Then jQuery came along and it was the like the difference between reading Klingon and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. It was so easy to get things done. Needless to say, I still struggle with javascript, but I understand how it works, just don’t ask me to write an event handler that works cross browser all the way back to IE6, because I’d respond with use`.on()` instead of… well this code:

function bindEvent(element, type, handler) {
if(element.addEventListener) {
element.addEventListener(type, handler, false);
} else {
element.attachEvent(‘on’+type, handler);
}
}

Yes, I had to look that up LOL :P

As what the others have said here, you’ll need to end up learning javascript anyway, but you’ll be learning it from Martha Steward instead of Rosanne Barr.

[TheDoc]

I definitely started with jQuery and would recommend that route to anyone. It was significantly easier to grasp and lends itself nicely to learning vanilla JS.

[JohnMotylJr]

I believe, if you will be using javascript for a while, to learn javascript first. It may not seem as flashy and easy to grasp compared to jquery but you will be cutting yourself short from learning what javascript is truly capable of. Trying to learn a language library written in said language before learning it’s core seems a little self destructive.

However, everyone learns different, like the Doc said, he learned jQuery first and it worked for him, just my two cents.

[CrocoDillon]

The part of JavaScript that you need to know if you use jQuery is relatively easy and you can learn that while learning jQuery itself… syntax, operators, variables (knowing about variable scope is important), types, control structures etc. etc. It becomes harder when you need to know all DOM related functions, with their browser support (if you thought IE was being a bitch with CSS, try JS) and workarounds, luckily jQuery does that for you.

[rarewave]

It’s a good idea to learn the basics of javascript first as you will need to understand some of the concepts that are javascript, with that been said, I think you can start learning jQuery first and pick up those bits up as you go along. If i remember right, Simon Allardice has got a really good JS introductory course on lynda.

Stuff like conditional statements, functions, function calls and passing arguments – you’re going to need to know how those things work but like what CrocoDillon said, jQuery is awesome because you can expect it to work pretty much the same across all browsers.

[pixelgrid]

Everybody kinda hates learning vanilla js because of the DOM inconsistencies in different browsers.Javascript is not just that.It can go from simple DOM manipulation(animating an element where browsers doesnt support css transitions and animations) to full scale applications,working with different API’s and so on.

Google wrote a compiler that compiles Java to Javascript(https://developers.google.com/web-toolkit/doc/1.6/DevGuideCodingBasics)

> The GWT compiler translates Java source into JavaScript

Javascript is already one of the most used programming languages because of the DOM unfortunately but projects like Node.js proved that is a language that can be used front end as well as back end

[YogeshAher]

Me too started with jquery recently. Having some difficulties in writing the functions from scratch .. but i do get the solutions from google after some searches…
its interesting..

[Author]

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