Top Tips for Becoming a Proficient JavaScript Developer

We are living in an era where technology is the king of the web world and to be the best, it is indispensable to follow the latest trends and tactics. JavaScript is one such framework which is gaining huge popularity to embed numerous features to the web applications for both front-end and back-end. A skilled JavaScript developer must possess few basic characteristics that can enhance his knowledge and experience.

There are so many necessary considerations that are mandatory for an expert performing the web development process. The first and foremost step is to have basic knowledge of all the areas of web development, rather full stack. It is about knowing little about each corner like jack of all trades.

It simply helps in finding out the area you love and to prepare yourself for the challenges associated with the web development no matter for which area you are specialized.

List of Things a JavaScript Developer Needs

Let’s check the below list of necessary key skills for JavaScript developer-

Basic HTML – Pillar to get user interface

HTML is a popular language that is basically developed to control the content and layout of any web design. It is a simple gateway to provide you a strong user interface to interact with.

The basic elements to have prior knowledge are-

  • Tags and attributes
  • Multiple elements
  • Paragraphs
  • Page titles and headings
  • Forms and tables
  • Images, links

Grasp JavaScript for improved results

JavaScript is a strong web language and all the major web browsers come packed with its built in support. Starting from a basic website and web application, JavaScript has now expanded its usage in other platforms as well, such as desktops, servers and other devices.

Learn few things mentioned below to become a JavaScript expert-

  • Data
  • Variables
  • Objects
  • Arrays
  • DOM concept
  • Functions
  • Logic, conditional and looping
  • Events
  • Callbacks
  • ASAX and JSON

CSS- Another integral JavaScript element to learn

After JavaScript and HTML, CSS plays an important role in customizing the look and feel of HTML elements.

Back-end is yet another important part of JavaScript and can be simply treated as the code that can be run on a server. The JavaScript supported languages are-

  • JS
  • Express
  • Mongo DB

jQuery is also in the list

Being the most popular JavaScript library, jQuery tops the list to get quick and effective results. jQuery API docs are of great importance in learning the JavaScript concepts.

A robust JS framework will also work

There are so many JavaScript frameworks available in the industry that you can opt as per your taste and requisites.

Let’s check the below list of JS frameworks-

  • ReactJS
  • AngularJS
  • AmberJS
  • Bootstrap
  • Material

Now as the technical concepts are done, it is the time to have some practical knowledge. It is obvious that mere learning the written concepts will not last long until you implement them into real work. To associate with a small project is a good start and with time you will become a leading JavaScript developer.

Some more necessary things to look upon:

  • Easily understandable code

It is a good practice to use simple code to accelerate your performance. Shortcuts are not preferable as they can create ambiguity and may cause mistake while reading. The only recommendation is to use relevant shortcuts for your code and functions.

  • Number of lines in a code doesn’t matter as the point of concern is to produce actual code.
  • Normal and understandable language is convenient to mold a captivating concept instead of a complex language.
  • Code you are writing must reflect the idea that you want to present.
  • Classes and functions should need clarification

It is necessary to define classes and functions before moving further to manage your task efficiently and quickly.

  • Simple and clean names must be there for variables and functions.
  • It becomes easy to differentiate between a constant and function to simplify development process.
  • Consistency must be maintained

To maintain consistency is important for simplifying app and website development process. Consistency of work can be easily managed by enhancing the programming skills.

  • Choose the style while starting a new project.
  • Decide the process that you have to follow for documenting your application.
  • Debugging must be done until it matches your desired needs.
  • Code should be checked with ESLint or JSHint to know whether it is working properly or not.
  • Fast selectors to choose elements

JavaScript has multiple ways to choose the elements of a web page, such as

  • getElementById
  • querySelectorAll
  • querySelector

You can choose the most preferred element as per the given specifications. Irrespective of the theme, querySelectorAll and querySelector are the most common elements for small web pages.

Whereas, getElementById is the perfect choice for large number of elements as being an advanced and quick selector.

  • ‘Use Strict’ for Error Fixing

Strict mode is an effective approach to help developers in many ways where you can restrict JavaScript variants. It is easy for the experts to do programming without a compiler. Code related errors can be fixed without any assistance.

  • ‘use strict’; can be added to the JavaScript files to set up the script mode.
  • Alternatively, you can also use

function CodeCondo() {

‘use strict’;

….

}

  • Utilize your API as security strengthening medium

Security is an obvious factor for each domain type and JavaScript also follows the same. But, people have misconception that hiding components from the user is enough to gain security, which is practically not true.

Security is actually noticed from the way you write and embed code within a website. A well-coded back-end is always perfect to keep your website protected from malicious threats and hackers.

  • Keeping an eye on API layer is necessary to create robust walls of security.
  • API verifies the authenticity of every element passing through it and discards suspicious ones systematically.
  • Any information is never passed to the user who is not permitted to access the same.
  • It is necessary to prepare real API discharging different layers of security.
  • Web browsers and console as mandatory element

For efficient front-end working, it is necessary to test the project not only in the major latest browsers but also for the older versions as well. It ranges from Chrome, IE and Safari to new versions that require much testing.

Use of developer tools or consoles meant for each browser is helpful identifying and debugging of problems much easier.

  • Libraries and technology

The related libraries are quite helpful in web development realm of JavaScript. Like for say, jQuery can be considered as an effective way of alleviating several browser inconsistencies for different apps and programs.

  • js learning is of great help in allowing I/O on the server with JavaScript.
  • It enables a person to become a back-end or full-stack developer.

In a Nutshell

With the increasing popularity of JavaScript, its scope has been widening in different areas. A robust yet lucrative website is the need of the hour and by contacting a JavaScript developer, it becomes a cakewalk to get positive results for a business. Aforementioned factors are a small step to help readers be aware of each and every minor aspect of JavaScript to get desired results for their business.

Author Bio

This guest post has been written by David Meyer who is an expert web developer at CSSChopper – PSD to HTML service provider company. He has an immense interest in writing technical articles and blogs for JavaScript development to make it easy to understand for the genuine readers.