Introduction to JavaScript Training in Malta

• Delegates should have previous programming experience (from university and/or industry) in one or more of Java, C#, C++, Perl, Python and Ruby.
• It is recommended that delegates have access to ‘JavaScript The Good Parts’ for course preparation and follow up work. ‘Effective JavaScript’ by David Herman is also highly recommended.

Introduction to JavaScript

• How JavaScript began and grew in respectability
• JavaScript as the ‘assembly language of the web’
• Features supported in different versions of JavaScript
• Cross-browser issues and JavaScript frameworks
• The relationship between Java and JavaScript
• CoffeeScript as a better syntax for JavaScript
• TypeScript as JavaScript with strong typing
• Dart as a potential replacement for JavaScript
• An overview of server-side coding with Node.js

Basic JavaScript Programming

• The core JavaScript types and dynamic typing
• Explicit and implicit variable declarations
• Implicit conversions and the bugs they can cause
• Minimizing your programs use of global variables
• Using typeof and instanceof to investigate types
• The lack of block scope and ‘variable hoisting’
• Understanding truth and equality in JavaScript
• Making choices, basic iteration and the for…in loop
• Manipulating strings and applying regular expressions
• Working with single and multi-dimensional arrays
• The difference between arrays and ‘array-like’ objects

Writing Functions in JavaScript Part 1

• How and why functions are ‘first class citizens’
• Four patterns of invocation for calling JavaScript functions
• Understanding the binding of this in functions
• Calling functions with fewer parameters or additional ones
• Creating variadic functions using the arguments array
• Passing functions as arguments into other functions
• Building and returning functions from functions

Writing Functions in JavaScript Part 2

• Using generated functions as closures
• Why closures store references to outer variables
• Subtle bugs caused by incorrect use of closures
• Using nested functions as an encapsulation technique
• What’s an ‘immediately invoked function expression’ (aka IIFE)?
• How IIFE’s are used in the JavaScript Module Pattern
• Understanding the Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD) spec

Functional Programming with ‘Underscore.js’

• Using functions as the unit of composition
• Replacing external iteration with each, filter and map
• Producing a single value from a list via folds and reduction
• Applying currying and partial application in JavaScript
• Writing recursive functions and the Trampoline Principle

Object Orientation in JavaScript Part 1

• Understanding the prototype based style of OO
• Pros and cons of ‘monkey patching’ built in types
• Declaring objects using the Object type
• Declaring objects using the literal syntax
• Declaring objects using constructor functions
• Protecting against incorrect constructor invocation
• Different options for accessing members of objects

Object Orientation in JavaScript Part 2

• Implementing inheritance using the prototype chain
• Distinguishing between owned and inherited properties
• The difference between prototype and proto
• Minimizing mutable state when designing JavaScript types
• Applying the SOLID principles of OO design in JavaScript
• GoF Design Patterns that are relevant in JavaScript

ECMAScript 2015 and Beyond

• Writing modern JavaScript and retaining compatibility
• How ECMAScript 2015 was a huge step forward
• Modules and the import / export syntax
• String interpolation / template literals
• Block scope via ‘let’
• Iterators, generators and the ‘for…of’ statement
• New class syntax
• Using the spread operator with functions and structures
• New data structures - Maps and typed arrays
• Intercepting object interaction with the Proxy type
• Simplified anonymouse functions with arrow functions
• Writing asynchronous code with Promises
• The TC39 process and using non-standard features

Manipulating the DOM Tree

• Making sense of the Document Object Model
• Different options for locating nodes in the DOM
• Adding, manipulating and removing nodes from the tree
• The three supported models for handling DOM events
• Finding and validating the content of form elements
• Working with hidden form elements and cookies
• Using timers to schedule code for execution
• Asynchronous JavaScript in HTML5 using WebWorkers

Applying AJAX

• How AJAX was invented and popularised
• Creating an XHR object on different browsers
• Sending requests to the server via the XHR object
• The stages in the lifecycle of an XHR request
• Using onreadystatechange to monitor the progress of a request
• Adding extra headers and cookies to the request
• Handing HTTP errors and enforcing timeouts

Communicating with RESTful Services

• Introduction to the REST Architecture
• The meaning of the different HTTP Verbs
• ‘URL Templates’ and ‘Content Negotiation’
• The limitations of using XML within JavaScript
• An overview of the JSON formatting standard
• Sending and receiving data from services via JSON
• Writing a complete REST client with error handling