Learning JavaScript: 73% Complete; but More Books Ahead

I’m most of the way through Eloquent JavaScript; I’m on the exercises in chapter 16. At the same time I don’t think I’ll be fully up to speed after just 1 book. I have a book on HTML & CSS queued, Robbins' Learning Web Design, since I’m badly out of practice with both.

I have a book on TypeScript queued too, Rozentals’ Mastering TypeScript, followed by a book on full-stack, Zametti’s Modern Full-Stack Development. At my current pace I can expect each book to take me over a month. I have a lot of reading and exercises ahead of me! I should get clear of this project by the end of August, assuming that gainful employment hasn’t interposed itself.

At that point I’ll take a pause and apply what I’ve learned to build something ambitious. I’m planning to revisit my ill-fated nutrition tracker and redo it in JavaScript, front & back, with its own food database this time. My first try at that idea went badly. I can only be content with its abandoned hulk in my Github if I can leave a forwarding address pointing to a successful 2nd attempt.

After that, well, I expect to remain jobless as long as the recession runs. Other languages worth learning include Ruby and PHP. Java is another possibility but I wouldn’t call it low-hanging fruit.

While I wait for the demand for entry-level programmers to come back on the job market, I mean to keep adding languages and technologies to my résumé. Ruby’s likely next: I keep seeing ads for Rails developers. It seems like the main purpose that Ruby is put to these days but there’s plenty of demand!

7 April 2023