Programming Books

7 Excellent Free Books to Learn ECMAScript

Last Updated on January 21, 2024

4. Speaking JavaScript by Axel Rauschmayer

Speaking JavaScript

Like it or not, JavaScript is everywhere these days—from browser to server to mobile—and now you, too, need to learn the language or dive deeper than you have. This concise book guides you into and through JavaScript, written by a veteran programmer who once found himself in the same position.

Speaking JavaScript has been written for programmers, by a programmer.

In order to understand the book, you should already know object-oriented programming, for example, via a mainstream programming language such as Java, PHP, C++, Python, Ruby, Objective-C, Swift, C#, or Perl.

Speaking JavaScript has four parts:

  1. JavaScript Quick Start: Learn a safe subset of JavaScript in less than 30 pages.
  2. Background: When, why, and how was JavaScript created? How is it related to other programming languages? What were the important steps that got us to where we are today?
  3. JavaScript in Depth: This part is more of a reference: look for a topic that you are interested in, jump in, and explore. I still tried to make it fun to read.
  4. Tips, Tools, and Libraries: This part gives tips for using JavaScript: best practices, advanced techniques, and learning resources. It also describes a few important tools and libraries.

This book covers JavaScript up to and including ECMAScript 5.

Read the book


5. Exploring ES6

Exploring ES6Exploring ES6 is about ECMAScript 6 (whose official name is ECMAScript 2015). In order to understand this book, you should already know JavaScript.

This book covers ECMAScript 6 in depth, but is structured so that you can also quickly get an overview if you want to.

This book covers ES6 with three levels of detail:

  • Quick start: Begin with the chapter “Core ES6 features”. Additionally, almost every chapter starts with a section giving an overview of what’s in the chapter. The last chapter collects all of these overview sections in a single location.
  • Solid foundation: Each chapter always starts with the essentials and then increasingly goes into details. The headings should give you a good idea of when to stop reading, but I also occasionally give tips in sidebars w.r.t. how important it is to know something.
  • In-depth knowledge: Read all of a chapter, including the in-depth parts.

Read the book


6. Exploring ES2016 and ES2017

Exploring ES2016 and ES2017This book is about two versions of JavaScript: ECMAScript 2016 and ECMAScript 2017

ES6 was by far the biggest update to the language with Modules, Classes and much more.

The 2016 and 2017 iterations bring worthwhile improvements, such as: Async functions, Shared memory and atomics, as well as improvements to core Array and String classes.

Read the book


7. Setting up ES6

Setting up ES6

Setting up ES6 explains how to configure Babel. It also covers setting up ES6 projects that are compiled to ES5 via Babel.

The book also explains deploying ES6 in browsers via Babel and webpack and deploying ES6 in Node.js, by statically or dynamically compiling it via Babel.

Chapters cover:

  • Deploying ECMAScript 6 – describes the options you have for deploying ECMAScript 6 in current JavaScript environments. It is selective w.r.t. the amount of tools it covers.
  • Babel setups for browsers and Node.js – covers example transpilation setups for Babel.
  • Configuring Babel 6 – this chapter offers tips.
  • Babel: configuring standard library and helpers – explains how to configure how Babel 6 accesses its own helper functions and the ES6 standard library.
  • Babel’s loose mode – transpiles ES6 code to ES5 code that is less faithful to ES6 semantics. This chapter explains how that works and what the pros and cons are.
  • Babel and CommonJS modules – examines how Babel ensures that code it transpiles interoperates properly with normal CommonJS modules.
  • The future of bundling JavaScript modules – examines how the bundling of modules is affected by two future developments: HTTP/2 and native modules.

Read the book


Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Understanding ECMAScript 6 and more books
Page 2 – Speaking JavaScript and more books


All books in this series:

Free Programming Books
AdaALGOL-like programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages
AgdaDependently typed functional language based on intuitionistic Type Theory
ArduinoInexpensive, flexible, open source microcontroller platform
AssemblyAs close to writing machine code without writing in pure hexadecimal
AwkVersatile language designed for pattern scanning and processing language
BashShell and command language; popular both as a shell and a scripting language
BASICBeginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
CGeneral-purpose, procedural, portable, high-level language
C++General-purpose, portable, free-form, multi-paradigm language
C#Combines the power and flexibility of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic
ClojureDialect of the Lisp programming language
ClojureScriptCompiler for Clojure that targets JavaScript
COBOLCommon Business-Oriented Language
CoffeeScriptTranscompiles into JavaScript inspired by Ruby, Python and Haskell
CoqDependently typed language similar to Agda, Idris, F* and others
CrystalGeneral-purpose, concurrent, multi-paradigm, object-oriented language
CSSCSS (Cascading Style Sheets) specifies a web page’s appearance
DGeneral-purpose systems programming language with a C-like syntax
DartClient-optimized language for fast apps on multiple platforms
DylanMulti-paradigm language supporting functional and object-oriented coding
ECMAScriptBest known as the language embedded in web browsers
EiffelObject-oriented language designed by Bertrand Meyer
ElixirRelatively new functional language running on the Erlang virtual machine
ErlangGeneral-purpose, concurrent, declarative, functional language
F#Uses functional, imperative, and object-oriented programming methods
FactorDynamic stack-based programming language
ForthImperative stack-based programming language
FortranThe first high-level language, using the first compiler
GoCompiled, statically typed programming language
GroovyPowerful, optionally typed and dynamic language
HaskellStandardized, general-purpose, polymorphically, statically typed language
HTMLHyperText Markup Language
IconWide variety of features for processing and presenting symbolic data
JArray programming language based primarily on APL
JavaGeneral-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented, high-level language
JavaScriptInterpreted, prototype-based, scripting language
JuliaHigh-level, high-performance language for technical computing
KotlinMore modern version of Java
LabVIEWDesigned to enable domain experts to build power systems quickly
LaTeXProfessional document preparation system and document markup language
LispUnique features - excellent to study programming constructs
LogoDialect of Lisp that features interactivity, modularity, extensibility
LuaDesigned as an embeddable scripting language
MarkdownPlain text formatting syntax designed to be easy-to-read and easy-to-write
Objective-CObject-oriented language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to C
OCamlThe main implementation of the Caml language
PascalImperative and procedural language designed in the late 1960s
PerlHigh-level, general-purpose, interpreted, scripting, dynamic language
PHPPHP has been at the helm of the web for many years
PostScriptInterpreted, stack-based and Turing complete language
PrologA general purpose, declarative, logic programming language
PureScriptSmall strongly, statically typed language compiling to JavaScript
PythonGeneral-purpose, structured, powerful language
QMLHierarchical declarative language for user interface layout - JSON-like syntax
RDe facto standard among statisticians and data analysts
RacketGeneral-purpose, object-oriented, multi-paradigm, functional language
RakuMember of the Perl family of programming languages
RubyGeneral purpose, scripting, structured, flexible, fully object-oriented language
RustIdeal for systems, embedded, and other performance critical code
ScalaModern, object-functional, multi-paradigm, Java-based language
SchemeA general-purpose, functional language descended from Lisp and Algol
ScratchVisual programming language designed for 8-16 year-old children
SQLAccess and manipulate data held in a relational database management system
Standard MLGeneral-purpose functional language characterized as "Lisp with types"
SwiftPowerful and intuitive general-purpose programming language
TclDynamic language based on concepts of Lisp, C, and Unix shells
TeXMarkup and programming language - create professional quality typeset text
TypeScriptStrict syntactical superset of JavaScript adding optional static typing
ValaObject-oriented language, syntactically similar to C#
VHDLHardware description language used in electronic design automation
VimLPowerful scripting language of the Vim editor
XMLRules for defining semantic tags describing structure ad meaning
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