Programming Books

18 Excellent Free Books to Learn JavaScript

Last Updated on January 21, 2024

7. Developing Backbone.js Applications by Addy Osmani

Developing Backbone.js ApplicationsThis book teaches you how to create structured JavaScript applications, using Backbone’s own flavor of model-view-controller (MVC) architecture. Backbone.js is a lightweight JavaScript library that adds structure to your client-side code. It makes it easy to manage and decouple concerns in your application, leaving you with code that is more maintainable in the long term.

Learn the essentials of Backbone’s models, views, collections, events, and routers. The book also looks at two popular Backbone add-ons: MarionetteJS and Thorax. Marionette simplifies your Backbone application code with robust views and architecture solutions. Thorax is used to build meaty Backbone applications.

The book is targeted at novice to intermediate developers. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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8. Master Space and Time with JavaScript by Noel Rappin

Master Space and Time JavaScriptMaster Space and Time in JavaScript is a four book series aimed at developers who have a basic knowledge of JavaScript but who need to learn about newer tools and practices.

The 4 books:

  • The Basics – contains an introduction to Jasmine testing and jQuery, plus a look at JavaScript’s object model.
  • Objects in JavaScript – more complete examples of using and testing objects in JavaScript, including communication with a remote server and JSON.
  • Backbone – continues building the website using Backbone.js to create single-page interfaces for some more complex user interaction.
  • Ember – builds out completely different parts of the website using Ember.js to create complex client-side interactions.

Sadly the author has removed all the books from his website. The series was released under a Creative Commons license. If you know where a copy of the books are available, please let us know.


9. DOM Enlightenment by Cody Lindley

DOM Enlightenment

DOM Enlightenment teaches you how to manipulate HTML more efficiently by scripting the Document Object Model (DOM) without a DOM library. Using code examples in cookbook style, the author explains modern DOM concepts to illustrate how various node objects work.

The book is targeted at developers who want to understand the purpose and value provided by jQuery for scripting the DOM. The author also wants to help developers tasked with scripting web documents that only run on modern browsers.

Chapters cover:

  • Node overview – examines node object types, properties and methods for working nodes, getting a nodes value and more.
  • Document nodes – includes document child nodes, detecting DOM specifications/features using document.implementation.hasFeature().
  • Element nodes – create elements, get the tag name of an element, verifying an element has a specific attribute and more.
  • Element node selecting – selecting/creating a NodeList, contextual element selecting, and more.
  • Element node geometry & scrolling geometry – shows how to use getBoundingClientRect(), elementFromPoint(), scrollHeight, scrollWidth, scrollIntoView().
  • Element nodes inline style – CSS properties.
  • Text nodes – good treatment on manipulating text.
  • DocumentFragment nodes – creation and use of DocumentFragment nodes.
  • CSS style sheets & CSS rules – including how to create a new inline CSS style sheet.
  • JavaScript in the DOM – covers <script> element node, how to use defer, async, and more.
  • DOM events – DOM event types, the event flow, adding event listeners to element nodes, window object, and document object.
  • Creating dom.js.

The DOM Enlightenment HTML version is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 unported license.

Read the book


Next page: Page 4 – jQuery Fundamentals and more books

Pages in this article:
Page 1 – You Don’t Know JS (book series) and more books
Page 2 – JavaScript Enlightenment and more books
Page 3 – Developing Backbone.js Applications and more books
Page 4 – jQuery Fundamentals and more books
Page 5 – JavaScript Bible and more books
Page 6 – Object-Oriented 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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razbone
razbone
4 years ago

sorry 8- Link ????