Programming Books

Best Free Books to Learn about CoffeeScript

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

CoffeeScript is a very succinct programming language that transcompiles into JavaScript, so there is no interpretation at runtime. The syntax is inspired by Ruby, Python and Haskell, and implements many features from these three languages.

CoffeeScript is closely related to JavaScript without having its eccentricities. However, CoffeeScript offers more than fixing many of the oddities of JavaScript, as it has some useful features including array comprehensions, prototype aliases and classes. It allows developers to write less code to get more done.

CoffeeScript is a new language, first appearing in 2009. The first stable release shortly followed in December 2010.

The focus of this article is to select the finest CoffeeScript books which help programmers become proficient coding in this language. The books selected help developers to take full advantage of the power of CoffeeScript. All of the books are published under open source licenses.


1. The Little Book on CoffeeScript by Alex MacCaw

The Little Book on CoffeeScriptThe Little Book on CoffeeScript is an excellent introductory text to CoffeeScript programming. The books shows JavaScript developers how to build web applications with CoffeeScript.

This book is designed to help you learn CoffeeScript, understand best practices and start building awesome client side applications. The book is a concise guide spanning only 5 chapters.

Through example code, this guide demonstrates how CoffeeScript abstracts JavaScript, providing syntactical sugar and preventing many common errors. You’ll learn CoffeeScript’s syntax and idioms step by step, from basic variables and functions to complex comprehensions and classes. The book also offers an introduction to structuring and creating your own CoffeeScript applications.

There’s an updated version of the book available to purchase in paperback, as well as PDF and Kindle version.

Read the free electronic version at https://arcturo.github.io/library/coffeescript/. This book is completely open source.


2. CoffeeScript Cookbook by David Brady, John Ford, Steven Reid, and many others

CoffeeScript Cookbook

CoffeeScript Cookbook is a community run website for the CoffeeScript language.

CoffeeScript Cookbook offers a wealth of information on CoffeeScript covering areas such as the language’s syntax, classes and objects, strings, arrays, dates and times, math, functions, metaprogramming, jQuery, Ajax, regular expressions, networking, design patterns, databases, and testing.

Read the book at https://coffeescript-cookbook.github.io/.

The project’s GitHub repository is here. All contributions are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license.


3. Smooth CoffeeScript

Smooth CoffeeScriptSmooth CoffeeScript is a book about CoffeeScript and programming. Start with programming fundamentals, learn about functional programming with Underscore and problem solving, study object orientation and modularity. It covers client/server web apps with Canvas and WebSockets.

No previous programming knowledge is required. CoffeeScript lets you write web oriented applications simply and elegantly. It is closely related to JavaScript but without its quirky corners.

This book is also published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license.

Read the book at https://autotelicum.github.io/Smooth-CoffeeScript/.


4. Hard Rock CoffeeScript by

Hard Rock CoffeeScriptHard Rock CoffeeScript is an introductory text to the world of CoffeeScript. Along the way, you’ll learn about the syntax of the language, classes, and design patterns.

According to the project’s GitHub page, the book is published under the MIT license.

Read the book at https://alchaplinsky.github.io/hard-rock-coffeescript/.


5. CoffeeScript Ristretto by Reg “raganwald” Braithwaite

CoffeeScript RistrettoCoffeeScript Ristretto is a book about programming with functions that uses the CoffeeScript programming language for the examples and exercises.

The book’s main focus is functions as first-class values and advanced topics built on those fundamentals such as callbacks, combinators, method decorators, fluent APIs, and continuation-passing style. The book dives into CoffeeScript’s semantics from simple functions up through closures, higher-order functions, objects, classes, combinators, and decorators.

The book is not released under an open source license. But you can read it without charge. It has a suggested price of $7.99.

Read the book at https://leanpub.com/coffeescript-ristretto/.


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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