Hello Mr. Freeman and Mrs. Robson.
I am curious as to how much of the knowledge in your Head First book is universally applicable to all of JavaScript. The thoughts that bring this question are the rise and fall of JavaScript frameworks, the scarce knowledge I currently have of JavaScript, and the wonder I have at how to be able to judge one JavaScript framework from another. I wonder if the knowledge gained from your publication will help a novice like me to progress far enough, with diligent follow-through, to be able to understand enough about the architecture of JavaScript to then be able to move on to understanding and analyzing the different JavaScript frameworks out there.
Does your book provide enough of the core concepts to where I could then go read a book on
Angular, Ember, Backbone, Dojo, or jQuery and be able to perceive how that particular framework takes advantage of the JavaScript language? I am sure that I need to be a little of a full-stack engineer to really get the value from each of the frameworks. I feel like I know enough about SQL and ORM on the server side to understand communication with the database. I feel like I know enough about
Java services on the server to understand server-side processing and transaction management fundamentals. I feel like I have a beginning knowledge of the use of JavaScript and other web languages on the front end to be able to understand how to provide a rich experience with the user. The third area here of interacting with the user is definitely something I have the least knowledge about. I am hoping to gain a depth of knowledge on client-side languages so that I can evaluate different toolkits. I would like to be able to do more than repeat talking points of each JavaScript framework. I would like to be able to research them and come to my own conclusions.
So, if the answer to my question is that one hundred percent of your book is applicable to all JavaScript frameworks then could you comment on how you think I could use your book as a training manual to get me to the point where I can judge the various JavaScript frameworks?
And, if my prior questions are too vague here's another pair:
do you put much of a focus on debugging JavaScript in the book? Though I didn't see a chapter on it I am thinking you have included it along the way where it makes sense.
My last question:
Do you speak of server-side javascript in your book? If not then what would you recommend as a possible next step after reading and understanding your Head First JavaScript book?
Cheers.