Exploring JS: JavaScript books for programmers

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer
Blogger (2ality), book author, trainer

Most of the books are free to read online! You can also buy offline versions.

Versions of JavaScript

“ES” stands for “ECMAScript” (ES6 is ECMAScript 6, etc.).

	JavaScript for impatient programmers (ES1–ES2022) A modern guide to the language No required knowledge (apart from programming) Start reading here
	Deep JavaScript: Theory and techniques Covers advanced JavaScript topics The book to read after “JavaScript for impatient programmers”
	Tackling TypeScript: Upgrading from JavaScript If you know JavaScript: Learn TypeScript. Deepen your existing knowledge of TypeScript.
	Shell scripting with Node.js New If you know JavaScript: Learn how Node.js works: Its foundations: its architecture, its event loop, etc. Its API: How to use its global variables and modules. Learn how to use and create npm packages. Learn how to use and create shell scripts and package scripts (in `package.json`).

	Exploring ES6 Covers what’s new in ES6 (relative to ES5)
	Speaking JavaScript (ES1–ES5) JavaScript for programmers No required knowledge (apart from programming)

Exploring ReasonML and functional programming. ReasonML is probably the FP language that is easiest to learn for JavaScript programmers (and therefore a good way to get started with FP):
- It’s a pragmatic language (based on OCaml), with various “impure” escape hatches (output, mutable state, etc.).
- Its syntax is based on JavaScript’s.
- One of its main goals is good JavaScript interoperability.

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer specializes in JavaScript and web development. He blogs, writes books and teaches classes.

Axel has been writing about the future of JavaScript since early 2011.