---
type: article
wp_id: 392
title: 'How to lose an entire afternoon reading about JavaScript'
date: '2020-01-06T13:29:05'
slug: 'how-to-lose-an-entire-afternoon-reading-about-javascript'
image: 
  name: 'how-to-lose-an-entire-afternoon-reading-about-javascript.png'
  width: 512
  height: 512
status: 'published'
description: 'Interested in losing an entire afternoon reading about JavaScript? 1. Our journey starts at the hello world page on reactjs.org. But don’t worry, we won’t stay there long, we ended up there by accident looking for the create react app docs. About 1 minute in, we’ll come across the most interesting paragraph on the page: \[…\]'
tags: ['javascript']
---

Interested in losing an entire afternoon reading about JavaScript?

### 1.

Our journey starts at the [hello world](https://reactjs.org/docs/hello-world.html) page on reactjs.org. But don’t worry, we won’t stay there long, we ended up there by accident looking for the [create react app](https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app) docs. About 1 minute in, we’ll come across the most interesting paragraph on the page:

> If you don’t feel very confident, we recommend going through a [JavaScript tutorial](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript) to check your knowledge level
> 
> [https://reactjs.org/docs/hello-world.html](https://reactjs.org/docs/hello-world.html)

This is so interesting because it links out to MDN’s [A re-introduction to JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript)

### 2.

Ok, so we’re done with reactjs. We must immediately click the link to get to MDN’s [A re-introduction to JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript). This is a very extensive, long, and well-made article. I suggest that **everyone** reads this article, even if you’re an experienced JS dev.

Unfortunately for us, the very first paragraph provides an inner conflict as we struggle not to click on the provided link:  

> Why a re-introduction? Because [JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/JavaScript) is notorious for being [the world’s most misunderstood programming language](http://crockford.com/javascript/javascript.html).
> 
> [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A\_re-introduction\_to\_JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript)

[the world’s most misunderstood programming language](http://crockford.com/javascript/javascript.html). What an irresistible link to let’s click on it.

### 3.

We end up on an old-school looking website, is this right? Oh, I see, it’s an article written by [Douglas Crockford](mailto:douglas@crockford.com). We’ve been linked to [crockford.com](http://crockford.com/javascript/javascript.html). Apart from some `align center`s here and there, this seems to be the only css applied to the entire site:

```html
<body bgcolor="linen" style="margin: 8%;"
```

Anyway, this is only like a 5-minute reading, but it will take us about an hour to read because every sentence will make us want to stare out of the window and question our existence as JavaScript developers.

After we read this, we realize that the first word in the article is a link. Let’s click the link.

### 4.

At this point, we’ve ended up on Crockford’s JavaScript archive page [http://crockford.com/javascript/](http://crockford.com/javascript/) Now we could take this opportunity to read through all of his JavaScript posts, but then we notice a little image in the top right corner that has the title “How JavaScript Works.” Also, it’s a link, so we click it.

It takes us to a new page about a book he’s written. I didn’t know he’d written more than [one book](https://www.amazon.ca/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742), it’s probably worth checking it out. So we click one of the links that take us to an amazon page where we realize that the book is about $40 USD, which is about $40 too expensive at this point.

### 5.

Just out of _curiosity_, we google “douglas crockford how javascript works” to see what comes up. One of first results is a link to a youtube video. Watch the [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oGCyfautKo).

Here, I’ll embed it for you:

## 6.

I trust you can take it from here. Good luck, and if you end up buying a copy of “[How JavaScript Works](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949815005/wrrrldwideweb),” I would love to borrow it.