--- 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