19-Dec

JavaScript

Don't get lost in the JavaScript jungle

JavaScript is a fast-paced language in regards to adaption and growth. By the end of 2017 there was an estimated 9.7 million JavaScript developers, which suggest that we might have passed 10 million in 2018.

2 min read

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By Eirik Vigeland

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December 19, 2018

With that many developers it might not come as a surprise that NPM (the node package manager) is the largest collection of open-source libraries on the planet (over 836,000 packages and counting - so go publish one!). TC-39 has also vowed to develop the ECMAScript standard and publish a new version every year with new features. This means that keeping up with the amount of activity in the JavaScript community can become a daunting task, but not impossible! The best way of staying up-to-date is to follow developers and JavaScript enthusiasts on Twitter. So don't get lost in the JavaScript jungle, use this list of recommendations as your guide for starters:

  • @BrendanEich
    Hopefully you've already heard about Brendan Eich. He is the creator of JavaScript!
  • @dan_abramov
    Dan Abramov works for Facebook. He created and co-authored Redux.
  • @mjackson
    Micheal Jackson, not the late great king of pop, but the king/co-author of react-router and react training.
  • @getify
    Kyle Simpson. If you haven't already, you should definitely read the YDKJS (You Don't Know JS) book series written by Kyle. But first, follow him on twitter!
  • @_ericelliott
    Eric Elliot, author of "Programming JavaScript Applications", JavaScript instructor, editor of JavaScript Scene, and developer.
  • @rauschma
    Axel Rauschmayer, the man behind the 2ality blog and also author of many books about JavaScript.
  • @sophiebits
    Sophie Alpert, engineer at Facebook working on React.
  • @kentcdodds
    Kent C. Dodds, instructor at egghead.io and engineer at PayPal.
  • @wSokra
    Tobias Koppers, the creator of Webpack. You can read more about bundling your app with Webpack (or Parcel) here, if you haven't already.

Not enough for you? Head over to this tweet by Dan Abramov for more JavaScript people to follow!