
What's the K&R for JavaScript? - TheFoozle
Yes, I know JS The Good Parts but there&#x27;s so much noise out there about best practice, memory mgmnt etc. What&#x27;s the bible right now? If K&amp;R doesn&#x27;t mean anything to you - you&#x27;re young and haven&#x27;t programmed in C.
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anonfunction
I'm young and haven't programmed in C. This is a great resource though:
[http://eloquentjavascript.net/](http://eloquentjavascript.net/)

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eat
On an equally irrelevant note, I'm young and have programmed in C.

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anonfunction
Did 'K&R' mean anything to you?

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chug2k
Came here to paste a link to the good parts. I see you've already got that.

Honestly, the most useful reading for me has been the annotated source to
Backbone and Underscore. Amazing that he wrote it, even more amazing that he
annotated it. Guy's a genius.

[http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html](http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html)
[http://underscorejs.org/docs/underscore.html](http://underscorejs.org/docs/underscore.html)

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MalcolmDiggs
There's nothing as canonical for js as K&R was for C. My guess is that it's
just changing a little too fast.

If you want raw unassailable reference docs (to learn js from the ground floor
in comprehensive detail) you can't go wrong reading the standards:

[http://www.ecma-
international.org/publications/standards/Ecm...](http://www.ecma-
international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm)

[http://es5.github.io/](http://es5.github.io/)

The rest you kinda gotta cull from various resources. learn.jquery.com is nice
and Mozilla kicks ass, as usual: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference)

Information about ES6 generators and other stuff coming down the pipe seems to
be scattered all over the place. Best resource I've found seems to be this
one:

[http://people.mozilla.org/~jorendorff/es6-draft.html](http://people.mozilla.org/~jorendorff/es6-draft.html)

Though promisejs.org and promisesaplus.com are worth browsing.

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vgallur
I'd say "Professional JavaScript for Web Developers", by Nicholas C. Zakas

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radmuzom
Professional JavaScript for Web Developers is more like the "C: A Reference
Manual" (Harbison / Steele) rather than K&R.

To me, "The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript" by the same author is
the equivalent of K&R. Just don't be misled by the title, it covers the
functional aspects of JavaScript as good as any other book and does not push
for object-oriented programming as the one true way at all.

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brudgers
There isn't anything.

K&R is canonical because in 1978 books were the way programming language
information was distributed. It was a different time. Hell, in 1979 _Godel
Escher Bach_ won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Can you imagine the
general public reading something that challenging for fun these days?

On the flip side, most programming books are more informative than what is
essentially a specification. The industry has come a long way.

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dragonwriter
> Hell, in 1979 Godel Escher Bach won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. Can
> you imagine the general public reading something that challenging for fun
> these days?

The relationship between "Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction" and "general public
reading [...] for fun" has always been pretty distant.

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TheFoozle
Thanks all. Good responses. Though I have to say I'm a bit nostalgic for
formality at times (and slightly disappointed). Hope that doesn't make me a
snob. On the Godel, Escher, Bach, note - I just heard a great interview with
Douglas Hofstadter on Radiolab - worth a listen.

