JavaScript For Kids For Dummies

Chris Minnick, Eva Holland

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781119119890
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencia de la computación
• Subtopic: Programación en JavaScript

Have big dreams? Kick start them with JavaScript!

If we've learned one thing from the Millennial generation, it's that no one is too young to make history online. JavaScript For Kids For Dummies introduces pre-teens and early teens alike to the world of JavaScript, which is an integral programming language that drives the functionality of websites and apps. This informative, yet engaging text guides you through the basics of coding with JavaScript, and is an essential resource if you want to expand your technology skills while following easy, step-by-step instructions. Through small, goal-oriented projects, you learn key coding concepts, while actually creating apps, games, and more. This hands-on experience, coupled with the presentation of ideas in a simple style, allows you to both learn and retain JavaScript fundamentals.

JavaScript has been heralded as 'the programming language of the web, ' and many kids are interested in learning how to use it; however, most schools don't offer coding classes at this level, and most families can't afford the high cost of coding classes through a summer camp. But this can't stop you from developing your JavaScript coding skills! This fun text is all you need to get started on your JavaScript journey.

• Explore the basics of JavaScript through the creation of a calculator app
• Deepen your understanding of HTML, arrays, and variables by building a grocery shopping app
• Learn conditional logic through the development of a choose your own adventure game
• Discover loops and strings by creating a lemonade stand app and MadLibs-style game

JavaScript For Kids For Dummies brings pre-teens and early teens into the world of coding by teaching them one of the key Web design languages.

Part I

What Is JavaScript? Alert! JavaScript Is Awesome!

In this part …

Programming the Web

Understanding Syntax

Giving and Receiving Data

Fiddling with Web Applications

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Chapter 1

Programming the Web

JavaScript is a powerful language that’s easy to learn! In this chapter, we explain the basics of programming, tell you what JavaScript is, and get you started with writing your first JavaScript commands.

One of the most important parts of starting any new project is to make sure you have your workshop stocked with all the correct tools. In this chapter, you install and configure all the programs you need and start experimenting with some real JavaScript programs!

What Is Programming?

A computer program is a series of instructions that can be understood and followed by a computer. Computer programming, also known as coding, is what we call it when we write these instructions. Computers can’t do things on their own. They need a computer program to tell them what to do. Computer programmers write code to make computers do all sort of things.

The women who invented programming

Electronic computers as we know them were first invented in the 1930s. But it was the middle of the 1800s when the first computer program — a set of instructions designed to be carried out by a machine — was written.

The author of the first computer program — and, therefore, the world’s first computer programmer — was a woman named Ada Lovelace. A mathematician in England, she was the first person to envision computers that could do much more than just crunch numbers. She foresaw computers being able to do all the things we use computers for today: including working with words, displaying pictures, and playing music. Her unique insights earned her the nickname “The Enchantress of Numbers.”

Compilers are programs for converting programming languages into machine language. The first compiler was created by Grace Murray Hopper in 1944. This invention led to computer programs that could run on different types of computers, and eventually to JavaScript. Hopper is also credited with being the inventor of the term debugging for fixing problems in computer programs. The term was inspired by the removal of an actual moth from an early computer. Hopper became known as “The Queen of Software” or “Amazing Grace” for her contributions to modern computing.

Another name for a computer program is software.

Computer programs help people to do many thousands of things, including the following:

• Playing music and videos
• Performing scientific experiments
• Designing cars
• Inventing medicines
• Playing games
• Controlling robots
• Guiding satellites and spaceships
• Creating magazines
• Teaching people new skills

Can you think of more examples of things that computers can do?

Talking to Computers

At the heart of every computer is a central processing unit (CPU). This CPU is made up of millions of tiny, very fast switches (called transistors) that can be either on or off. The position of each of these switches at any time determines what the computer will do.

Software written by programmers tells these switches when to turn on or off and in what combination by using binary codes. Binary codes use zeros and ones to form letters, numbers, and symbols that can be put together in order to perform tasks.

Every single thing that a comput...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: What Is JavaScript? Alert! JavaScript Is Awesome!
• Part II: Animating the Web
• Part III: Getting Operations
• Part IV: Arrays and Functions
• Part V: Freedom of Choice
• Part VI: Loops
• About the Authors
• Cheat Sheet
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement