Javascript Projects for beginners, age 9 to 99

The why

Everyone wants to learn Javascript nowadays, it's all the cool kids are talking about.
I remember when doing drugs was cool. Just kidding, it never has been.

As your local HR might suggest, Javascript is definately not Java and they are in no way related to eachother, in fact, JS's real name would be ES, or EcmaScript, if you will.

But that's already enough theory about that and you are here to learn the quirks of this beautiful (crazy as f***) programming language.

For the theory junkies, you should care that Javascript is an interpreted language. More on that in future articles but you might want to read this article from the serious guys at Stanford.

I'm writing this article in 2022, where everyone pretty much knows Javascript, because there still might be someone out there in the wild looking for yet another place where to read how to do what the title implies. Also, my blog is the only one read by Aliens whom might want to learn JS for the purpose of using it to conquer the Earth.

The how

Rather than leading this blog post about Javascript for beginners with the usual examples and lists of things that should be done, I thought I'd write 3 projects that I think might be suitable for getting started with learning JS on your own. This is because you can find so many lists of beginning javascript projects anywhere over the internet but not many of them explain WHY those projects are good for you.

And before you ask: no, you don't need a degree for this. Degrees are great but not always necessary.

Now that we got this excuse out of the way, I'll drop the list!

Javascript Whack'a'Mole

This is a good starter for Javascript because it enables you to learn key concepts like:

• variables
• types (and their subtle existence in Javascript)
• loops
• conditionals
• state management
• functions

All these things are a must in the development world so you better practice them! Also, it should be fun as you would be building a game while learning how to code!

This and the second project were also used at the company I work for to test junior developers in the interview process. Take home assignments, yay!

Javascript Memory Game

Another good Javascript starter project for beginners is the Memory Game. At first you might think it's easy but you will discover that even the simplest of games have their own budget of algorithmic complexity.

Learning how to deal with data and the flow of it is a good lesson to take home. With this project you will still dive into what you've already seen but you might discover different perspectives.

With this project you will understand the key concepts you learnt before even more, thus becoming a good junior web developer.

Javascript Personal Project

This, my readers and comrades, is the most important of them all and the reason is quite simple. This project is all about you and your choices. It will shape you and it will shape your learning and how you learn about things. If you decide to embark on a project that doesn't have many tutorials, that's all the better because you will be left alone in deep waters and at first you might fear the silence but then you will understand. It's not just silence, it's calm, it's diligence, it's yours.

So, pick a project you care about and see it to the end. And of course, philosophy aside, if you are looking for help, even tho there might not be a tutorial, there surely are a lot of people in the Javascript community and beyond that will help you out! You can even ask here by opening a new discussion and I will try and help you out!

Whatever method you choose, just remember that watching a tutorial on Youtube is not the same as actually building up your developer's knowledge reservoir. So, get your hands dirty and code!

Always remember, have fun, hack away, and be good lazy.

The goodies

I wanted to write this article because I was thinking about my Junior Developers and a few days ago I was playing with one of the beginner's projects one of them had published on Github with the name of Countercat.

The concept itself is simple, it's a Javascript counter, nothing more, nothing less, but the way it is presented, it shows the fun and the willingness to learn.

It doesn't need to be perfect as long as you are learning, it needs to be fun.

Happy hacking!

The goodbye

I hope you found this article useful and to your liking and if you have any requests, drop a message on one of my social media accounts or open an issue/start a discussion on github, on this repository!