Human JavaScript

Introduction

The book "Human JavaScript" (author — Henrik Joreteg, 2014, 130 pages) is not another reference guide on language syntax, but a practical guide to creating maintainable, readable, and testable applications in JavaScript. The name speaks for itself: code should be written for humans, not for machines. The author, a well-known developer and creator of the Ampersand.js and Backbone.js libraries, shares his experience in building client-server applications in Node.js and the browser.

What this book is about

The book focuses on architecture and code organization. It does not teach the basics of JavaScript, but shows how to write code that is easy to read, modify, and test. Main topics:

• Modularity and module systems (AMD, CommonJS, ES6 modules).
• Principles of separation of concerns (MVC, MVP, MVVM).
• Working with asynchrony (callbacks, promises, generators).
• Testing (unit tests, integration tests, TDD).
• Build and deployment (Grunt, Gulp, Browserify).
• Creating your own libraries and components.

Who this book is for

The book is intended for developers who already have basic knowledge of JavaScript and want to move to the next level — learn how to design application architecture. It will be useful for:

• Frontend developers transitioning to Node.js.
• Developers who want to write cleaner and more maintainable code.
• Those interested in testing and automation.
• Beginning team leads and architects.

What the reader will learn

After reading the book, the reader will be able to:

• Organize code into modules and correctly choose a module system.
• Build application architecture by separating logic, presentation, and data.
• Write asynchronous code without "callback hell".
• Set up a testing environment and write tests for their code.
• Automate application build and deployment.
• Create reusable components and libraries.

Strengths

The main advantage of the book is its practical focus. The author does not just explain theory, but shows real code examples and explains why a particular approach is better. The book is written in a lively, understandable language, without excessive academicism. The chapters on testing and modularity are especially valuable — they provide clear recipes that can be immediately applied in a project. Despite its small volume (130 pages), the book covers all key aspects of JavaScript development.

Who it is recommended for

The book "Human JavaScript" is recommended for everyone who wants to write professional JavaScript code. It will be useful for both frontend developers and backend developers on Node.js. I especially recommend it to those who feel that their code has become too tangled and requires refactoring. The book will provide tools for bringing order to a project.