Should You Learn JavaScript?

General questions without context are very hard to give an answer to, but when we present the question with additional context, then it is much easier to answer.

In this case, a lawyer who has a successful career might not need to learn JS if they already have an established life and career and a booming business.

A low-level programmer also doesn’t need to learn JavaScript unless they really want to dive into web development.

However, for someone who is looking at web development as a prospective career, JavaScript is a great choice. Here is why JavaScript is a good language in general and why one should consider it.

JavaScript Explained

JavaScript was released as a programming language in 1995, after it was developed by Brendan Eich. Brendan Eich is also one of the founders of Mozilla. JavaScript is one of the core web development languages and alongside HTML and CSS makes up 97% of the world’s web content.

JavaScript is powerful and used on every single web page and application where you have elements you interact with. It is often an underestimated language but given its widespread usage, it is typically considered a web language.

When to Learn JavaScript?

For anyone who wants to get into web development, whether the front end or back end, JS is a must learn. For the front end developers, JS is used on every single web page and whenever an interactive element goes haywire, you have to look at the plugins and the JS code of the element.

For the back end developers, it is necessary to know JS in order to make sure that the elements are supported from the server side of things and that whenever an element is interacted with, that the server-object interaction is flawless.

However, JS is also used in some software frameworks like Electron, React Native and Cordova.

JS for Other Types of Programming?

This is probably one of the use cases where you might not need JS unless you really like the language. Anyone working with object-oriented programming, low-level programming or almost anything not related to web development do not need JavaScript. 

While it is a good and prospective language to know, it is just one programming language, albeit a very powerful one when we look at the way it’s implemented and used.

JS Is Easier to Learn than Others

JS is relatively easy to learn because you don’t need to install anything specific, you just need your browser and maybe a text editor such as Notepad++. Every browser had a debugging tool for JS and you could test and see your code instantly.

JS also transfers to other languages, like C, Python and even Java.

JS is a great programming language, especially if you plan on being a web dev, so whether you should learn it is up to you.