I recently took a new a job with my company moving from being a Business Analyst to a Programmer. I don't have any prior programming experience so, while I know some basics, I'm pretty much learning from the ground up. Does anybody have any books or online courses they would recommend?

I always liked the SAMS "teach your self in 24 hours" books. It's been a log time since i've read any of them though. Others may have better suggestions

http://www.informit.com/imprint/series_detail.aspx?st=61327

Generally speaking, I would just say make sure to get a book written to learn, not a reference book. O'Reilly publishes great reference books, I haven't found their learning books to be very well done. Others may disagree, a lot of has to be with the style a person prefers.

That looks like it would be pretty solid for what I need. Thanks!

If you want to really learn about the language itself:

Javascript: The Good Parts

It only deals with the language...no JQuery, DOM, Angular, etc. which you would probably want to look into as well.

I have a feeling I'm going to need to into a lot of things as I go on, but at this point I'm just looking for ways to get a good base that I can work from on my own. I have someone that's going to be training me at work, but the reality is my new department has been in full blown project mode for a good five years so I think I'm going to need to learn a lot on my own and then ask for help when needed.

I appreciate the recommendations.

Good luck! JavaScript terrifies me.

Ember.js

W3 Schools. Learn css and jquery there was too if you're doing web stuff.

That's actually the site my trainer was having me look at at the office as well. He just had me go through the javascript stuff so far though. I'll give the others a look as well. I don't have any assignments of my own yet so I've generally got plenty of time at work right now.

quote:

---

Ember.js

---

I'm love me some Ember.js. Been doing it for a few years now and it still blows me away. Wish I was on the way to Portland for ember conf this week but the new company won't pay for the airfare and hotel

Just getting into Ember after a six month Java class when an excellent old employer purchased all my free time. I might get a six month sabbatical in a couple of years, but Ember will most likely be outdated by then.

I'm a little jealous of people who get to do that kind of stuff for a living.

You have to be careful with Javascript - IMO there are lots of "bad" ways to use it to write code. Ways that are unmaintainable, bug-prone, etc.

I would start by using it with an MVC Javascript framework such as Backbone, Ember, or Angular. Of those, for a new person I would probably recommend Angular as it really puts a lot of needed structure around your Javascript code and minimizes the amount of JQuery you'll need to know/write. And it's a pretty small library to boot but can do some powerful things for you.

I think though to get "satisfaction" from writing a Javascript client you'll probably end up spending as much if not more time learning CSS.

Also, look into using Bootstrap as well (can be used in conjunction with other libraries like Angular).