# Why a JavaScript hater thinks everyone needs to learn JavaScript in the next year

<http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/06/time-to-learn-javascript.html>

- Host: [radar.oreilly.com](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/radar.oreilly.com/)
- Saved: June 10, 2011 (2011-06-10T11:59:10Z)
- Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/9062c1067ae6/
- JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/9062c1067ae6.json

## From the page (probably an excerpt, not Jamie's words)

JavaScript has "grown up." I'm sure there are many JavaScript developers who would take issue with that judgement, and argue that JavaScript has been a capable, mature, and under-appreciated language all along. They may be right, though you can write any program in any complete programming language, including awful things like BASIC. What makes a language useful is some combination of the language's expressiveness and the libraries and tools available. JavaScript clearly passed the expressiveness barrier a long time ago, even if the ceremony required for creating objects is distasteful. But recently, we've seen some extremely important game-changers: jQuery, JSON, Node.js, and HTML5. JavaScript may have been a perfectly adequate language in the past, but these changes (and a few others that I'll point out) have made JavaScript a language that is essential for every developer to know. If there's one language you need to learn in the next year, it's JavaScript.

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

## Same host

- [The four pillars of O'Reilly's IT strategy](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/01c3994e2b8f/) (radar.oreilly.com, November 23, 2010)
- [Work on Stuff that Matters: First Principles](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/173406fea0a4/) (radar.oreilly.com, March 28, 2011)
- [Amygdala FarmVille](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f7984e4b4863/) (radar.oreilly.com, April 7, 2011)
- [The purpose of gamification - O'Reilly Radar](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/ace335326eea/) (radar.oreilly.com, April 29, 2011)
- [The secrets of Node's success](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/9fed0fee2afd/) (radar.oreilly.com, June 12, 2011)

## Saved the same week

- [The Two Faces of Lion](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/d7ae51f40708/) (tidbits.com, June 9, 2011)
- [Richard Dreyfuss reads the iTunes EULA](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/aa3531973fef/) (cnet.com, June 10, 2011)
- [JVectorMap](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f62c91984ef7/) (jvectormap.com, June 10, 2011)
- [Steve Jobs Presents to the Cupertino City Council](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/04f2f6c9511d/) (youtube.com, June 10, 2011)
- [5 Timeless Commencement Addresses](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/ec391e4bfc17/) (brainpickings.org, June 10, 2011)

## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/06/time-to-learn-javascript.html