Programming for Absolute Beginners

New programmers start here…this book introduces students or aspiring professionals to the world of computer programming using JavaScript and related technologies. This book doesn’t just teach the basics of programming, but also all of the tools that new programmers need to get started, including the basics of making web pages and how the Internet works. 

Programming for Absolute Beginners offers practice problems, activities, and a host of resources to get new programmers started, plus a large glossary of terms introduced in the book and that a new programmer might encounter when learning on their own. No special software is required; this book will help you regardless of what your computer setup is, and source code will be freely available via GitHub.

What You Will Learn

• How computers work
• How computers communicate over networks
• How web pages are built with HTML and CSS
• How JavaScript works
• How JavaScript interacts with web pages
• Intermediate JavaScript topics such as recursion and scoping
• Using JavaScript for network communication

 Who This Book Is For

Anyone wanting to begin computer programming, including students who need to learn the fundamentals and early professionals who want to go back and revisit the basics.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Part I: Computers, Data, and Communication

Chapter 2: A Short History of Computers

Chapter 3: How Computers Communicate

Chapter 4: How a Computer Looks at Data

Chapter 5: How Computers Work

Part II: Basic Ingredients for Web Programming

Chapter 6: The HTML File Format

Chapter 7: Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets

Chapter 8: Your First JavaScript Program

Part III: JavaScript Fundamentals

Chapter 9: Basic JavaScript Syntax

Chapter 10: Introducing Functions and Scope

Chapter 11: Grouping Values Together with Objects and Arrays

Chapter 12: Interacting with Web Pages

Part IV: Intermediate JavaScript

Chapter 13: Recursive Functions and the Stack

Chapter 14: Manipulating Functions and Scopes

Chapter 15: Intermediate Objects

Part V: Programming Applications

Chapter 16: Modernizing JavaScript

Chapter 17: Working with Remote Services (APIs)

Chapter 18: Writing Server-Side JavaScript

Chapter 19: Conclusion

Appendix A: Glossary

Appendix B: Operating System and Browser Specifics

Appendix C: The JavaScript Toolbox on Docker

Appendix D: Character Encoding Issues

Appendix E: Additional Machine Language Programs

About the Author

Jonathan Bartlett is a software developer, researcher, and writer. His first book, Programming from the Ground Up, has been required reading in computer science programs from DeVry to Princeton. He has been the sole or lead author for eight books on topics ranging from computer programming to calculus. He is a technical lead for ITX, where his specialty is getting stuck projects unstuck. He is a senior software developer for McElroy Manufacturing, spearheading projects in web, mobile, and embedded software. He is now the author of several Apress books including Electronics for Beginners and more.