So, you’re thinking to yourself, “can I learn JavaScript in a day?”. Well, let me be the bearer of bad news by telling you that you definitely cannot learn JavaScript in one day. Learning any programming language is a ton of hard work and cannot be done in a single day.
So why can’t you learn JavaScript in a day and how long will it take? Well, I hope to answer that question below!
You Can Learn The Basics Of JavaScript In A Day, Not The Whole Language
Before we dive into why you can’t learn JavaScript in one day, there is some good news.
If your goal is to get a general understanding of the basics of the language, such as loops, conditionals, variables, functions and its primitive data types, you can learn JavaScript in one day. This is assuming you already know at least one other programming language well and just want to get a surface-level idea of JavaScript.
These basic concepts can be easy to learn because you will have already learned them in a previous language. At the base of most popular programming languages, they all function similarly.
However, if you don’t know any other programming languages, it is probably going to take you at least a few weeks to learn the basics of JavaScript.
If you haven’t fully learned a single programming language yet, I highly recommend you just stick to one. You’ll learn a lot more much faster.
Why Can’t I Learn JavaScript In One Day?
The reason you can’t learn JavaScript in one day is simple, there is simply too much to learn. Your brain needs time to process new information and that fact is especially true when learning programming.
The language is very different than most languages that you probably know. For instance, JavaScript is not an object-oriented programming language, but rather an object-based/prototype-chaining programming language.
It also takes a lot of inspiration from functional programming languages. The language prefers to be used in ways that functional programming languages are used. Concepts such as higher order functions, callback functions, iterators, and immutability etc. are all concepts you will have to master to understand JavaScript.
Not to mention that the environment that you use JavaScript in will be completely new as well. JavaScript is primarily used for frontend web development. Which means you will need to know how to use JavaScript to build websites. This includes understanding event-driven programming and DOM manipulation.
If none of these terms make sense to you, that’s normal! Most of these concepts are foreign or uncommon in other programming languages and you likely would not have learned them.
Once you start learning JavaScript, you are stepping into a entirely different world.
How Long Will It Take To Learn JavaScript?
This is a difficult question to answer because it depends entirely on your prior knowledge.
JavaScript was my first language, so I think I can give you an accurate depiction of how long it will take as a beginner.
Personally, it took me about 3 months to start really getting the hang of JavaScript and programming in general. By 6 months, I was building none trivial web apps with JavaScript. Although I would argue that my code quality was not something I would call “production ready”.
So if you want to learn JavaScript, it will likely take you around 3-6 months. In about a year, you can probably start applying for jobs.
This is assuming you put in a considerable amount of effort almost every day!
Programming takes persistence. That is why learning to code is so hard for most. They simply don’t have the desire to push themselves everyday to learn.
You can do it!
Wrapping Up
That’s pretty much everything you need to know. JavaScript, and programming in general, takes a lot of time to learn and you won’t be able to learn it in a single day. However, with persistence and determination, you can definitely learn how to program in JavaScript in about 3-6 months!
If you want to take the next step in your coding career and learn JavaScript, you can find some great courses here.
If you are a new programming, check out my free resources to becoming a web developer.
If you want to know how long it takes to learn Reactjs, check out this article.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a comment below. As always, good luck and happy coding!
