According to StackOverflow's 2023 Developer Survey, JavaScript is the most popular language in the world. JavaScript provides the functionality for a web page. As a result, it's a critical part of most websites, including heavily-trafficked sites like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon. That's why every web developer should know how to use JavaScript.

JavaScript used to be hard to learn due to some quirks in its early versions that were difficult to understand. But now, with Murach's Modern JavaScript, you can skip over the explanations of the quirky old features and jump straight to the best practices of modern JavaScript. This makes it easier than ever to learn how to use JavaScript to add functionality to your web pages.

To make that possible, section 1 of this book presents a seven-chapter crash course in JavaScript. Because it lets you set your own pace, this section works for those who are completely new to programming as well as those who are already experienced programmers. The only perquisite is a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. When you finish this section, you'll be able to write, test, and debug JavaScript apps of your own.

Then, section 2 presents the essential JavaScript skills. That includes showing you how to create object-oriented apps by defining custom objects and using ES modules to organize them. When you finish this section, you'll be ready to learn other JavaScript frameworks like React and Angular.

Next, section 3 presents some professional skills that you can learn as you need them. These skills include using the Fetch API with Ajax to work with a sever asynchronously, using Node.js to run JavaScript on a server, and using canvas to create drawings and animations.