For information about Coder Kids classes and camps, including online coding and gaming topics, visit register.coderkids.com/onlineclasses.

Check out Coder Kids options for online JavaScript classes by visiting this link.

I grew up in the 1990s, when computers and the web were simple. We thought for sure we could “hack” the school computers, and websites were primarily built with HTML/CSS with minimal JavaScript. Google could be manipulated with repeated keywords over and over back then.

These days, the web has become quite a bit more complicated. As people have wanted better design and functionality, the need for more intensive websites has also grown. Simply put, JavaScript is what allows that to happen. Learning to code in JavaScript allows programmers to make webpages interactive. From clicks to animations to checkouts on a cart page, everything online relies on web designers who have learned and mastered JavaScript.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a programming language that is unique in that it runs in a web browser instead of a traditional compiler. Let’s look at the example of a shopping cart. You’re sitting in your Amazon shopping cart and you decide that instead of buying one Minecraft LEGO set, you’re going to buy two. If you click the dropdown to add more items, the webpage is going to communicate with the server in real time, instead of requiring a full refresh of the page.

You can imagine the many things required on Amazon’s end to make sure this transaction is successful. Most importantly, it needs to 1) verify that they have multiple products in stock, 2) recalculate the total, and 3) recalculate the tax. Frankly, I imagine there are probably 10 other things working on Amazon’s backend that I have no idea about. But those are the basics of what their JavaScript is doing in this situation.

From a child’s perspective, this may seem a little bit silly or boring, but from an entrepreneurial or business standpoint, understanding JavaScript and making it work for you makes a huge difference. From a career standpoint, JavaScript is invaluable, since basically all companies now and moving forward have a major web presence.

Learning for the Future

There is often a disconnect between what kids learn in high school and college, and the actual practical knowledge that makes you invaluable in your work. Java and C++, which are taught in many high schools and colleges, are critical and provide a strong foundation for learning to code. But many companies are looking for “full-stack” coders, meaning you understand full front-end and back-end programming. If you’re curious to learn the difference between front-end and back-end programming, I recommend checking out this page from W3 Schools.

JavaScript Frameworks

Once your child has learned the fundamentals behind JavaScript, they can dive deeper into a framework. Frameworks are common in the development world and there are many popular JavaScript frameworks as of this writing. They are: Angular, Node.js, React, and Vue.js. Each of these frameworks contain pre-written code so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you are coding something on a webpage. Do you really want to have to rewrite the code for a button click or a changing color when you hover over something?

More importantly, each of these frameworks has the ability to communicate from the front-end (what you see) to the back-end (where the data is stored). So after your child has mastered the basics of JS, they can dive into a framework to make their lives easier and have better career prospects.

2 boys and 2 girls on computers with headphones

How to Start Learning JavaScript

At Coder Kids, we offer JavaScript classes and summer camps, which you can find by clicking here, or by visiting our main registration page. JavaScript is an important language for the future, along with HTML and CSS. Because the web is changing and growing all the time, it’s important that your child learns to code in Javascript so that they can be a part of it!