How long will it take to learn Java?

Question

How long on average should it take me to learn Javascript so that I have enough knowledge of it to create a Firefox add-on? I have no other programming experience under my belt and only know that basics of HTML. (One website said it should only take days)

Also, I may as well ask, what good tutorials are there on the web?

Answer 1

for the basics it just need one month. for detailed study no end. it is a developing language every short period of time u will get a new version.it is a sea.

Answer 2

It will take 4 weeks .

Answer 3

The suggestions of a few days or even weeks seems most unrealistic for anyone, much less someone with no programming experience (HTML is NOT programming). Further, the "popular" notion that JavaScript (JS) is a simple scripting language is incorrect. JS is full-featured Object-Oriented (OO) language with full access to the Document Object Model (DOM) and almost every aspect of the browsers functionality.

In order to gain a basic, trivial grasp of JS to do simple, anonymous function things should require at least six months without knowledge of another block-structured language. You won't just be learning JS, you'll be learning the basic elements of programming. That six month estimate presumes that you diligently apply yourself for a few hours every day. In order to gain a correct understanding of JS as an OO language will require years. I have been programming for over thirty years. I've been using JS for ten. I'm still learning new features.

I maintain a list of links to client-side web programming resources at:

http://home.comcast.net/~richarduie/

The right-hand nav-bar contains links to online learning sites. There is a JS section with links to both novice and expert levels. There's likely a few other things that will be of use to you as well.

The left nav-bar has a link in the books section to the best textbook on JS currently on the market. I've worked with dozens of full-time, professional web programmers in national and international companies and corporations. The, O'Reilly's "Definitive Guide," is the one book owned by all. I own two editions, third and fifth. The link points to the current, fifth edition.

Answer 4

Your question title said Java, but then you said Javascript in description. Since you mentioned Firefox add-on, I take it that you meant the latter.

　Javascript itself isn't that difficult. I recommend that you go through http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp for the preliminary course. Maybe you'll need a couple of days, maybe up to weeks, to grasp the understanding, as you only have experience in HTML.

　Okay, here comes the hard part, but don't get disheartened. To make a Firefox add-on, apart from HTML and Javascript, you also need to learn DOM and XUL. DOM is mostly related to how you want to manipulate a page/document, while XUL is mostly for the interface (toolbar, menu, etc). The main resource for all those is at http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Mai... .

　What I mean by hard is that you need to get to know how all these things come together to work on the effect that you wanted to create. Having to learn everything from zero is not impossible, but can drive you nuts.

　If you can find add-ons doing things similar to what you wanted, try downloading them and check out the source. Go to the add-ons website and instead of clicking the install button for that particular add-on, right click on it instead (currently, button color is green) and select save link as. The downloaded file has the extension .xpi, but is actually a zip file. Rename the extension to .zip and then you can extract the contents.

　Inside, you will find folders, each having its own function. Now check out Mozilla Developer's tutorial on making extension, they should have explanation on what the folders, and the files are for.

But that story is for afterwards. Right now you should first consider whether you want to learn Javascript or not. Or maybe you can do it like I did, downloading add-ons, cracking them open, check out the code, and learning Javascript, DOM, XUL all at once in the meantime.