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How JavaScript Works Paperback – October 18, 2018

by Douglas Crockford (Author)
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Douglas Crockford starts by looking at the fundamentals: names, numbers, booleans, characters, and bottom values. JavaScript’s number type is shown to be faulty and limiting, but then Crockford shows how to repair those problems. He then moves on to data structures and functions, exploring the underlying mechanisms and then uses higher order functions to achieve class-free object oriented programming. The book also looks at eventual programming, testing, and purity, all the while looking at the requirements of The Next Language. Most of our languages are deeply rooted in the paradigm that produced FORTRAN. Crockford attacks those roots, liberating us to consider the next paradigm.He also presents a strawman language and develops a complete transpiler to implement it. The book is deep, dense, full of code, and has moments when it is intentionally funny.
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[
{"number": 0, "chapter": "Read Me First!"},
{"number": 1, "chapter": "How Names Work"},
{"number": 2, "chapter": "How Numbers Work"},
{"number": 3, "chapter": "How Big Integers Work"},
{"number": 4, "chapter": "How Big Floating Point Works"},
{"number": 5, "chapter": "How Big Big Rationals Work"},
{"number": 6, "chapter": "How Booleans Work"},
{"number": 7, "chapter": "How Arrays Works"},
{"number": 8, "chapter": "How Objects Work"},
{"number": 9, "chapter": "How Strings Work"},
{"number": 10, "chapter": "How The Bottom Values Work"},
{"number": 11, "chapter": "How Statements Work"},
{"number": 12, "chapter": "How Functions Work"},
{"number": 13, "chapter": "How Generators Work"},
{"number": 14, "chapter": "How Exceptions Work"},
{"number": 15, "chapter": "How Programs Work"},
{"number": 16, "chapter": "How this Works"},
{"number": 17, "chapter": "How Classfree Works"},
{"number": 18, "chapter": "How Tail Calls Work"},
{"number": 19, "chapter": "How Purity Works"},
{"number": 20, "chapter": "How Eventual Programming Works"},
{"number": 21, "chapter": "How Date Works"},
{"number": 22, "chapter": "How JSON Works"},
{"number": 23, "chapter": "How Testing Works"},
{"number": 24, "chapter": "How Optimization Works"},
{"number": 25, "chapter": "How Transpiling Works"},
{"number": 26, "chapter": "How Tokenizing Works"},
{"number": 27, "chapter": "How Parsing Works"},
{"number": 28, "chapter": "How Code Generation Works"},
{"number": 29, "chapter": "How Runtimes Work"},
{"number": 30, "chapter": "How Wat! Works"},
{"number": 31, "chapter": "How This Book Works"}
]

About the Author

Douglas Crockford has been called a JavaScript Guru, but he is more of a Mahatma. He was born in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, but left when he was only six months old because it was just too damn cold. He has worked in learning systems, small business systems, office automation, games, interactive music, multimedia, location-based entertainment, social systems, and programming languages. He is the inventor of Tilton, the ugliest programming language that was not specifically designed to be an ugly programming language. He is best known for having discovered that there are good parts in JavaScript. That was the first important discovery of the Twenty First Century. He also discovered the JSON Data Interchange Format, the world's most loved data format.

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Douglas Crockford is the author of How JavaScript Works. He has been called a JavaScript Guru, but he is more of a Mahatma. He was born in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, but left when he was only six months old because it was just too damn cold. He has worked in learning systems, small business systems, office automation, games, interactive music, multimedia, location-based entertainment, social systems, and programming languages. He is the inventor of Tilton, the ugliest programming language that was not specifically designed to be an ugly programming language. He is best known for having discovered that there are good parts in JavaScript. That was the first important discovery of the Twenty First Century. He also discovered the JSON Data Interchange Format, the world’s most loved data format.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
102 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides many valuable insights and is a pleasure to read, with one review noting how it explores JavaScript's idiosyncrasies in a warts-and-all style. Moreover, they appreciate its entertainment value and programming content, with one review highlighting its coverage of asynchronous programming. However, the book's readability and writing quality receive mixed feedback, with some finding it clearly written while others disagree.

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InsightReadabilityEntertainment valueProgramming paradigmReadablenessWriting quality
10 customers mention "Insight"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book provides many valuable insights and thought-provoking guidance, with one customer noting how it explores JavaScript's idiosyncrasies in a warts-and-all style.

"Good fun read. But also incredibly insightful and clearly and understandably written. I love this book!" Read more

"It's a master piece from Crockford, which covers a wide range of topics of not only JavaScript, also programming paradigm. Definitely worth reading." Read more

"The information is deep, deeply explored and clearly, entertainingly, concisely communicated...." Read more

"...Here, he explores its idiosyncrasies in a warts-and-all style, with plenty of examples of how to push this dynamic language past its apparent limits...." Read more

10 customers mention "Readability"9 positive1 negative

Customers find the book easy to read, with one mentioning it's a must-read for JavaScript developers.

"Incredible book, well structured, I’m loving the JS low level comparisons with other old languages...." Read more

"...This book is a pleasure to read and contains useful explainations and opinions on core JavaScript topics such as primitive types, asynchronous..." Read more

"Good fun read. But also incredibly insightful and clearly and understandably written. I love this book!" Read more

"(Tzelon Machluf) Amazing book, so many incredible insights on Javascript. Very entertaining to read. Recommended to every programmer." Read more

4 customers mention "Entertainment value"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining.

"...Please try again later." --- The book was fun and explored some of the way you should be using JavaScript rather than how..." Read more

"The information is deep, deeply explored and clearly, entertainingly, concisely communicated...." Read more

"Wonderful insights, and it is entertaining as well. A gem!..." Read more

"Fun, packed with valuable information..." Read more

3 customers mention "Programming paradigm"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the programming paradigm of the book, with one mentioning its coverage of asynchronous programming.

"...opinions on core JavaScript topics such as primitive types, asynchronous programming and how the language works at a lower level than most users are..." Read more

"...Very entertaining to read. Recommended to every programmer." Read more

"...covers a wide range of topics of not only JavaScript, also programming paradigm. Definitely worth reading." Read more

4 customers mention "Readableness"2 positive2 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it clearly written, while one customer mentions it is practically unreadable using the Android app.

"Good fun read. But also incredibly insightful and clearly and understandably written. I love this book!" Read more

"The Kindle version of this book is practically unreadable using the Android app...." Read more

"The information is deep, deeply explored and clearly, entertainingly, concisely communicated...." Read more

"Terribly Written Incomprehensible And Often Incorrect Information..." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"2 positive1 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book.

"Good fun read. But also incredibly insightful and clearly and understandably written. I love this book!" Read more

""Wun" (from the book) of the worst books ever written!" Read more

"I am a HUGE fan of Doug Crockford and find his writing to be superb...." Read more

Probably the best JavaScript book today
5 out of 5 stars
Probably the best JavaScript book today
Let me be clear, this book is not for beginners. Douglas has a specific sense of humor and some people will be offended. But girl, this book has some serious wisdom. That is what you get when you have ++40 years of experience. I'm on a third of Douglas' road. Thank you for this gem.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Ernest T. Bass
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, packed with valuable information
    Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I am a HUGE fan of Doug Crockford and find his writing to be superb. This book is a pleasure to read and contains useful explainations and opinions on core JavaScript topics such as primitive types, asynchronous programming and how the language works at a lower level than most users are familiar with.

    My favorite thing about Mr. Crockford's writings is his ability to link current language features with their history and origin.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Christohper Garner
    5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book
    Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    The information is deep, deeply explored and clearly, entertainingly, concisely communicated. Douglas Crockford is also deeply opinionated and so therefore is this book, however, you may stand to gain more from reading this book if you don't agree with his opinions than if you do. There are many books on many things, not all of them are good and fewer are great. How Javascript Works it simply great.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Andrew P.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful book
    Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Very good book
    One person found this helpful
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  • GB
    5.0 out of 5 stars Truly thought-provoking guidance from a master
    Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    In "Good Parts", Douglas Crockford popularized JavaScript as a singular programming language, in a class of its own. Here, he explores its idiosyncrasies in a warts-and-all style, with plenty of examples of how to push this dynamic language past its apparent limits. Crockford imbues this tome with his deep knowledge of the history of the programming craft, and while contextualizing the ins and outs of JavaScript, he makes a studied case for the traits of the language that ought to replace it.

    Note: This is not a learn-to-program or "learn JavaScript" book. It certainly does not spend much time on the topic of web-based user interfaces. It doesn't cover the Node ecosystem, or the ever-increasing number of app frameworks. Rather it anatomizes of the language's features, strengths, and shortcomings. It is more a "now you've learned to use it, just what the heck is going on anyway?" sort of book.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best JavaScript book today
    Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Let me be clear, this book is not for beginners. Douglas has a specific sense of humor and some people will be offended.

    But girl, this book has some serious wisdom. That is what you get when you have ++40 years of experience.
    I'm on a third of Douglas' road.

    Thank you for this gem.
    Customer image
    Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Probably the best JavaScript book today

    Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2019
    Let me be clear, this book is not for beginners. Douglas has a specific sense of humor and some people will be offended.

    But girl, this book has some serious wisdom. That is what you get when you have ++40 years of experience.
    I'm on a third of Douglas' road.

    Thank you for this gem.
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    6 people found this helpful
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  • Joe
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not conventional, but masterpiece.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    It's a master piece from Crockford, which covers a wide range of topics of not only JavaScript, also programming paradigm. Definitely worth reading.
    One person found this helpful
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  • KTR73
    3.0 out of 5 stars Even though wun makes more sense, sometimes you should just go with the flow
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The author clearly knows JavaScript. You can learn a lot from what he teaches in this book. But his insistence on using “wun” instead of “one” is so irritating to me that I had to knock a few stars off. He tells you why he spells it as “wun” throughout the book, but every time I saw it, it slowed me down. I get why he did it, but I didn’t like it (even though his spelling “makes more sense”).
    5 people found this helpful
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  • William Entriken
    2.0 out of 5 stars Not as described
    Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I purchased this book because the author required me to do that before he would acknowledge an issue I posted on his GitHub repository. After proving that I purchased the book he still ignored the issue.

    You can find his repo and notice many deleted issues (i.e. the non-contiguous numbers).

    Further, I had sent numerous errata to the requested address long ago. He acknowledged receipt and yet still the book's "erratums" website claims "Incredibly, no mistakes have been found yet. Please try again later."

    ---

    The book was fun and explored some of the way you should be using JavaScript rather than how JavaScript works. A key topic of the book is to lament certain JavaScript features which then culminates in the definition of an unfinished educational language which transpiles into a subset of JavaScript. I would have been more interested in a call-to-arms which invited participation and hoped to actually solve the identified problems.
    23 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • WoPo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Längst überfällig
    Reviewed in Germany on December 21, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Wenn man es wirklich zu verstehen versucht, so kann jederman den Tenor nur als absolut notwendig ansehen. All unser Bestreben sollte in eine solche Richtung gehen und alten, jetzigen Un-Sinn beenden.
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  • Francisco Gil Leyva García
    4.0 out of 5 stars Good explanations and details
    Reviewed in Mexico on June 24, 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    explains features that are not perceived in manuals
    Report
  • Jacque Goupil
    4.0 out of 5 stars A poignant book of bold claims about the best way to code. Entertaining and informative.
    Reviewed in Canada on June 1, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Crockford has strongly-held beliefs in the good and the bad parts of JavaScript and the right way to write code, and he is quick to call anyone who disagrees an idiot. As someone who shares a lot of his views, I found this writing style quite entertaining and refreshing compared to most textbooks which simply list all features of a language. His sharp tongue, however, might make skeptics even less receptive to his words.

    This book explains how to get rid of the bad parts of JavaScript that people make fun of by using a much smaller subset of the language, and goes in to the details of how JavaScript works under the hood. It's an easy-to-digest look at low-level abstractions of the ECMAScript standard.

    A few chapters are absolutely redundant however, especially those which contain annotated source code for full libraries which in the end have little to teach. There's also a good chunk of the book dedicated to a hideous language Crockford invented and its compiler written in JS, and it feels really out of place.
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  • ShammyB
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good to start off with, but gets more and more idiosyncratic as it goes along
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The author is a 'name' in the JavaScript world, having created JSON and the first usable linter back when they were not even a thing. The book creaks with this level of technical knowledge but also the baggage, and becomes somewhat opinionated because of it.

    I'm a contract web developer (JS/ReactJS), and am coming to the end of a 2.5 year contract, and wanted something I could flick through to give me a refresher (being focused on one particular project and working very long hours on it does tend to blur the edges by the end!), and picked three books to get my knowledge closer to 100%; this one and Mastering Modular JavaScript plus Practical Modern JavaScript (both by Nicolas Bevacqua).

    The two Bevacqua books far exceed the How JS works book in terms of getting up to speed in current best practice. The Crockford book is probably useful for edge cases and the odd tricky interview question, but more of a luxury buy in comparison. It is certainly more entertaining than the other books though!

    It could be argued that the 'edge' the Crockford book gives you is an underlying understanding that no other book will provide, but this is marred for me by the opinionation, not all of which everyone will agree with. A review of a book is probably not the best place to state these disagreements, but let me put forward the two simplest ones that irk;

    - The preferred formatting for ternaries makes them just as verbose as the long form! Ain't nobody got time for that!
    - In his variable naming conventions the book forgets to add the additional rule used throughout the book; 'when there is a choice between using a clear and concise name and choosing a variable name to make a wry joke or show up yet another personal idiosyncrasy, choose the latter'.

    Overall, a good book, but it is selling on legacy and pedigree, and expecting you to accept its opinionated viewpoint because of it. You can probably get by without it in 2019. The AngularJS of the current batch of must-buy JS books.

    Oh no. I did a wry technical-clique joke. Crockford is rubbing off on me!
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  • Lorenzo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Un libro che ogni sviluppatore javascript deve assolutamente leggere
    Reviewed in Italy on July 19, 2020
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Crockford da luce al seguito (simbolico) di The Good Parts, con un libro che spiazzerà molti per via dell'approccio diretto e "senza peli sulla lingua" che è tipico dello stile di Crockford.

    Dopo una prima disamina su delle librerie da lui sviluppate per estendere i numeri in Javascript (in netto contrasto con TC39 che ha da poco introdotto i "big integer" all'interno di Javascript) passa all'analisi dell'attuale standard ES6 pesandone in pro e i contro. Per concludere, negli ultimi capitoli con la definizione di un linguaggio "Neo", che possa essere compilato in Javascript.

    I capitoli che ho trovato più utili sono stati quelli sulla programmazione distribuita (la libreria parseq) e quello sui test (la libreria JSCheck, ispirato da Quickcheck per Haskell)

    Il libro deve sicuramente essere letto più volte (i capitoli possono essere letti - in linea di massima - in modo indipendente) in quanto ad ogni lettura si trovano sfumature e commenti che nella prima lettura possono essere sfuggiti.

    Tutto il software è disponibile sulla pagina di github.
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