Book Image

Clean Code in JavaScript

By : James Padolsey
Book Image

Clean Code in JavaScript

By: James Padolsey

Overview of this book

Building robust apps starts with creating clean code. In this book, you’ll explore techniques for doing this by learning everything from the basics of JavaScript through to the practices of clean code. You’ll write functional, intuitive, and maintainable code while also understanding how your code affects the end user and the wider community. The book starts with popular clean-coding principles such as SOLID, and the Law of Demeter (LoD), along with highlighting the enemies of writing clean code such as cargo culting and over-management. You’ll then delve into JavaScript, understanding the more complex aspects of the language. Next, you’ll create meaningful abstractions using design patterns, such as the Class Pattern and the Revealing Module Pattern. You’ll explore real-world challenges such as DOM reconciliation, state management, dependency management, and security, both within browser and server environments. Later, you’ll cover tooling and testing methodologies and the importance of documenting code. Finally, the book will focus on advocacy and good communication for improving code cleanliness within teams or workplaces, along with covering a case study for clean coding. By the end of this book, you’ll be well-versed with JavaScript and have learned how to create clean abstractions, test them, and communicate about them via documentation.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
1
Section 1: What is Clean Code Anyway?
7
Section 2: JavaScript and Its Bits
13
Section 3: Crafting Abstractions
16
Section 4: Testing and Tooling
20
Section 5: Collaboration and Making Changes

The movement of control

In JavaScript, there are several ways that control can be moved from one piece of code to another. Generally, code will be evaluated from left-to-right and top-to-bottom until it reaches any of the following situations:

  • Invoking (invocation of a function by fn(), fn`` or new fn())
  • Returning (returning from a function via either implicit or explicit return)
  • Yielding (yielding from a generator via yield)
  • Breaking (breaking from a loop or switch via break)
  • Continuing (continuing an iteration via continue)
  • Throwing (throwing an exception via throw)

Invocation

Invocation occurs, in its most simple form, by explicitly calling a function. We do this by attaching calling parentheses ((...)) to a value we...