Syntax: Learning to read and write

In the next several chapters of this course, we're going to be going over the syntax of the JavaScript language. This is not going to be a complete coverage of every element of JavaScript syntax. Because the goal of the course is to allow you to get conversant in JavaScript. So, the idea is that you won't necessarily be fluent, you won't know every single in and out of the language, but you will be able to read code like this, which is loaded with comments, and some actual functionality, and you'll be able to make sense of it. You'll understand control structures, you'll understand the different kinds of data types that are available, you'll know about how to use variables. You'll understand comments in white space, and generally you'll have a pretty solid understanding of how the language is put together, enough that you can start working with it on your own.

That's the goal. Not perfect fluency, but to become conversant. Programming languages are a lot like human spoken languages. You need to learn the grammar in order to be able to use it, but that's not enough to become totally fluent. You need to put in a lot of time reading the language, writing the language, and using it in whatever way you need to do that. With human spoken languages, of course, you need to speak it and with JavaScript you need to not only be able to read it, but also to write it. And after going through this course you should be able to read and write code and begin to do what you need to do using JavaScript.

So let's get started.