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Javascript: The Good Parts – A Collection of Lectures By Douglas Crockford on the Javascript Language

A few years ago, I am not sure just when or how, I stumbled upon these videos on Yahoo where programming legend Douglas Crockford gave very interesting and insightful lectures on the JavaScript language. It has been a bit tedious to find part X of a lecture and I would think about creating a page on the web that embeds all these videos in a way that makes watching them easier to do. To curate this content as Robert Scoble might say. Well after all this time I am doing just that in this post.  I think that if you are a programmer and you use JavaScript in any fashion that this information is really useful. Both to learn new things, as well as for review.

Doug’s lectures have been a great help to me to get an intuitive knowledge of JavaScript. Even if no one else goes to this post I will so that I can review his lectures when I please all in one spot. I hope you enjoy them in this “curation” (I know that I will)!

FYI: If you are reading this post in a Feedburner email, you probably will not see the videos and have to click the link that takes you to the actual post on Chomer.com

Table of Contents

  • Javascript: The Good Parts (0n YUI Theatre) – Watch video Length: 39:09″Yahoo JavaScript architect Douglas Crockford delivered the keynote talk at the 2007 Konfabulator Developer Day and discussed the evolution of JavaScript and of his relationship to the language. Through his description of his own journey with the language, Douglas evokes what he considers to be the “good stuff” therein.” – Yahoo Video Site
  • Javascript: The Good Parts (On YouTube) – Watch video Length: 1:03:47Includes a Q&A session at the end of Doug’s talk.

    “JavaScript is a language with more than its share of bad parts. It went from non-existence to global adoption in an alarmingly short period of time. It never had an interval in the lab when it could be tried out and polished. JavaScript has some extraordinarily good parts. In JavaScript there is a beautiful, highly expressive language that is buried under a steaming pile of good intentions and blunders. The best nature of JavaScript was so effectively hidden that for many years the prevailing opinion of JavaScript was that it was an unsightly, incompetent abomination. This session will expose the goodness in JavaScript, an outstanding dynamic programming language. Within the language is an elegant subset that is vastly superior to the language as a whole, being more reliable, readable and maintainable.” – Google Tech Talks

  • The JavaScript Programming Language – Part 1 (30:54), Part 2 (31:06), Part 3 (29:00), Part 4 (19:47)”Yahoo! JavaScript Architect Douglas Crockford provides a comprehensive introduction to the JavaScript Programming Language in this four-part video. ” – Yahoo Video Site      Lecture Slides
  • Advanced JavaScript – Part 1 (30:55), Part 2 (25:29), Part 3 (10:55)”Douglas Crockford teaches ‘Advanced JavaScript.'” – Yahoo Video Site     Lecture Slides
  • Theory of the DOM – Part 1 (31:11), Part 2 (21:25), Part 3 (26:24)”Douglas Crockford teaches ‘An Inconvenient API: The Theory of the Dom.'” – Yahoo Video Site.

    Although technically the DOM (Document Object Model) used in web browsers is not a literal part of JavaScript, most developers will use the DOM with JavaScript as a part of their day-to-day work. So, knowing how to use the DOM properly is a key to being a successful web developer.       Lecture Slides

  • The JSON Saga (0n YUI Theatre) – Watch video       Length: 49:25″Yahoo! JavaScript archtect Douglas Crockford tells the story of how JSON was discovered and became a major standard for describing data.” – Yahoo Video Site.
  • AJAX Performance (0n YUI Theatre) – Watch video       Length: 37:57″Douglas explains why reducing the value of ‘n’ via Ajax is the secret to building fast web applications.” – Yahoo Video Site.
  • The State of AJAX (0n YUI Theatre) – Watch video       Length: 38:32″With Ajax, a name was given to immediately interactive distributed applications, and the focus of innovation has moved from the browser makers to the web developers. We are seeing now an explosion of application patterns and styles. In some cases, the demands of Ajax developers have gotten significantly ahead of the browsers. How will we manage large applications? How will we manage offline usage? How will we manage security when the browser’s security model is hopelessly out of date?” – Yahoo Video Site.

Javascript: The Good Parts (YUI Theatre)            Length: 39:09

Javascript: The Good Parts (Google Tech Talks)       Length: 1:03:47


Original Page on YouTube   Back to TOC

The JavaScript Programming Language – Part 1       Length: 30:54

The JavaScript Programming Language – Part 2       Length: 31:06

The JavaScript Programming Language – Part 3       Length: 29:00

The JavaScript Programming Language – Part 4       Length: 19:47

Advanced JavaScript – Part 1       Length: 30:55

Advanced JavaScript – Part 2       Length: 25:29

Advanced JavaScript – Part 3       Length: 10:55

Theory of the DOM – Part 1       Length: 31:11

Theory of the DOM – Part 2       Length: 21:25

Theory of the DOM – Part 3       Length: 26:24

The JSON Saga       Length: 49:25

AJAX Performance       Length: 37:57

The State of AJAX       Length: 38:32

You can get Douglas’ Book JavaScript: The Good Parts. This is an excellent book that I own myself. It covers many of the subjects covered in these videos. I use it to zero in on a specific subject and study it intensely!

You can find more videos, etc. by Douglas Crockford and other Yahoo! coding luminaries at http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/theater/

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