7 The best books for web development beginners 2018
Do you like learning to program from books, or just love books in general? Here’s my short list of books that I think would be most helpful to beginners to web development. They’re also useful to read even if you are taking online courses.
1.HTML & CSS, and JavaScript & JQuery (2 book set) by Jon Duckett
Jon Duckett’s books are incredibly popular, and for good reason– they explain the topics at hand well and are designed tremendously well. They’re definitely not your usual stuffy programming textbooks! Both these books use graphics to illustrate concepts, and let’s be honest– they’ll look really cool on your bookshelf 🙂
Check out Jon Duckett’s books on Amazon.
2.You Don’t Know JS by Kyle Simpson
There are a lot of JavaScript books out there, and a lot of them are really big. You Don’t Know JS isn’t a huge textbook– it’s a series of six small books, all dedicated to a specific topic in JavaScript. There’s no fluff, just the essential core information.
Check out You Don’t Know JS on GitHub.
Or get the paper books on Amazon.
3.Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
Heard of terms like UX (user experience) or user design, but have no clue what they mean? This book is a great introduction into the world of making websites that people love using. It explains the basics of how visitors to your website behave and what about websites can frustrate them.
Bottom line: don’t design websites that your visitors will hate.
Check out Don’t Make Me Think on Amazon.
4.Front-End Developer Handbook by Cory Lindley
This free, online book has a new version released every year, and serves as a “state of front-end development.” It’s quite a comprehensive guide that covers both an overview of front-end web development, learning resources, and tools.
If you want a quick way to get up to date on what’s current in this quickly-moving industry, you’ll find this book indispensable.
Check out the Front-End Developer Handbook on GitBook.
5.The Clean Coder by Robert Martin
This book has a lot of advice on both coding and succeeding in your career. It’s written from the perspective of software development, but even as a web developer I got a lot of value out of Robert Martin’s insights.
Martin has a ton of valuable suggestions– from how to conduct yourself as a professional, to learning how to say “No,” to simply having a good work ethic. Whether you’re working currently as a web developer or not, you will learn some great insights on how to excel at your job.
Check out The Clean Coder on Amazon.
6.Deep Work by Cal Newport
This book has truly changed the way that I approach work. While most people lead extremely busy lives and constantly try to do and achieve more, Newport has taken the complete opposite approach of “less is more.”
As the topic of the book implies, he talks a lot about how he personally has developed a practice of ultra-focused deep work over the years (and his accomplishments are quite impressive). Newport also advocates for cutting out elements from your life that don’t lead you toward your most important goals.
This book is applicable to web developers and anyone whose work would benefit from long stretches of complete mental focus. I highly, highly recommend it to anyone to read, in any field.
Check out Deep Work on Amazon.
7.The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit is another book that can be applied to working more efficiently and honestly improving your life habits. Duhigg writes eloquently about how habits (both good and bad) are formed and broken, often without our realization.
He uses real world, scientific examples to illustrate these concepts in a very persuasive approach. If you’re interested in stopping bad habits, picking up good ones, and increasing your willpower (which he argues can be developed like any other skill!) then you’ll likely benefit from this book.
Check out The Power of Habit on Amazon.
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