My tidbits of learning JavaScript : CHALK & readlineSync

So, you finally landed on my first blog post. Welcome!🎉

This tutorial is intended for beginners.
If you've got some experience, read this like you're doing code reviews and put your thoughts in the comments below.
Lets start, beast mode.

JavaScript

JS is amazing, it's syntax is like C++ or Java. It can be used to write apps for web, desktop and android as well. Did I mention it's amazing?

I will be using repl.it with node.js runtime.
Tip: Use Ctrl + Enter to run the program in repl.it.

Printing to the console

To print to the console:

console.log("Hello world!");

Output:

Print a variable:

var x = 2020;
console.log("The year is: " + x);

Output:

But it's very black and white. Lets style it with colors using a package called chalk.

Whats CHALK?

It is:

Terminal string styling done right

We can use it to color console outputs. But first we need to install it. Here, repl.it does a great job. It installs the required packages automatically for you.

Start with including the chalk package:

const chalk = require('chalk');

Now, to print in green:

console.log(chalk.green("Its green!"));

Output:

To underline text:

console.log(chalk.underline.blue("Its underlined and its blue!"));

Output:

And much more. Take a look at chalk's npm docs.

Accepting user input

We know how to print to the console. What if we need some user input? readlineSync is a library made just for that.

Lets include the package:

var readlineSync = require('readline-sync');

Now we can take user inputs like:

var userName = readlineSync.question("Enter your name: ");

Output:

We got the input in the variable userName. Lets print it in color!

console.log("Welcome " + chalk.yellowBright(userName) + "!");

Output:

Arrays

An array is a collection of variables which can be accessed by using the index.
Simple list of song genres:

var songGenres = ["Blues", "RnB", "Pop", "Rock"];

Lets print the first and third genres:

//first genre
console.log(songGenres[0]);

//third genre
console.log(songGenres[2]);

Output:

The index numbering starts with 0. So, here we have 0, 1, 2, 3 as index numbers.

Now, lets put everything together and build a program to choose a song.

Include required packages:

var readlineSync = require('readline-sync');
const chalk = require('chalk');

Define an array to store songs as a list:

var songs = ["Skyfall", "Beautiful times", "Bailando", "Grenade"];

These are my favorites by the way.

Get the user's name as input:

var userName = readlineSync.question("Whats your name? ");

Now, we will be using a readlineSync's method called keyInSelect to select a song from the list.

var favSong = readlineSync.keyInSelect(songs, "Choose a song:");

console.log(chalk.red("You chose " + songs[favSong] + "!"));
console.log(chalk.green("The tutorial is over. Enjoy the song!"));

Output:

Thats all for now

The best way to learn and retain information is to teach it to someone or document it. I have tried to keep this post just like that: simple, fun and exciting.

So, get on your keys...get set...and code!

I will be posting more about JavaScript. We haven't even scratched the surface yet. There's a lot to learn!

Please comment below your suggestions or doubts. I will try my best to answer the queries.

P.S.:I can make emojis italic.👍🤘