Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@ericelliott

ericelliott/two-pillars.md Secret

Last active August 29, 2015 14:23
Show Gist options
  • Star 0 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 0 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save ericelliott/a9e3f35e9fae7824cbce to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save ericelliott/a9e3f35e9fae7824cbce to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
The Two Pillars of JavaScript
Raw
two-pillars.md

The Two Pillars of JavaScript

Software is eating the world, the web is eating software, and JavaScript rules the web. Learn why JavaScript's distinctive features make it well suited to its position as the most popular programming language in the world.

JavaScript popularized two paradigms in mainstream programming that I collectively call "The Two Pillars of JavaScript": Prototypal OO and Functional programming.

Prototpal OO

JavaScript's prototypal OO comes in three varieties:

  • Differential inheritance (delegate prototypes)
  • Concatenative inheritance (exemplar prototypes)
  • Functional inheritance (function prototypes)

Functional Programming

ES5 brought functional Array extras to JavaScript. You've probably had a chance to use features like .map(), .filter(), and .reduce(), but there's a bit more you should know about functional programming. Learn about the significance of immutability, function composition, functors, currying and more as we explore functional programming in JavaScript and its relationship to reactive programming with libraries like RxJS and React.

The two pillars are essential concepts to learn because they're widely used in industry leading apps from companies like Facebook, NetFlix, Instagram, PayPal, and Microsoft. Why not put them to work for you, too?

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment