JD Isaacks [JD Isaacks] - Get Programming with JavaScript Next: New features of ECMAScript 2015, 2016, and beyond

Ive been using ECMAScript-based languages for about 15 years. In fact, the first programming language I ever learned, ActionScript, was based on ECMAScript. I kind of fell into programming, but Im so glad that I did. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer. I was always drawing, and by middle school, I was making complex drawings pixel by pixel using Microsoft Paint. In high school, I took a class on interactive multimedia, and was introduced to Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash. Once I discovered the power of Photoshop, I never wanted to go back and draw pixel by pixel ever again. With Flash, I could take it even further: no longer confined to creating still images, I could create rich animations.

This was the time of eBaums World and Newgroundswebsites that showcased the communities Flash games. I would visit these sites and wonder how these games were created. I tried to teach myself ActionScript (Flashs internal language) purely by experimentation, but it wasnt until I bought my first programming book that I really learned. After that, I was hooked. Being able to add interaction was a whole new dimension over creating animations, just as creating animations was a whole new dimension over creating still images. But this was just the start of my journey.

Sometimes in my career, I learn something new thats so much more powerful than how Ive been doing things that I never want to go back. Most recently, after learning the power of all the new features packed into ES2015 and later, I never want to go back to how I did things beforeand I hope you agree.