What is the best place to get training on JavaScript and HTML (preferably for free)?

[AdrianWelsh]

I have seen various websites that have free instructional courses to help teach you how to code. In particular, these have caught my eye:

https://www.codecademy.com/ -- (free)

http://www.freecodecamp.com/ -- (free)

https://www.codeschool.com/ -- (not free)

https://teamtreehouse.com/ -- (not free)

https://www.codeavengers.com/ -- (not free)

Does anyone have experience with this? And is there one that would be best to integrate into GIS, particularly ArcGIS API for JavaScript? Or maybe there is something I am completely missing in my minimal search on how to teach myself coding…

[AdrianWelsh]

Thanks for sharing the Eric Pimpler videos. I can see where those will come in handy!

[LarryStout1]

JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford is a must read.  And it's free. 

Short and to the point.  Just don't get bogged down by the chapter on regular expressions.

http://bdcampbell.net/javascript/book/javascript_the_good_parts.pdf

[AdrianWelsh]

Thanks! I'll have to check it out.

[NobbirAhmed]

General HTML and JavaScript: W3Schools Online Web Tutorials

and specific ArcGIS online: Concepts Overview | Guide | ArcGIS API for JavaScript

You don't need to learn a whole lot of JavaScript to get going with Esri's online stuff. There are tons of samples and example codes on ArcGIS API link. Use the sandbox in both links.

[AdrianWelsh]

That's true about the tons of samples. I have seen lots. I feel like I really want to understand it all and want to be able to know how to create something from scratch (though I will likely always start with some existing stuff and modify it).

[NobbirAhmed]

You are right about Esri's samples - one can easily get lost Other aspect is Esri's samples use Dojo toolkit whereas most other (non-esri) samples use jQuery.