Let me explain:
I really want to learn JavaScript, Why ? here are some of MY motivations, your's might differ.
JavaScript is being used heavily at my place of work Its fast
gratification and realization of coding efforts Its Challenging,
because it has a big "U X" Part, Some artistic aspect, and coding, all in one place
Lots of Supporting Libraries and Frameworks, like
jQuery, Ember, Backbone
point 4 could be a negative as there is so much i have to learn, before i actually "SHOW" Something of value
Having said that, here is the current situation:
There are lots of books and articles, and github repositories , but where do i start ?
Most of the books I have access to teach language constructs, and abilities. The MVC frameworks, promote themselves, github repos seem like part of a some project.
I Could ...
Read: JavaScript: The Good Parts : I will gain an in-depth knowledge of JavaScript, and what is the best WAY to write functions, or Closures, etc
but, i am unable to develop an application as its done in industry, JUST by reading the book.
* I Could ...*
Read some blogs, articles:
http://wtfjs.com/about
ok, i will learn about about very specific quirks about JavaScript, related to browsers
useful, but not if i am starting out.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript
So, i will learn a LOT about the language, like a dictionary, and how to use it, like a thesaurus, but not how to write a novel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/yuilibrary/ --> Still cannot develop a useful front end app
so, IMO, what would work....
Start by having an already build application which has some bells and whistles of Industrial UX design
Have 3 versions of it ( Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced )
Have some prerequisites defined like jQuery, HTML, MVC in JavaScript, etc
Let the user build the application with perhaps a backend continuous data feed.
Let the user experience the JavaScript application testing with QUnit/Intern.js and PhantomJS, etc
Since Front End development is such a discipline which involves lots of parts, perhaps it would be a good idea to have all of them in one place in an interactive JavaScript Application, and explore them one at a time
Here are some of the links i have gathered:
Best resources to learn JavaScript
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3ll/jstutor0.htm
http://jstherightway.org/
https://github.com/westonplatter/learning_javascript
As far as Application Examples, i looked but could not find find it, perhaps the closest one is the TODO application using MVC frameworks