Photo by Andrew Knechel on Unsplash

13 Steps to become a JavaScript Pro. Step 5: Events and Event Listeners

Mastering JavaScript: Exploring Events and Event Listeners — Step 5of 13

JavaScript is a popular programming language used to create dynamic and interactive websites. To become proficient in JavaScript, there are several topics to delve into, which this series aims to cover in a non-exhaustive way as a starting point for learning and improving.

Step 1, The Fundamentals is here
Step 2, Understanding the DOM is here
Step 3, Arrays and Objects is here
Step 4, Functions and Scope is here

Events and event listeners are an essential part of web development. In this step, you’ll learn how to add event listeners to your web page and handle events with JavaScript.

To get started with events and event listeners, you need to understand the basic concept of events. An event is an action or occurrence that happens in the browser, such as a user clicking a button or loading a page. Event listeners are functions that you can attach to an element, such as a button or a link, that will be triggered when a specific event occurs.

The most common events that you will encounter are mouse events, keyboard events, and form events. Mouse events include click, hover, and scroll, while keyboard events include keydown, keyup, and keypress. Form events include submit, change, and input.

To handle events with JavaScript, you need to create an event listener and attach it to the element that you want to listen for events on. Here’s an example of how to add a click event listener to a button element:

const button = document.querySelector('button');
button.addEventListener('click', () => {
  console.log('Button clicked!');
});

In this example, we first select the button element using the querySelector method. We then add an event listener to the button using the addEventListener method. The first argument to addEventListener is the name of the event that we want to listen for (in this case, 'click'), and the second argument is the function that we want to execute when the event occurs.

Some important topics to consider when learning events and event listeners in JavaScript include:

• Understanding the different types of events and how they work
• Best practices for adding event listeners and handling events
• Event delegation and how it can improve performance
• Cross-browser compatibility issues with events and how to handle them
• Common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid when working with events

Here are five useful resources to help you learn more about events and event listeners in JavaScript:

1. Mozilla Developer Network: Events — https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events
2. W3Schools: JavaScript Events — https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_events.asp
3. JavaScript.info: Events — https://javascript.info/events
4. Smashing Magazine: A Comprehensive Guide To JavaScript Events — https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/11/an-introduction-to-dom-events/
5. Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition by Marijn Haverbeke — https://eloquentjavascript.net/15_event.html

Here are five recommended books to help you master events and event listeners in JavaScript:

1. JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development by Jon Duckett — https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
2. DOM Enlightenment by Cody Lindley — https://www.amazon.com/DOM-Enlightenment-Exploring-Document-Object/dp/1449342841
3. You Don’t Know JS: Up & Going by Kyle Simpson — https://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Know-JS-Going/dp/1491924462
4. Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, 4th Edition by Matt Frisbie — https://www.amazon.com/Professional-JavaScript-Developers-Matt-Frisbie/dp/1119366445
5. Learning JavaScript: A Hands-On Guide to the Fundamentals of Modern JavaScript by Ethan Brown — https://www.amazon.com/Learning-JavaScript-Hands-Fundamentals-Modern/dp/1491914912

Note: If you make a purchase by clicking on the links I have provided, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Go to Step 6: Loops and Iteration