In September last year, the Redmond giant had also introduced a free 44-part Python course for beginners called Python for Beginners on YouTube. The 51-part video course on JavaScript is aimed to help burgeoning developer curious about writing JavaScript for Node.js. It teaches building JavaScript-based applications using software development kits (SDKs) and frameworks such as Google’s Angular. “Our goal is to help show you enough JavaScript to give you the background needed to begin working through quick starts and tutorials focused on frameworks and SDKs using JavaScript,” Microsoft says on its GitHub page for the JavaScript course.
The course will teach programmers how to set up a developer environment with Microsoft Visual Studio Code, and install Node.js as a JavaScript runtime, eventually guiding them through the process of creating their own “Hello World” app. Microsoft is using the course to demonstrate to beginners what’s available in Azure artificial-intelligence services, such as Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Bot Framework, which have JavaScript implementations that allow developers to use artificial intelligence (AI) into their apps. For example, creating bots using the Bot Framework SDK for JavaScript. “At the beginning of the course, we’ll also introduce (some of) the many places you can run JavaScript, including the browser and on the server with Node.js,” said Microsoft. “While the focus of the course will be primarily on using Node.js as the environment for execution, most of the videos will present concepts and syntax which work in the browser as well.” Lastly, Microsoft will also explore the JavaScript ecosystem and the extensive collection of packages and libraries available on NPM. Although no experience in using JavaScript is required, a basic understanding of programming or some experience with a programming language is beneficial, Microsoft said.
