JavaScript Resources
Okay, like Java, one of JavaScript's advantages is that over the years there are some pretty significant JavaScript resources to access. I think I've already mentioned JQuery, but there are others. I figured I'd quickly mention a few of the biggest and what they do:
jQuery
The following is from the jQuery website
jQuery is a fast, small, and feature-rich JavaScript library. It makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax much simpler with an easy-to-use API that works across a multitude of browsers.
jQuery seems to be everywhere and for good reason. It has a lot of really great JavaScript for use in developing web pages
Bootstrap
Bootstrap is kind of cool in that it is built ON jQuery. From the bootstrap website:
Bootstrap is an open source toolkit for developing with HTML, CSS, and JS. Quickly prototype your ideas or build your entire app with our Sass variables and mixins, responsive grid system, extensive prebuilt components, and powerful plugins built on jQuery.
Bootstrap is actually a much higher level framework that is used to develop web pages, where jQuery is lower level and primarly helps with details of HTML pages. One of the things I've noticed is that bootstrap has frameworks that let you design a single website that runs on both desktop and mobile platforms. The main page for this class uses bootstrap, and as an example, if you bring up web7 on the destkop, you see menus to the left, but if you bring it up on a phone, you have a button that activates the menus. Same web page for both devices, but bootstrap lets you create cases for each device type
More libraries
I am definitely not an expert on JavaScript, but I will include this interesting link to 39 popular JavaScript libraries and Frameworks for your additional reading