Fourteen days of drills on JavaScript and the Node runtime it actually runs on.
This is a drill manual, not a tutorial and not a reference. The programming problems build one real program across the book: pulse, a command-line task and notification scheduler. It starts as a script that runs a single job on a timer and ends as a multi-file tool that persists jobs to disk, schedules recurring work, and dispatches webhook alerts when a job fires. Every listing in the book — 414 of them — was executed on Node v24.13.1, and every printed output block, thrown errors included, is a paste from that run. A reader who works the programming problems finishes with pulse running end to end; a reader who skips them still finishes with the language.
The fourteen chapters move through three arcs. The first is the language itself: values and coercion, control flow and functions, arrays and iteration, objects, JSON and destructuring, scope and closures, higher-order functions, prototypes, classes, this-binding, and the errors and modules that hold a program together. The second is the runtime that makes JavaScript worth running on a server: the event loop and callbacks, promises and async/await, the core modules, files and streams, EventEmitter, and networking. The third is shipping: the command line, npm and publishing a package, and testing, debugging and the current edition of the language.
Written to ECMAScript 2026, the seventeenth edition of ECMA-262, approved 2026-06-30. ES2026 adds exactly seven things: Map.prototype.getOrInsert and getOrInsertComputed, Math.sumPrecise, Error.isError, Array.fromAsync, Uint8Array Base64 and Hex conversions, JSON.rawJSON and isRawJSON, and Iterator.concat. Only three of the seven run on Node v24.13.1. This book shows the other four throwing a real error on this Node, on the page, and then the manual equivalent a reader can use today.
Every chapter has the same shape, in the same order. A short opener states what the chapter covers. Numbered sections state the rules. Each rule carries its own worked examples: complete programs, run, with the real output pasted underneath and a figure. Five problem sets close the chapter in a fixed ladder: review questions, worked problems with full solutions, worked programming problems, and unassisted practice problems.
Your 14-Chapter Path
- 1. JAVASCRIPT AND THE NODE RUNTIME
- 2. VALUES, TYPES AND COERCION
- 3. CONTROL FLOW AND FUNCTIONS
- 4. ARRAYS AND ITERATION
- 5. OBJECTS, JSON AND DESTRUCTURING
- 6. SCOPE, CLOSURES AND HIGHER-ORDER FUNCTIONS
- 7. PROTOTYPES, CLASSES AND THIS
- 8. ERRORS AND MODULES
- 9. THE EVENT LOOP AND CALLBACKS
- 10. PROMISES AND ASYNC AWAIT
- 11. CORE MODULES, FILES AND STREAMS
- 12. EVENTEMITTER AND NETWORKING
- 13. THE COMMAND LINE, NPM AND PUBLISHING
- 14. TESTING, DEBUGGING AND ES2026
Who It's For
A reader who can already program in some language and wants fluency in modern JavaScript on Node under test conditions. Front-end developers moving to the server. Students on a web or systems course who need a vehicle beyond the browser. Readers preparing for a technical interview or an exam. Working programmers who measure a book by how many problems they can work afterward. No prior Node is assumed.
312 worked examples. 312 figures. 630 numbered problems. 414 runnable listings. 378 pages. Written to ECMAScript 2026, the seventeenth edition, with every listing run on Node v24.13.1.
Install Node v24.13.1, open a terminal, and start Chapter 1.
