There are a few developers who are particularly knowledgeable about JavaScript. In many cases, their work and their writings are real gems that can provide a deeper perspective on the language.
In this article, I have created a summary of the top JavaScript Developers I’ve come across in the last few years. In each case, I’ve provided a link to the site that I feel best represents their offerings to the JavaScript community. There are likely other links that are applicable for that developer, this is a brief summary.
Brendan Eich
Brendan Eich’s Blog
Although Brendan Eich current efforts are spent as chief technology officer at the Mozilla Corporation, he is the creator of the JavaScript language. If you are the least bit interested in JavaScript, he is in my opinion, someone you’d want to know about.
John Resig
ejohn.org
This is a no-brainer. While not the most actively maintained blog, it is rich with advanced JavaScript information. As the creator of the jQuery JavaScript library, he is someone that every JavaScript developer should pay attention to.
Nicholas C. Zakas
NCZOnline
Nicholas C. Zakas has authored of three of my favorite JavaScript books: Professional JavaScript for Web Developers, High Performance JavaScript (Build Faster Web Application Interfaces) and Maintainable JavaScript. He is an excellent writer and posesses a very advanced knowledge of the language.
Stoyan Stefanov
phpied.com
JavaScript Patterns is one of my favorite JS books. I’ve read it front to back at least four or five times and there is always something new to be learned from it. Currently a software engineer at Facebook, Stoyan is also author of Web Performance Daybook vol 2, JavaScript for PHP Developers, and Object-Oriented JavaScript, Stoyan Stefanov is one of the most prolific JavaScript developers I am aware of. He offers a very advanced perspective on JavaScript that while not always easy reading, is worth the effort. I’ve learned a great deal about JS from reading his books.
Addy Osmani
AddyOsmani.com
Currently working on the Chrome team at Google, Addy Osmani is the author of the book: Developing Backbone.js Applications
Building Better JavaScript Applications, as well as Learning JavaScript Design Patterns. He is a highly respected JavaScript developer whos insights and contributions to the community are invaluable.
Douglas Crockford
javascript.crockford.com
Douglas Crockford is the author of JavaScript: The Good Parts, and the creator of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). He is someone that clearly thinks and cares about JavaScript a great deal, and has a very deep perspective.
David Walsh
davidwalsh.name
A Web Developer at Mozilla, David is one busy guy. He is a contributor for SitePen, writes great technical articles about Dojo and lectures at some excellent technology conferences.
Kyle Simpson
getify.me
Kyle is the author of You Don’t Know JS JavaScript book series. While his website is pretty bare-bones, it offers a ton of links to his projects and teachings. Kyle has an incredibly deep knowledge of JavaScript and is an excellent speaker / instructor.
Dustin Diaz
github.com/ded
Co-author of JavaScript Design Patterns (an excellent book), Dustin Diaz is a big contributor to the JavaScript community.
Ben Alman
benalman.com
Ben is the creator of some well known jQuery plugins such as: jquery-bbq, jquery-throttle-debounce, and jquery-resize. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve come across some of his JS code pasted into a script, I’d be rich.
Remy Sharp.
remysharp.com
Remy based in the UK, and is one of the curators of HTML5Doctor.com. I have often enjoyed his writings and find him to me one of the more passionate and talented JavaScript developers out there.
Azat Mardanov
azat.co
This is a suggestion from friend and UX Specialist Ken Whaler of Gyroscope Studios in Portland, OR. I’m not familliar with Azat, but after a quick glance, I felt this site is definitely a treasure-trove of solid JavaScript information.
