I am sure one can master HTML, maybe CSS as well (you think?) but can one master JavaScript or any other programming language, or is that practically impossible, in your opinion?

I have "JavaScript, The Definitive Guide" by David Flanagan, and this book says you can master JavaScript just by reading this book. Apparently, the inventor of JavaScript praised that book himself. But can one really master a programming language like JavaScript, or is this just a sales strategy/trick?

By "one" you mean one person? If so,  then yes, of course! One person can master as many languages as he is ready to take into him self and as many as he needs to master.

English is probably not your native language. I mean, can people, in general, master a programming language?

Define "master". There's plenty of developers really good at different programming languages. At what point would you consider someone to have mastered it?

2 hours ago, nshep said:

Define "master". There's plenty of developers really good at different programming languages. At what point would you consider someone to have mastered it?

When you know it fully well.

It's tough to call.  I've been writing PHP for years and I'm no master, yet even now I'll get asked for something a bit different in an area of PHP I have never needed before. A bit like the English language, every once in a while I'll read something or hear a word I've never encountered before so it's off to Ze'Googles to find out what it means.

45 minutes ago, BrowserBugs said:

It's tough to call.  I've been writing PHP for years and I'm no master, yet even now I'll get asked for something a bit different in an area of PHP I have never needed before. A bit like the English language, every once in a while I'll read something or hear a word I've never encountered before so it's off to Ze'Googles to find out what it means.

But does that mean you haven't mastered English, because you don't know all the words? I don't think so. Even in my native language (which is not English), I still encounter words that I don't know. Even so, I don't think anyone would say I haven't mastered it. Therefore, as I have stated above, I think it really depends on the definition of "mastery".

Plenty of developers have mastered the language they work in, in some job roles it's a requirement. It's highly unlikely you'll master anything from a single book or resource, it takes years to get to accumulate the right knowledge.

It also depends on which part of the stack you want to work on, or what field. Someone that's an expert at the JS core is unlikely to be proficient in a frontend framework without learning it first, even though they understand the inner workings of the language.

I once met a chap in the early 00's who was one of the team who originally created Unix back in the 70's, and he was still working with it albeit then for a corporate company. Even he said he wasn't a "master" and he was still learning after 30 years, although he probably knew more than most.

One can master any coding language relatively quick if he:

1) Executes

2) Has good mentors

I've heard several times of guys who were coding for a year or two and they've got really good Senior positions. They've been working 14 hour days and had very experienced guys helping them.

On the contrary, I guess, everybody heard of or even know guys who're coding for 5+ years and are barely suited for a Junior position.

Get in a bad company - it's gonna be very hard to learn anything. Get in a good company - you'll learn very fast and people in there will teach you lot's of things (that's also a reason why office jobs are more preferable for novices, than going staright to freelance)

Depends on your definition of master.  There will always be somebody who's stronger with a language than you are so with that in mind have you really mastered it?  There will always be stuff to learn.

Also don't underestimate how complex CSS can get.  I've met many self professed CSS experts and they had no real idea how to properly architect and organise a large CSS codebase.  Again there will always be stuff you don't know and people who know more than you or I so they're never truely mastered.

The point is though it doesn't matter.  Even principal engineers haven't mastered everything they just have a lot of experience.  I work with probably 2 of the strongest front-end devs in the country and they will tell you they haven't mastered things either - yet I feel they are a long way ahead of where I am.  It's all relative and it doesn't matter if you don't know everything, that should never be the aim.  Instead aim to get a level of knowledge that allows you to add value to a business.

Maybe you can, only if its a legacy programming language, with no support thus no new updates, as for latest programming language the trick is to stay updated, and I believe that people who usually call themselves masters usually know very less.