The rapid pace of change present in the javascript ecosystem (and related developments like Typescript, coffeescript, etc) definitely make it hard to grasp. What might have been relevant years ago may no longer be relevant.

If its hard for people who already have a background in programming and some basic computer knowledge to learn and pick up, I can't imagine how hard it would be for someone with no experience.

The moment you go beyond making a simple website like you might learn in a beginner javascript class (using just basic javascript embedded in an HTML document) you become pretty lost