How many of you get it right?

Hey dotz!

I totally get where you're coming from. I've learned about loops, arrays, and the like before coming to Treehouse and I still struggle to master some of the basic concepts. Like you, I don't always get the challenges correct.

However, I've noticed that each time I revisit a key concept and then try it out on my own, the content becomes a bit more solidified. As time goes on and the more we practice these things, the greater the momentum we'll gain.

I'll share some ideas that are helping me learn:

1. Slow waaay down! I re-watch sections of these videos when I don't understand something. After a function is explained, I pause the video on the code and then explain it to myself. I don't move on until I understand what is happening in the code and could explain it to someone unfamiliar with JavaScript. Slowing down saves time later.

2. Get creative! For instance, after learning about functions and if/then conditionals, I went to an ecommerce website and wrote a simple function that returned the innerHTML from the stock message of a specific product. I then created an if/then statement to alert me if the stock on the page had changed. I noticed that the stock on an item was at 3. If I return to the page and run my code in the console, it will tell me if the stock has changed. It's not very useful (reading the stock message is obviously much faster than pulling up the console and running my code), but it did give me experience in working with an actual website and extracting data that changes over time. And, I'm that much more comfortable with working on the web. Getting creative forces me to reach beyond the classroom and into real life situations.

3. Make flash cards! I'm hand writing definitions, function names and what they do, and writing out complete conditional statements/loops/etc. My newest flash card states, "Create a while loop that counts from 1 to 10" with the answer written on the back. Trying to form the loop from memory is a bit tricky, but it forces me to really think through every component in the code. Sometimes the lessons in these videos seem simple enough, and I might think I've got it down...but give my mind a couple days off and things aren't as clear. Flash cards keep me focused on the basics, so advanced programming will hopefully come more naturally.*

4. Buy a book and follow along! I just recently bought Dave McFarland's 'JavaScript and jQuery: the missing manual' book. It covers most (if not all) of the topics in these JavaScript videos. However, it includes new challenges for creating functions, arrays, loops, and so forth. I'll typically watch Treehouse videos and then go back and read that section in his book. Watching videos and going through a book is repetitive and time consuming, but if you're anything like me (slow learner and require hands on training), it will really benefit you.

Hope that helps!

• Daniel H

*To further test myself, I'm even considering writing a quiz program with all my flashcard questions in it. That way I can practice programming and study for it at the same time! The program should include the following:

• All my questions and answers.
• If I get a question right, then I won't answer it again for a few days.
• If I get a question wrong, then I should answer it again the next day.
• I should not repeat any code. If I do repeat code, then I should go and learn how to not repeat it.