Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript React Basics (retired) Thinking in Components PropTypes and DefaultProps

Posted by S Campos
S Campos
413 Points

I am so lost.

I am half way into the 'React Basics Course' and I am having a complete disconnect -- I have no idea what is going on.

I've Basically gone from learning Vanilla Javascript-- to this, but feel like there's a HUGE gap in understanding in what this man is doing or why.

I completely understand Vanilla Javascript, loops, objects scripting everything, I know html & css grid, and flexbox -- I understand Dom manipulation and Jquery and bootstrap, scss, sass...

But when it comes to this

I can just follow along in the videos. but I don't really understand what he's doing -- It's just not clicking.

Does this happen to anyone else? I've tried multiple tutorials in different places. I've tried Angular as well but I get just as lost.

It feels as though he's just saying (and the other tutorial guides as well are simply saying)
"okay and we're import this from the terminal get our default folders and files...."

"Next we're gonna add some code here" "and then change this "

"and we're gonna add this...." "now let's Import this, modify that...."

"and then.... TADA!" " Look at that, it works!" [tutorial ends]

If I close treehouse and tried to reproduce this I honestly wouldn't be able to...

So What am I missing ---?

Is there something else that I'm missing, something else I should have learned before starting React or Angular?

Or do I just need to do this a 1000 times?

If so, that's odd and doesn't really make since because I picked up pretty much everything else in one go -- I thought angular and React were supposed to simplify things and make it easier than coding something from scratch

So what do you recommend oh wise treehouse sages?

3 Answers

S Campos
S Campos
413 Points

@Samuel Fortunato @Jairo Campos Hey guys, thanks so much for taking the time to try and help me.

After feeling completely lost and not being able to follow along -- here's what worked for me and what I ended up doing to catch up and fill in the gaps.

After posting this comment, I went ahead and started this course: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/introduction-to-react-native

That helped me out by understanding how to get started with react a little more I was making progress, but since the course did not include the correct files, it became kind of hard to follow and I became frustrated.

Then, I looked around for tutorials but none of them really broke it down enough -- it still felt like there was something that I was missing -- I even went to the react documentation pages and read through and tried to implement it but it still felt like there was something I didn't understand.

But I eventually found this: and watched this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AbaV3nrw6E&list=PL6gx4Cwl9DGBuKtLgPR_zWYnrwv-JllpA&index=1

It was a little old but helped me understand the bare basics of react.

I wasn't able to follow along on my machine since he didn't show how to run the files on a server, but I just watched the whole thing and then re-watched it.

It helped SO much.

I also read this https://medium.com/@kellyharrop/react-for-dummies-c56a94063bfe

I'm no longer lost and understand what I previously didn't understand. That is where I am now, so next I plan on using this to optimize my understanding of jsx with this

https://www.codecademy.com/courses/react-101/lessons/react-jsx-intro/exercises/why-react?action=resume_content_item

and then probably come back to teamtreehouse and skip around to figure out where I am in the learning process.

My goal is to learn and master react-native and similar technologies.

Thanks again for answering and trying to help me out guys

@Samuel Fortunato @Jairo Campos

Jairo Campos
Jairo Campos
2,512 Points
Jairo Campos
Jairo Campos
2,512 Points

I'm not really sure where did you log out but I really recommend you to read the documentation of the framework. Read once, repeat another, try another and then read again. I highly recommend you not to rush in the learning process, let the information sit on your brain.

Good luck!

Samuel Fortunato
Samuel Fortunato
20,229 Points
Samuel Fortunato
Samuel Fortunato
20,229 Points

In terms of learning and remembering, I do a few things.

  1. Copy EVERYTHING that they do in the video.
  2. Try to guess what they are about to do, and type it into your workspace. Or, if they introduce a problem, before they tell you the answer, try to guess it and type it in. Even if you get it wrong, you're still using your brain and trying to remember and/or figure it out on your own. This is good practice.
  3. Take breaks. This is a requirement, generally. I'll take a break after I get tired/start to feel like I'm overloaded with info. I'll go watch TV, eat food, pace around my room... you have to get away from the problem.
  4. On break time, or free time (like driving), I sit, stand, or pace in silence, trying to go over everything I've learned. I will often just try to remember all of the little details, and the big picture... As in, "OK, that entire thing I just learned was about functions", or "Ah, yeah, writing code in that way... I didn't know you could do that". I'll do stuff like that, and then just actively try to remember the lesson and concepts. I'll go back to studying when I feel like I've processed a lot of what I just did, understood things, related it back to everything I've learned before, and/or I feel less stressed and more calm, and ready to "receive" more knowledge, haha.

A big part of this is recall practice. As in, you are practicing recall -- practicing remembering something. Research shows that this can be a really effective way to learn. So things like quizzes, tests, workspaces, trying to recall everything on your own without looking anything up (by writing what you remember down or just thinking it), and making your own projects, big and small... all of these can help, seeing as they all involve some sort of recall. You have to remember the things you learned, or else you won't pass quizzes, exercises, etc...