I feel very much overwhelmed now. I can understand but so difficult to follow this section of promises.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. Dave's AJAX Basics course was well done and much easier to follow — this course, Async Programming with JavaScript, has been really challenging to follow.

Yeah, I am there too. I don't think the idea of promises is that hard.

I think the example adds some "magic" and complexity that make it harder to soak in. For example, I don't recall us being introduced to map yet and arrow functions are still kinda fresh. Project is cool though.

I've also felt extremely frustrated and disheartened trying to follow this particular part of the course. I must have rewatched all the videos at least three times and I'm still struggling. I really recommend, though, checking out the three videos suggested above. I, at least, have found them very helpful: Fun Fun Function Promises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d7s3spWAzo

The Coding Train: JavaScript Promises: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRqwX-V7Uu6bKLPQvPRNNE65kBL62mVfx

Web Dev Simplified Promises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHvZLI7Db8E&t=14s

I think it's a good idea to use a variety of resources when you're trying to wrap your head around new concepts. I've really enjoyed Guil's videos up till now and found that he explains things well. But I feel, like many others who have pointed it out, that this section is much trickier than others that have come before it in the Front End course. It introduces a lot of new concepts that we haven't seen before, some of which he does not explain, and it is hard not feel out of your depth....

Its normal to feel overwhelmed and disheartened when learning new programming concepts. I'm feeling the same thing too. Keep in mind though that the reason its so confusing is because its so new. Once we get some practice in, things will start to click, just like any new thing we learn in life. Dont be discouraged.

I must agree. The rest of the courses have been understandable using the videos and teacher's links. If the concepts of Async JS and Promises are difficult, why mess around with extra features like map, setTimeOut and Error? I understand they are trying to 'bring it all together' but it distracted from the core concepts and resulted in me relying entirely upon outside sources to learn the material

You aren't alone — I am feeling overwhelmed by all of this, too. I felt great after AJAX basics, but I don't feel like I know how anything in this section works at all. It's probably an easy enough concept to master, but something is missing that's tripping me up.

I feel you. I'm starting to get a handle on it, but this is after spending 18 hours on this topic alone of Asynchronous JavaScript & Promises (not including AJAX) and fiddling around with it. The most confusing part is the combination of everything -- callback functions left and right, the pointer syntax, the .map() method, asynchronous component, trying to distinguish function parameter vs argument in conjunction with all the above and the 'Promise .then chain', etc.

I'm seeing a lot of comments from people in the front-end course; I'm getting to this lesson in unit 5 of the full-stack javascript course. Personally I find javascript a struggle, not in a bad way though. I get this tightness in my head, which I've begun to realize is a good thing, like my brain's trying to rewire itself. This has been happening a lot with javascript, and happened when I was learning Rails. It never really happened with the other things in front-end. I was talking with a friend who teaches coding about how it seemed a period of suffering was inevitable in coding, and he said 'yeah, a good teacher can mitigate that a little, but it's inevitable. Welcome to the club.' Getting to the 'other side' with JavaScript is hard! Where you internalize things and look back and think, why did I find that difficult? Going through this lesson now I'm thinking 'huh, that's a little confusing,' but I remember a point when I was totally lost. If it was easy everyone could do it and we wouldn't be making the big bucks when we're finished!