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JavaScript JavaScript Foundations Objects Prototypes: Part 2

Julian Pinz贸n Eslava
Julian Pinz贸n Eslava
11,401 Points

Is anyone else lost at this point of the course?

Not properly a question... a suggestion:

I finished this course within the Front-End Developer Track. I've never had background in programming so it was tough for me.

I strongly recommend anyone feeling overwhelmed by this specific course to take the JavaScript basics course with Dave McFarland. Its a more didactic and exercise oriented course.

I believe the JavaScript Foundations course can improve A LOT in terms of finding ways to explain the content. Following Jim's explanations can get really tough without help of animations and other resources. A way to improve this course could be by implementing the specific coding challenges that JS Basics has.

Hope this helps!

5 Answers

Abraham Juliot
Abraham Juliot
47,353 Points

I'm not completely lost, but the last few videos seemed to lack simplicity. I firmly believe that even the most complex concepts in science can be simplified. This short article brought some clarity for me on the subject of prototypes. I hope it helps: http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/proto.shtml ( The prototype object of JavaScript)

Kostas Oreopoulos
Kostas Oreopoulos
15,184 Points

Its not about simplicity. Its just that you cannot teach someone the prototype hierarchy and functionality in 10 minutes. That is not possible. But if you know what is going on, this is a very nice refresher.

Creating and working with objects needs its own tutorial, but with EcmaScript 6 around the corner with modules and classes i think its wiser to wait and cover it all in one go.

Jonathan Grieve
MOD
Jonathan Grieve
Treehouse Moderator 91,253 Points

Actually I followed the prototypes paert of this course a lot more than I did most of the other stages of this course. Listen hard and apply yourself correctly, you will pick up the concepts Jim is trying to teach, but it is very information intensive.

I agree I much prefer the JS Basics course though. :-)

And here is a link for that course :P Javascript Basics

Kostas Oreopoulos
Kostas Oreopoulos
15,184 Points

Yes, this is actually hard to follow if you do not know what you expect to learn (for example if you dont have a clue about objects and how they work and about prototyping.). The best way to learn about OOP in javascript is through examples. Building useable code. This is a nice video for reference (for example if you want to refresh your knowledge)

Learning prototypal oop cannot be achieved through a 10-20 minutes video.

Michael Goldspinner
Michael Goldspinner
2,743 Points

I was also extremely lost, however I find this due to the use of confusing terms, rather than being straight forward, especially in the challenges. I learned the basics of JS from codeacademy and it was a lot more straight forward and clear in terms.

Learning function properties .call and .apply was very difficult to comprehend with the way it was explained, and when it got to the prototype, it wasn't any more clear.

Erik Leisch
Erik Leisch
15,559 Points

Yeah, this is not the best instructor on here. I went from Randy in the PHP course to this guy, and it is night and day.