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JavaScript

Ryan Duncan
Ryan Duncan
7,146 Points
Posted by Ryan Duncan
Ryan Duncan
7,146 Points

Is it just me or is Andrew hard to comprehend? Having trouble understanding JavaScript...

I am already struggling quite a bit and am getting very frustrated with JavaScript... but then adding Andrew to it pushes me back further. I mean no disrespect but he is incredibly hard to comprehend. It seems as if he takes a 1-2 second pause between every syllable and every word. There is a lot of "I'm assuming" or "I'm guessing." in his videos. Even the path he takes to do one thing seems like it could be explain much more quickly or simply most times.

With that said, I am having trouble understanding much of JavaScript. I can't even really explain what exactly I am having trouble with. It seems as if I can understand some of the concepts until I come to a new challenge or any other practice I just tend to draw a blank and have absolutely no clue where to start or how to accomplish any of the goals. I have gone through codecademy and a bit of freecodecamp but for my computers freecodecamp works incredibly slow. I'm not sure why. I am currently doing w3schools which so far seems simple enough. Any other outside resources I could be using? Tutors? Any help would be great!

James Ackerman
James Ackerman
14,099 Points

I have trouble with JavaScript as well. I asked a more experienced coder about it, and he agreed with me that it's analogous to music. If you've ever tried to play an instrument, there's a LOT of time just trying to make something simple work. Lots of terrible sounds that come out before a new musician begins to get the notes or beat down to make it sound good.

I do think you're on the right track by pursuing multiple learning formats. I'm using Treehouse, Code School, a couple of YouTube channels and a free online book called 'Eloquent JavaScript' and I'm still struggling with it. Here's a link to that ebook...

http://eloquentjavascript.net/index.html

You're not alone in your frustration with JavaScript. The syntax feels odd, but this is my first attempt at learning code.

Once I'm finished with the Front End Web Dev track, I'm going to try and tackle the Full Stack JavaScript track to see if that helps it sink in.

Don't give up-you're not the only one struggling with it. :)

EDIT: typo

3 Answers

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points
Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

Do you practice writing JavaScript?

Because even if you watched 1000+ Treehouse videos on JavaScript, the first time you pick up your computer and write JavaScript you realized watching the 1000+ videos without following along (or practicing after learning) was a waste of time and money.

You should always follow along or practice after you learn (which is what I do).

If you don't you won't accomplish anything.

The greatest programmers on Treehouse are very hard-working, writing thousands of lines of code. The more code you write, the better you get.

It's just like picking up a sport. You might know all the moves (tennis, in this case) existing, but if you never played tennis before, you can't even win a single point. However, with enough experience playing, you gradually get better and better.

It's the same with programming.

Practice, practice, practice is what I hear(ed) everywhere in learning, including programming, sports, math, etc.

I hope this encourages you to practice (if you haven't already).

I hope this message helps you :)

~Alex

EDIT: I also agree with James Ackerman. You shouldn't give up :)

edinjusupovic
edinjusupovic
5,664 Points
edinjusupovic
edinjusupovic
5,664 Points

My personal suggestion would be to actually build something functional after each segment in your learning. I think this helps reinforce ones coding skills by forcing yourself to recall information from the videos. That information (learned from the videos) would then be used to implement into your own code. Also as suggested, make sure you follow coding along the videos - this is very important. If you don't understand something, try to use Google or the treehouse community forum for help.

To give you an example, when I first started with treehouse I was absouletly clueless and had no prior knowledge of JavaScript - to me, coding opened a door to building things for myself. Straight after finishing the JavaScript basics course I built my own ID generator that generated a unique a unique 7 character string consisting of three numbers and five letters. It was awesome for me to be able to actually implement my learning into something totally custom that I created.

My other suggestion would be reinforcement. Try to make it a habit to come to treehouse at least on a daily basis or if that's not possible for you - try to code things by yourself at least daily.

I think James provided us with an awesome concept to music there.