Is learning JavaScript supposed to be this difficult or am I not cut out for this?

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Thanks for the encouragement!

Yes, learning programming is hard and difficult, without a doubt, but that doesn't mean you can't learn it. From your questions what I am getting here is that you need to have a learning style and approach that's right for you. The first thing when learning is; do I understand the logic that is going on? Second is, do I understand the syntax that is being used to apply the logic?

After you answer those questions think of how you learn best. For me I hand write code down then at first, then use [codepen](www.codepen.io) to create something similar to what was discussed in the videos and build upon that base.

Find what learning style suits you best, It is hard and difficult, but nothing is worth anything if it is easy.

Remember you can always ask questions here or on other forums. I think Treehouse has a great environment for learning. Stick with it and ask questions when you need to. Good Luck!

Some other tools that could help:

1. DevDocs. Something about this site makes it easier for me to use than most documentation sites — just search on the left, read on the right. Great for truly digging in and figuring these things out.
2. Repl.it. This is like CodePen, but even simpler — code on the left, hit run, see what happens on the right.
3. Finally, I'm learning JavaScript at Treehouse alongside learning it at FreeCodeCamp. I find that problems like these expect me to just jump in and figure it out. This is invaluable! It may feel like it takes me forever to learn something (e.g., I'm stuck on an array question, so I'm actually learning on here until I can figure it out), but once I get there, it means I've absorbed so much!

Hope this helps!

I felt the same way. I quit programming after trying to learn javascript the first time. I came back a couple months later and started with ruby. It seemed so much easier because the syntax was a lot simpler. After I ran thru all the basics with that and had a decent grasp. I went back to JavaScript and everything clicked because I had a baseline to compare it to. The closing of brackets and semicolons when writing JavScript can really confuse the hell out of people at first.

Code Pen helps tremendously. No flipping through windows, saving files here and there... All in one spot and your changes are seen instantaneously... And when I find my answers, they are the silliest of mistakes.. Its so easy to loose the forest for the trees...

Repl.it is superb I just found it thanks to your post! No more trying to install work spaces for days.

Travis, Yes – it's hard. I made good progress and then went on a 7-day vacation and lost all traction and code snippets I learned the week before. I couldn't complete this code challenge either. So I went back and watched previous video and looked at the code modules needed to complete this new task. That worked, since I knew, Dave went over all the relevant code pieces previously. I often start with just writing up the basic structures of the code modules first: in this case – a array, variables, then a for loop, then a condition and something that prints results. So I am halfway there. Since I don't have lots of writing experience I often miss the exact wording, punctuation/syntax etc. and what parameters to pass on. But this is the "PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT approach: You really need to code 2 hours a day – without breaks. Otherwise you won't progress.