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John Burkhard
16,314 PointsIs the Full Stack JavaScript track going to be updated anytime soon?
Jade is now PUG, Angular isn't really relevant (React.js or Vue.js would be ideal) and a better framework to start with would be Meteor (considering the recent move to npm). It seems like as soon as you finish the current track, you're already behind.
Aaron Martone
3,290 PointsTo me, one of the worst things about learning the new technology, is that even though it's JavaScript, something I understand at its basics, the technology is abstracted away so that you have to learn how to properly invoke the tech itself. And that is where good documentation comes into play. Sadly, IMO, well over 90% of documentation written for JS tech is considered abysmal.
It makes common mistakes like (a) not being complete/robust, (b) assuming the reader understands something implicitly and not explicitly ensuring they do first, (c) assuming documentation serves as a tutorial (it does not!), (d) making actual documentation look no different visually than walls of text (there's a reason why design is important, even in docs) and (e) the documentation is written from someone who understands the tech intricately. Most often, such a person is a great wealth of knowledge about the tech, but cannot write documentation in a way to properly teach a newcomer, because it, again, makes assumptions about how well-versed the reader is.
Sadly, due to how often this field changes, good documentation will always be rare.
1 Answer
Steven Parker
231,269 PointsWelcome to "keeping up with technology'! But I'm curious about your comment that "Angular isn't really relevant" - I thought it was still a big deal - could you elaborate?
For what's coming at Treehouse, you might keep an eye on the content roadmap.
If you want feedback from the staff, you might want to write directly to Treehouse Support.
John Burkhard
16,314 PointsAngular just isn't as relevant anymore as it was 2 years ago. When looking for job postings on sites like Indeed or Glassdoor (or even comparing trends on Google), Angular is barely mentioned/sought after. The problem with the current track is it's really only focused on using Angular because it's part of the original MEAN stack. Not to mention the garbage transition from Angular 1 to Angular 2.
Seth Kroger
56,413 PointsGoogle Trends says Angular isn't relevant? I'm not seeing it. Both are doing quite well.
Technology does continually evolve, and there will always be something new to learn. That doesn't mean that what you learned won't be relevant to what comes later. (And FWIW there is a React Basics project on their GitHub, so a course/workshop is in the works.) That also doesn't mean that the slightly older stuff is "dead".
John Burkhard
16,314 PointsMaybe I'm being a bit negative towards Angular, which probably stems from the inconsistent path to learning it while it evolves into a new platform.
Aaron Martone
3,290 PointsI second that pain point. Some amazing devs working on it, but sometimes it's very frustrating that something so popular is seemingly impossible to find decent training on. And as many people don't seem to understand, docs alone don't make for even a mediocre training process. Tutorials, examples, videos, Q&As. We need a different approach at times.
Aaron Martone
3,290 PointsAaron Martone
3,290 PointsTo my knowledge, Angular is still very relevant. Not to mention that version 2 is coming out of Alpha status, I'm expecting a big push to refactor 1.x apps into 2.
But, yeah, welcome to the JS bandwagon. Where it's just as hip to jump off the wagon on a tech you only 6 months ago fervently jumped onto. This field changes so often, that it has actually very negatively impacted the community who is trying to learn it. Everyone and their grandma wants to create "The next big thing" (often by slapping a "JS" after a word randomly chosen out of the dictionary). You have to develop "Noise-Cancelling Ears" when it comes to all them hemming and hawing the JS community does. Something have stood the test of time. Others have come and gone, being neat "tricks", but offering little value.
It's important to stay up to date with your stack, but don't feel a need to learn the newest thing just because it's new Some thing which have stood the test of time (especially in such a turbulent field as ours), are doing so because they've adhered to methodologies with staying power.