Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript

M W
M W
3,446 Points
Posted by M W
M W
3,446 Points

Struggling with 'JavaScript loops, arrays and objects' course

I failed to complete the last few challenges which was quite demoralizing. I am not sure whether to keep repeating the second half of the course or just continue and come back to it later (I'm currently doing the web developer track)?

I'm not a natural coder in my opinion and finding the logical 'mindset' is tough going! Am I the only person that still imagines that the only sort of people that can code have this magic, logical and calculating brain that sees the world as a series of O's and 1's?!!!!!!

Any thoughts on this would be very welcome...

4 Answers

Erik Nuber
Erik Nuber
20,629 Points
Erik Nuber
Erik Nuber
20,629 Points

JS is not the easies thing to just pick up. It is a very forgiving language overall.

If you started with HTML and CSS you probably felt pretty amazing going thru them because they have a very simple way of doing things.

Moving to JS was very daunting to me as well. I used to read all the questions going thru the lessons and I can tell you that you are not the only one that feels this way.

With that said, I believe anyone can program if they put there mind to it. There will be breakthrus for you. You need to see it the way you think and learn.

I remember being in junior high school and being taught pre-algebra. I did horrible. I had to take summer school and moved on to Alegbra, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, Calculus...and then college with math that had no numbers. Outside of that one year of pre-algebra, I excelled at math. It came down to how it was being taught.

I am not saying that it is how things are being taught here. I think that the various teachers they have chosen have done a great job. Some of the courses though are much more difficult at first than others. It is not an easy subject to just sit and teach.

You made it to loops, arrays and objects. Give yourself a break. you got there and have understood. So now you need to break it down to what you don't understand and try in small steps. If it is loops, is there a specific loop that doesn't make sense? If it's arrays the same thing. What doesn't make sense...and figure it out slowly.

Watch/rewatch and maybe try a couple other sites to read more information.

the w3schools is an excellent resource for javascript and jQuery. Just read the material. It is well laid out and you may find your AHA moment doing that. You may also like freecodingschools.com. It is free to join and they take you very simply step by step thru JS and jQuery. Almost to a snails pace. But, the information they provide also helped solidify some concepts that weren't easy.

The biggest thing I can say, is be nice to yourself. It isn't that you can't do it. It is that it is just new. You have to think about something that was hard for you in the past, no matter what it was and that you succeeded and did well after some given amount of time.

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,072 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,072 Points

Taking a break is a great idea when you're frustrated.

Learning something else is a good idea too. I'll bet when you come back to it, your new learning will help give you a different perspective and it may be easier to absorb.

And remember, you can always post here for help with individual challenges. Be sure to include a link to the challenge, and your properly formatted code (or a workspace snapshot).

M W
M W
3,446 Points
M W
M W
3,446 Points

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to respond.

I'd agree that I have a particular learning style which I respond to well - I convert everything into visual representations so some of the JS I have found difficult to do this.

I will come back and redo the course in a short while and back it up with other sources. Hopefully the mix of all of them will help get it into my old brain!!

I was considering doing the career foundry web development course so it was worrying when I found some aspects of the JS so hard to grasp. But like you said - we should all try to not be so hard on ourselves and be realistic on the time scales required.

Thanks again for your replies.

Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points

I completely agree with the other posts here. Programming is not easy, but when you get it, its so rewarding. It's important to take your time and go at your own pace. If it takes longer then it takes longer. I would suggest taking a break and learning Sass, I think its a great bridge from the HTML and CSS into programming languages. Your still writing CSS, but you can begin to write variables, using loops and other concepts while still having the familiarly of CSS. The one thing about this profession, is you will always be learning, and when you level up its a great feeling. So I'd say relax take your time, and be persistent, you will have that ah ha moment and it will be worth it.

M W
M W
3,446 Points
M W
M W
3,446 Points

thanks :)

Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points

Any time, remember you can always ask questions here, and we're happy to help. I highly recommend learning Sass,. it will really help.