My Initial Experience with JavaScript
20 Jan 2017
Javascript so far has been fun to learn. Because we’ve only scratched the surface of it (loops, assignments, conditionals), I can’t say there’s anything different compared to Java or C. But, being a reader on Quora, I’ve heard lots of first hand accounts about Javascript, why it’s the best, why it’s the worst, and why this framework over the other. Javascript is unique in that other than C, it’s a language that people are so emotionally attached to. Being that I’ve only spent ten hours learning it on freeCodeCamp, I can’t relate to any of these experiences, but that’s what I’m looking forward to, experiencing it for myself.
To quote Atwood’s Law, “any application that can be written in JavaScript, will be written in JavaScript.” Over the course of ICS 314, I’d like to find out why Atwood said that and why people use JavaScript over other languages for their projects. From the brief introduction, I’m intrigued by how JavaScript initializes variables, var, const, and let. I find it convenient that I don’t have to specify what type of datatype I want to use. I want to figure out why the Airbnb style guide recommends against the use of var. I don’t want to just regurgitate the information without finding out myself. I can’t pass judgement on whether or not JavaScript is a good programming language, but I’m bound to have an answer in the next few weeks. Though I’m doing coursework that involves five different programming languages, I’m most interested in what Javascript has to offer.
The WODs (WorkOuts of the Day) are a cool and refreshing way to learn coding and put your skills to the test. I like doing the practice WODs and getting DNFs the first couple times because my logic was off. It’s humbling, and it motivates me to train and be prepared for the real deal. Yeah it’s a little stressful and you feel bad when you blow it on the real one, but who became great at something without sucking at first? If I wanna get good at JavaScript and succeed in this class, I need to progressively overload myself so that I exceed my level. In conclusion, I’m excited for JavaScript. Being that it’s not a language that descends from the assembly language tree (which includes C, Java, and Python), I wanna see what this puppy can do.