Front & Back

[Gesundheit2]

Trying to spice up my web development journey...

In this journal, I will be recording the things I learn and find important/interesting about web development, and perhaps I will be sharing some actual finished work.

I've already finished the basics of: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. And I've experimented with them and with responsive design. So, I kind of have reached the end of basic front-end web development. Now is the time for more advanced levels, and perhaps the time to start learning about the back-end.

In the weeks to come, I will be revisiting concepts from those three; mostly from JS, less from CSS, and a lot less from HTML. At the same time, I will be further expanding my knowledge with more theory, and sharpening my skills with more practice.

The main resources that I'm currently using are: YouTube, MDN, W3schools, and the "You Don't Know JavaScript" book series.

I recently started learning jQuery; a very popular JavaScript framework/library that was designed/developed to make creating websites easier and faster. Still learning the theory. But I was told that it's becoming an outdated library, so I started looking at alternatives. The DOJO toolkit library might be more modern, will check it out.

That's it for now, just the headlines, not much more. I'm having a headache and not feeling well.

I will add more once I get better.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[Gesundheit2]

https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/a85b23/framework-vs-library/

Turns out a framework is different than a library. Okay, but I still don't understand.

Been learning things left and right, not much organized.

Decided to go through jQuery quickly and then move on to MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angular.js, Node.js). I might learn React.js alongside those.

So, my plan for the next week is basically just MEAN (goal is to finish them all, at least the theory). And whatever more I learn will be a bonus.

[Raphael]

The MEAN stack is an awesome stack, I'm currently using it for an app that I'm building. jQuery might be old, but I find it to still be very useful.

[Gesundheit2]

@Raphael Hey, man. Appreciate the tip.

I totally forgot you are an established developer; apparently you removed it from your signature. But good for you, it's really one of the most amazing career paths that one can choose in our modern time. There are always new technologies emerging, and therefore always more to learn. I'm still a noob and would really appreciate any tips, guidance, suggestions, etc.

I was wondering how long it should normally take for a person to start making projects. I've been learning since almost 5 months and I still find myself nowhere. HTML and CSS were a breeze compared to JS. The latter took me a long time to get familiar with, and still I am not that fluent or comfortable using it. To be honest, I haven't been not that dedicated or disciplined, nor is it the only thing that I have going on in my life, but lately I started focusing in more on this career path, and so I kind of started expecting results, but maybe I'm just being impatient, or maybe I'm a slow learner. Maybe I am not supposed to compare myself to others and instead just enjoy the process as it unfolds. I would like to hear your thoughts.

P.S. I do like reading your journals and enjoy them. In specific, I admire the consistency and discipline, and how organized and clean they are. Kind of typical qualities for a developer, eh?

Edited August 12, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[Raphael]

2 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

I was wondering how long it should normally take for a person to start making projects. I've been learning since almost 5 months and I still find myself nowhere. HTML and CSS were a breeze compared to JS. The latter took me a long time to get familiar with, and still I am not that fluent or comfortable using it.

I'm not sure if it's wise to compare with me because I started young. I started experiencing with programming at 15, but I wasn't really regular so I didn't make anything serious. It became more regular when I was around 17/18 and I worked on my first big project around that age, however, I still lacked a lot of knowledge and the project was messy and had weak security.

I started to work on my first complex project in a professional team when I was 22, so it took me a lot of time to get there. However, I don't think it should be your case because in my situation I experienced a lot of things before settling down for a technology set. Also at a young age like 15 - 20, someone's brain is still underdeveloped and therefore it can take more time to learn such a complex thing as programming.

Realistically, I would say that if you put intense effort you should become good in 1 - 2 years and be able to work on complex projects. That's a lot of time, but everything related to coding and programming is tough to learn.

3 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

Maybe I am not supposed to compare myself to others and instead just enjoy the process as it unfolds.

Yep. I found out that I learned faster that way. I learned enormously by just being curious and trying to understand how things work. Try to work on some small projects without being obsessed with the time that it takes you. Enjoy the process of learning how things work and interconnect in a perfect whole. There's a spiritual side to this field, I personally feel it when I'm able to interconnect everything which leads to a global understanding of the system and a feeling of fullfilment.

3 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

P.S. I do like reading your journals and enjoy them. In specific, I admire the consistency and discipline, and how organized and clean they are. Kind of typical qualities for a developer, eh?

Thanks. It might seem organized, but that's something that I actually have difficulties with because of how agitated my mind is.

[Gesundheit2]

@Raphael Thank you, Raph! That gave me what seems like a good realistic overview.

It's nice to know someone who is on the same path. Feel free to // comment  anything (technical or otherwise) anytime you want, mi journal es tu journal.

[Raphael]

1 minute ago, Gesundheit2 said:

mi journal es tu journal.

French is actually my native language. Happy to help in all cases

[Gesundheit2]

@Raphael You're awesome!

Apparently, there's something called TypeScript that I need to learn as well. It's basically a superset of JavaScript that's more modern and has more features.

Also, there's a difference between Vue and Vue.js, between Angular and Angular.js, and so on. I don't know if the difference is important, but at least now I know that there is a distinction.

Anyway, I'm halfway through my first Node.js course. It seems a bit complicated, but it isn't hard to learn. Two and a half more hours to go.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[Gesundheit2]

On 12/08/2021 at 7:48 AM, Gesundheit2 said:

Decided to go through jQuery quickly and then move on to MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angular.js, Node.js). I might learn React.js alongside those.

So, my plan for the next week is basically just MEAN (goal is to finish them all, at least the theory). And whatever more I learn will be a bonus.

Couldn't achieve the target. But been learning some other things.

Continuing with the same goal for the next week.

[Gesundheit2]

I shouldn't have started learning JS frameworks this early. I'm not comprehending anything, virtually. This guy explains the path I should take.

Going back to advanced JS.

[Gesundheit2]

What I have been up to recently with JavaScript:

• ECMAScript 2015 (ES6).
• The Document Object Model (DOM).
• Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).
• Object Oriented Programming (OOP).
• TypeScript.
• A bunch of miscellaneous stuff.

Unfortunately, I'm not practicing properly yet. Focused mostly on the theoretical aspect of learning at the moment.

[Gesundheit2]

One of the most illogical things I've noticed about JavaScript (I don't know about other programming languages) is that there's something called a "constant variable".

It's paradoxical, because a constant is by definition something that doesn't change, and a variable is by definition something that is always changing. So, why did they call it a constant variable?

In practice, there are three different keywords for variables in JavaScript...

The "let", "var", and "const" keywords.

Essentially, you can change the value of let and var variables anytime you want. But that doesn't apply to const variables. Once you assign a const value to a variable, it cannot be updated in the future. So, I get the point of this technicality and how that is useful in practice. But I still, nevertheless, find it semantically wrong.

[Gesundheit2]

The next week will be the capper of a 6-months journey. Still nowhere near finished. Expecting being ready in January 2022.

...

About this:

On 10/09/2021 at 2:09 PM, Gesundheit2 said:

One of the most illogical things I've noticed about JavaScript (I don't know about other programming languages) is that there's something called a "constant variable".

It's paradoxical, because a constant is by definition something that doesn't change, and a variable is by definition something that is always changing. So, why did they call it a constant variable?

In practice, there are three different keywords for variables in JavaScript...

The "let", "var", and "const" keywords.

Essentially, you can change the value of let and var variables anytime you want. But that doesn't apply to const variables. Once you assign a const value to a variable, it cannot be updated in the future. So, I get the point of this technicality and how that is useful in practice. But I still, nevertheless, find it semantically wrong.

Turns out a constant variable carries the functionality of both words.

The way I understand how it works now is similar to a closet. A const variable is a closet that has a particular shape and functionality that cannot be changed;

• const cannot change through re-assignment.
• const cannot be re-declared.

But const objects and arrays can be updated through methods because the changes will then happen to the stored values, not to the closet that's containing them. I don't think I fully understand it yet. It's probably a bit more nuanced than that.

And I'm sure the logic behind it is a lot more complex than this superficial explanation, but it's not in the scope of my goals here, so I'm not gonna research it.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[Gesundheit2]

30 JavaScript Challenges

Interesting.

Edited September 20, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[mandyjw]

Wow, that's fascinating about the constant variables thing.

I found an old truck in the woods and it has the word "Custom" on it. And I realized that "custom" means both to conform something to exactly what you want, and it also means " a country's customs, as in what's expected." So essentially the same word has two very opposite meanings, one is a limitation, one a freedom. it strikes me as similar to what you discovered.

Good luck with the web development, exciting! 

 

[Gesundheit2]

Courses are a rabbit hole. They're not the way to go.

What a course basically is, is a human trying to make money out of you (or YouTube, etc...) by over-complicating simple stuff to make it seem worth your while, when in fact it isn't.

Don't let the theory fool you. The only real way to learn is through practice.

[Gesundheit2]

The "You Don't Know JavaScript" book is awesome! It's the difference between scam and the real deal.

There are many misconceptions that I've been taught in the YouTube courses. The book calls them out, apparently because they're fairly common amongst developers. And the reason that is the case is because almost nobody actually cares about understanding how JavaScript actually works. Most developers only care about learning the basics in the most simplified way in order to get a job, which is superficial and inefficient. And that's precisely what causes buggy and/or slow applications. A program that contains unnecessary code will more often than not be buggy/have low performance, as well as a program that lacks correct and precise code. The more precise and accurate, the best the outcome. Programming is all about detail.

For me, I can't put up with less than mastery. When I do something, I do it perfectly. And when I learn something, I learn it completely. This is what differentiates world-class from average. I want to be world-class. But of course, that'll take some time, and I gotta start somewhere. So, I don't have to be a master to start working, but becoming a master will be my goal after getting the job.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Gesundheit2

[Gesundheit2]

https://www.codewars.com/

Awesome!

[Gesundheit2]

The more I learn about programming, the more fascinating the human language becomes. The contrast is teaching me appreciation of how complex this one thing is, and how much we take it for granted.

[Gesundheit2]

Insanely genius! I could have never solved something like this in a billion years.