First Steps in Javascript, and the Land is Quite Familiar
01 Sep 2021
Baby’s first experience with Javascript
Javascript as a language
Having come from a background of Java, C, and C++, I immediately felt a sense of familiarity with Javascript. It has the ease of string handling and outputting to the console as Java, and the object structure reminds me of my days using C++ for object-oriented programming.
In a lot of ways, Javascript feels even simpler and more user-friendly than my previous languages. I could almost describe it as feeling like a shorthand version of how I’m used to writing code, and I feel like that’s a good thing. With Javascript, writing out an algorithm is a lot faster since you don’t worry as much about memory handling, type matching, or a complicated syntax.
Then again, I’ve never been good with shorthand, whether in handwriting or writing Javascript, as it turns out. After familiarizing myself with the basics of Javascript (ES5), I tried to learn ES6, and the shorthand syntax felt very unintuitive for me. I felt like I would never be able to remember it, and it would never make sense at a glance. Maybe that’ll change with more practice and exposure.
From a software engineering perspective, I feel like Javascript is great for when you just want to get things done. In that sense, it might be especially great for coding interviews, too.
The training process
Our class used (https://www.freecodecamp.org/) for initial instruction of new Javascript concepts. It taught us very well, I believe, because it gave examples for new concepts and would give immediate feedback on our own attempts at applying them.
Afterwards, we trained with Javascript through numerous, frequent exercises; in other words, practice, practice, practice. This sort of athletic software engineering approach felt very focused, to be sure, and I do think it bore results in terms of critical thinking, problem-solving, and mentally organizing key information. However, I’m not sure if it’s the best for me in terms of effectively reinforcing new concepts, and I’m not sure how effective it’ll be when we learn more intricate techniques in Javascript. I feel like an overall slower approach (less training exercises, but still doing them frequently) would benefit me more, allowing time for the new tidbits of knowledge to soak in before shifting focus to ever newer techniques.