Last week I posted about joining the Code Challenge, and I talked a little bit about why I've chosen Javascript as my challenge language. Here's a quick update on my experience this week.
My Code Challenge (So Far)
I've learned that I still judge books by their cover...and sometimes their typeface choices. For years I have been avoiding technical books in O'Reilly's "Head First" series for purely aesthetic reasons. In my defense, here's the cover of the book I'm reading, Head First HTML5 Programming:
Maybe I'm a snob, but come on, is that not the cheesiest cover? And, when you open it up, it's filled with goofy stock photos and Comic Sans pull quotes (I wish I was joking). But... you know what else is inside? Good information. I feel foolish for snubbing this series for such a petty reason.
My favorite feature of this book is the written assignments -- as in, sharpen your pencil and write this down. That's unusual for a book about coding, and it's such a departure from learning to code at the computer that I think it's helping me internalize the information.
I've added a Google Books preview of this book to the end of this post so you can check it out. Forgive its crimes against design sensibility and you might find you like it as much as I do!
The Frustrations
It hasn't all been charming, life-lessony moments though. There's been a lot of teeth grinding and curse words. Here's me when I realize that my code isn't running because I put two curly braces } in the wrong place (after about 20 minutes of trying to figure out what I did wrong):
That's an actual drawing of me. I turn into Jackie Chan, but just in the face. I can't scale walls or anything, so there's no advantage to it.
Lots of developers will tell you that Javascript is easy. It probably is to many developers, but I'm not one of them. It's fussy and math-y and it makes me grumpy. I absolutely want to know how to use it well, and I am having fun on my challenge, but that fun is punctuated by a lot of Jackie Chan moments.
What I'm Building
This section title should probably be "What Am I Building?". I still haven't settled on exactly what my web app will be, but I have a few good ideas. By the end of next week I'll have decided for sure. Stay tuned :)
The Book I'm Reading
As promised, here's a Google Books preview of the HTML5 Programming book I'm reading:
