The more I learn the more I'm aware of how much I have to learn!


The start of week 6 sees us leaving Python behind and starting with Javascript (which incidentally is the first language I started learning back in March).  Whilst I am delighted to be learning more Javascript, I'm sad about 'leaving Python behind'.  Why?  Well firstly, it's a really great intuitive language, but also because the more I learn about programming the more I am aware of how much I have to learn!  I've only just scraped the surface with Python and I want more!  I want to be able to do it all! Yes ok, I know that's not realistic and that we never stop learning, but I now feel I'd like to work on a bigger project and learn from more people and sources, but I don't want to be a liability!  It's a fine line!  So I've joined a few facebook groups where people post up their code, which is exposing me to how others write their code and gives me the challenge of reading other peoples code and I'm loving it.  The course as you all know is pretty intensive but I'm going to be challenging myself to keep expanding my Python knowledge as we move through the next part of the course.

Javascript


Although I loved Python, I have to admit I'm really enjoying Javascript.  It may be because this was the language where I first grappled to get my head around loops and whatnot (which then made learning Python that much easier) but it feels comforting to be back coding with it.  I'm also very excited to see what opportunities it will open up for us.  One of the things I've been desperate to get stuck into is API's, which we've been told we'll be looking at next week - whoop!! 


Testing with Mocha





Well I'm not having any problems with writing test driven code this time around, but what I AM fighting with this time are the brackets!! I've even got a bracket colouriser that helps you to see where they all open and close, but they are still running rings around me! I'm sure that this is something I will get used to, but trying to follow along with a high speed code along whilst simultaneously trying to debug because there's one closing bracket missing somewhere in there  - argh!!!  The thing I DO like about Mocha (which, for those who don't know, is a Javascript test framework) is that it gives you a nice wee display in the Terminal with a list of the tests that you have written and a nice green tick when they pass!

Where has the week gone?


Oh my word!  So remember my enthusiasm on Monday morning for keeping on expanding my Python knowledge...I honestly don't know if I'll be able to!  This week has been a whirlwind of new things, so much so that my brain very nearly melted with the combination of homework on Tuesday evening (which was very like a weekend homework incidentally 😱) and then learning even more new things on Wednesday morning whilst still not having got to grips with what we had learned on Tuesday!  Thankfully I had a fabulous lab partner on Wednesday (Kenny you have the patience of a saint!) and things started to fall into place.  As the instructors promised at the start of the week we can now make 'buttons in the web browser do cool things'!! I have taken so many notes that I don't know what to do with them (I usually sit every evening and put them methodically in a 'notes' folder i've made - however my average time spent on homework this week has been 3 and a half hours....so I've not got round to that yet). I'm looking forward to weekend homework, I'm really hoping that by next week I will have settled into this new upped pace and be able to sort my notes on a daily basis again...

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