i don t understand javascript

I can't understand anything about JavaScript at all. What should I do?

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That’s learning to program in a nutshell, getting frustrated doesn’t really go away it just gets easier. It sounds like you just need to keep practicing and building projects Answer from benzilla04 on reddit.com

reddit.com › r/learnjavascript › i can't understand anything about javascript at all. what should i do?

r/learnjavascript on Reddit: I can't understand anything about JavaScript at all. What should I do?

May 17, 2024 -

So for the last one and half a month, I've been trying to learn JavaScript to do something better than an outdoor job in the future, however the matter gets more and more depressing as the things go. For this purpose, I've bought a course on Udemy and have been following it. While I learnt HTML and CSS through the same way and really enjoyed learning them (albeit I've been lacking practice for the last few weeks), I can't really understand JavaScript and get frustrated every time I'm trying to do something on my own.

Honestly, I don't like coding JavaScript really. If this was an ideal world, I'd just be content with what I know about CSS and HTML and probably do some designs to make a living. But this isn't an ideal world and I really grew tired of this. I don't want to abandon coding either because however much I hate it, it gives me a better deal than what I can find outside.

And like this, I'm pretty confused and am feeling miserable right now.

Top answer

1 of 25

That’s learning to program in a nutshell, getting frustrated doesn’t really go away it just gets easier. It sounds like you just need to keep practicing and building projects

2 of 25

HI, former coding instructor here. I've written about this phenomena and even done a YT video. Why is learning JavaScript so hard? JavaScript is challenging for new learners because not only are you learning a new syntax that may be as intuitive as HTML and CSS, but also you are learning a very specific type of thinking: procedural or algorithmic thinking. To illustrate this, I like to use the analogy of learning to play chess. Someone can sit you down and in thirty minutes or less, explain the rules of chess — how the pieces move, how turns are taken, and how you win or lose. But does simply knowing the rules make you a good (or even competent) chess player? Most people would say no, because it takes a lot of practice to learn to think one, two, three moves and beyond. The real learning in playing chess comes from the practice, from exercising that procedural-thinking muscle that may not get a lot of use in our everyday lives. So, if your brain hurts a little bit at the very beginning of your journey to learn JavaScript (or your first programming language), know that you are not alone. In my experience, it is more common than not to find basic JavaScript syntax challenging. Practice and repetition will get you over the hump. On the other side of that hump you will be able to build so many cool things that you’ll look back and be glad that you didn’t give up. Encouragement, encouragement! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 The fastest, most efficient way to learn JavaScript, though, is to hire a tutor like myself who can tailor lessons and give you the practice you need to get the basics down pat. It's more affordable that you may think. PM me if interested in a free intro session.

freeCodeCamp

forum.freecodecamp.org › javascript

I just don't understand Javascript - JavaScript - The freeCodeCamp Forum

June 30, 2019 - I have only been able to get through each one with the hints. I don’t understand and I am getting discouraged.

Videos

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Trouble Learning JavaScript ... No Problem!!

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Team Treehouse

teamtreehouse.com › community › why-cant-i-understand-javascript

Why can't I understand JavaScript? (Example) | Treehouse Community

Top answer

1 of 6

Hiya there! When i picked up JavaScript first time i was a beginner and i was so lost. I mean it used to gimme nightmares and i almost gave up the whole programming journey. So i stopped learning JavaScript. And i jumped to Python and Ruby, and immediately i found myself actually enjoying Python and Ruby a lot. I understood so many concepts in Python and Ruby that i couldnt get my brain wrapped around in JavaScript. The bottom line is JavaScript is changing like a lot. And its literally everywhere so you obviously cant ignore it if you wanna be a developer. But why does JavaScript seems so hard and confusing? Its not hard at all actually. The issue is that you dont go through enough resources to concrete your knowledge. Read the docs , play with it in the console, read the blogs. One more thing that i've noticed is that the newer syntax of JavaScript takes a lots of inspiration from other languages. You must have seen the class implementation in JavaScript right? Every language has class implementation and inheritance but JavaScript didnt. The newly syntax for Rest and Spread operators and Decorators takes inspiration from Python Language itself. And Generators and default parameters and cli generators exist in Ruby. So the moral of the stpry is other languages helped me a lot in order to become a better JavaScript developer. Now that there are tons of libraries , Frameworks and plugins for JavaScript alone, which might confuse beginners a lot. I remember when i was learning React a couple of months ago, i started out with React , then i had to learn React Router, then i learned Flux and i was like oh yeah i know react. And then i encountered Redux , so i had to learn Redux as well, followed by React-Native , MobX, Firebase and Finally Serverless. And Then i stumbled to webpacks , TypeScript, blah blah. I know it seems like a mountain to climb , and a very steep one but as soon as you get your foundational knowledge strong , you'll be able to learn and pick any JavaScript library or framework , in minutes(yeah thats right). Consider it an advantage , coz its like one language gives you access to tons of framework and libraries out there. And Btw i learned React and everything about React in a week. I hope my experience gave you an insight about why should you stick with JavaScript. And believe me It does get better and fun. ~ Ari

2 of 6

Oh man! I am feeling the same way. I thought I was doing well until I got to the arrays and loops. I think my problem is the syntax of how things are structured. Loops are still something I'm not too comfortable with yet either. I will be looking at other places as well. I look at the solutions to the challenges and sometimes I think "Oh yeah...why didn't I think of that?". But I'm still lost after that. Ugh!

reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › i just can't understand javascript! i don't get why

r/learnprogramming on Reddit: I just can't understand JavaScript! I don't get why

June 14, 2016 -

I cannot get JavaScript for the life of me. I've done 9,000 tutorials--codecademy, freecodecamp, Lynda, and more, but when I sit down to write JS, I can't even write a basic addition function without screwing it up.

I'm a senior in computer science, I can write Kernel modules, I can handle assembly, HTML/CSS/PHP are a piece of cake.

I've spent over twenty hours on JS, and I just can't understand it for crap. I keep trying to code my own things and I just fall over and over.

Any ideas?

Top answer

1 of 5

I find it hard to believe that you find PHP a piece of cake but can't make an addition function in JavaScript, given that you can literally write the exact same code to make it work:

function add($a, $b) {
  return $a + $b;
}

Of course, that's not to say that the two are very similar ^{(and you shouldn't name variables like that in js),} but the core syntax at a beginner level does have many similarities. After that it's just about learning to program in a general sense, and getting used the syntax of one language vs the other is less of a problem.

Anyway, it's hard to give any useful hints because you're not giving us anything to go on (other than claims that seem unlikely at best). Give some specific questions, some specific problems that you don't know how to solve. Since you claim you know php, show how you would solve the problem in php and where you're tripping up in javascript by comparison.

2 of 5

What's there to understand? A function in JS is exactly the same as one in PHP. You're not making any sense.

reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › i genuinely do not understand javascript functions and don't know how to problem solve through them

r/learnprogramming on Reddit: I genuinely do not understand Javascript functions and don't know how to problem solve through them

January 27, 2022 -

I know this is gonna end up more of a vent than anything else but I'm so lost. I'm currently in week 2 of a fullstack bootcamp. It's an interesting setup because my employer is sending me and paying for everything, and then once I finish I can transition to software developer at the company. It's a really sweet opportunity, and meant for people from non-traditional backgrounds to get into tech. Well, I knew I had to prepare myself for the fast pace and normally I'm good with it and knew this was going to be a challenge for me, but I'm so lost and just feel like I'm falling behind every day.

My instructors are pretty good and helpful, but I feel like I have to ask for help every step of the way so I'm not actually retaining anything. I can do a lot of the basic stuff, but once I get to the harder problems I spend hours on something that should be so simple. I've started looking at outside resources but just can't seem to put what I'm reading/watching into practice. It seems like everyone else is getting this stuff (idk if that's true or just me being insecure and comparing to others haha).

I've been struggling with functions ever since we started learning them and now we're getting into nested arrays and forEach and map and I don't even know where to start. I understand the point of functions and looping and what they are used for. When it's being explained I understand what is happening. But actually creating my own I just can't solve. For example, a questions like these:

Create a function named boats that takes in our array of boats, and returns item name and its index number in a formatted string.

Create a function named addAlphabetically that takes in our array of boats and a new boat type and returns an array of boats with that new item, sorted alphabetically.

By looking up on substack or other resources I feel like I'm just going deeper down a rabbit hole every time.

I know this a great opportunity that very few people get so I really don't want to mess it up. I also know spending 10-12 hours on my computer trying to figure out three questions is going to burn me out so I don't know what to do. I guess my question is- does anyone have any ways/resources that really helped them build functions?

Top answer

1 of 4

As you've surely been told, functions are like black boxes. They take in something (or not) and return something different (or not). Your problem is probably not building functions, if you can understand this: function boats (boatArr) { //do something return something; } If you understand that a function is called boats, takes in a variable that will be named boatArr INSIDE the function and RETURNS the variable "something", then you understand functions. Do you perhaps not struggle with the code inside it? Like how to treat the boatArr variable in the way that is asked? If that's the case, I don't think you misunderstand functions, you're just having trouble grasping how to create the algorithm to solve your problem and that's a lot easier and less worrying because it's really just a matter of throwing yourself at it and seeing different solutions (and study them!) until you start thinking like a programmer. Ask your peers, ask your teachers, ask the internet to solve it with you, but don't be worried that you don't get functions.

2 of 4

There will come a point that it all clicks in your head. That moment will be great.

Sololearn

sololearn.com › en › Discuss › 1771671 › why-dont-i-understand-javascript

Why don't I understand JavaScript,! | Sololearn: Learn to code for FREE!

I have the same issue, im learning that its not all about knowing the code but the logic behind it. use other peoples codes ( write it yourself dont copy and paste ) and after debugging scour the code to find the logic behind it then find more code you want to add and expound on it. ... Cyrus The Virus! ... // Maybe because you have not a time to learn Javascript, so, you learn JavaScript too fast, but the importance is take your time, learn normally and revise it.

Quora

quora.com › Why-can’t-I-learn-JavaScript-I-feel-so-bad-and-like-everyone-else-gets-it-so-easy-I-get-stressed-out-and-my-self-esteem-gets-worse-everyday

Why can’t I learn JavaScript? I feel so bad and like everyone else gets it so easy. I get stressed out and my self-esteem gets worse everyday. - Quora

Answer (1 of 89): Stop trying to learn JavaScript! The best advice I can give is stop trying to learn to code, instead learn to solve a problem with code, sounds a bit non-sensical at first and you’re probably thinking, they’re the same thing! (but they are not).

Medium

medium.com › illumination-curated › why-cant-i-learn-javascript-2ae4f693141b

Why Can’t I Learn JavaScript?

September 25, 2020 - The first JavaScript hurdle you need to overcome is its nightmare syntax.

Find elsewhere

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Learnjavascript

learnjavascript.today

Learn JavaScript

There’s a secret technique to remembering anything easily (besides understanding them). It’s to connect the concept to something you already know. Like when I teach functions, I compare them it to drawing water from a well. When something clicks this way, you never forget it. Many other JavaScript courses skip steps in-between, forcing you to google things you don’t understand.

Stack Overflow

stackoverflow.com › questions › 57767150 › i-dont-understand-working-of-the-program

javascript - I don't understand working of the program - Stack Overflow

Top answer

1 of 1

JS is pretty flexible language. In JS this:

var obj = {
  name: "Raju Ritigya",
  sayHi: function() {
    console.log("hello, I'm " + this.name);
  }
};

Is the same as this:

var obj = {};
obj.name = "Raju Ritigya";
obj.sayHi = function() {
  console.log("hello, I'm " + this.name);
};

Basically, there are two ways of adding properties and methods to an object in JS.

With that being said, your course is teaching you how to write "Classes", constructors and this in JS. IMO if you're just starting with JS, this is too complex to understand. JS doesn't support Classes natively and it tries to mimic them with prototype inheritance.

But anyway, here's my 0.02$ on what's going on there

In JS you have primitive types (string, number, boolean, symbol, null, undefined) and everything else is an object (yes, array is an object, function is an object, object is an object).

Primitive values are passed around by value and they are immutable, but objects are passed by reference (a point in memory) and they are mutable

var foo = {};
var bar = {};
console.log(foo === bar) //false

Even though foo and bar look the same, they point to different places in memory, hence for JS they are not the same!

var foo = {};
var bar = foo;
bar.name = "random name";
console.log(foo.name); // "random name"

And now foo and bar point to the same reference and making changes to one of them reflect to the other one.

In JS every function needs to return something. If you don't explicitly put a return statement in your function it will return undefined and if you use new keyword in front of your function call, it will return a new object that will have that function as a constructor.

So, in conclusion, what's going on there is that you have a constructor (book) that's gonna return an object with 3 properties (author, title, price) and a method (addPrice). That method is a function (and as we already said, functions are objects in JS and can be easily passed around). It would be exactly the same if you wrote your constructor like this:

function book(title, author) {
  this.title = title;
  this.author = author;
  this.price = 0;
  this.addPrice = function(amount) {
    this.price = amount
  };
}

As @deceze mentioned, using with is highly discouraged.

By removing the this.addPrice = addPrice line, you don't add a method to your object but later on you try to call it on this line myBook.addPrice(100);

Your code breaks on that line and JS won't continue executing the rest of your program (you can open console tab in dev tools and see the error there).

Hope it helps, Cheers!

YouTube

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This Is Why You Can't Learn JavaScript - YouTube

03:08

Why is JavaScript so different from HTML and CSS? Learn about JavaScript in this video and how to master it.Join my dev community ➡️ https://www.newdev.io/co...

Published November 7, 2022

freeCodeCamp

forum.freecodecamp.org › t › what-if-i-just-cant-do-javascript › 29658

What if I just can't do JavaScript? - The freeCodeCamp Forum

August 20, 2016 - I can handle really, really simple JavaScript if I am just copying it from some example, but I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how it works or why it does what it does no matter how much the explanation is dumbed down for me. I just don’t get it.

Je suis un dev

jesuisundev.com › home › javascript: what i didn’t understand

Javascript: what I didn't understand - Je suis un dev

March 3, 2021 - And that’s understandable. In Javascript, the context doesn’t behave at all like in other languages. We’re dealing with a monster. In theory, “this” represents the context of the function. An object associated with the invocation of the function. Except that it is not so simple. In truth, it will be determined according to how it is called. Let’s look at some examples. Call in a function, the context will be the global object. If you don’t know it, you tragically change the global object.

HackerNoon

hackernoon.com › you-are-learning-js-wrong-a004746d2ff5

You are learning JS wrong | HackerNoon

April 13, 2018 - A friend on mine, who is learning JS, showed me proudly a clock on an html page. He told me that after 7 hours he finally got it to update every minute! I smiled at him and said: “I think you are ready to learn a JS framework.”

Quora

quora.com › Why-do-I-find-it-very-hard-to-understand-JavaScript-and-it-actually-looks-simple-to-me

Why do I find it very hard to understand JavaScript and it actually looks simple to me? - Quora

Answer (1 of 3): It is because it is a surprisingly difficult language. The syntax looks broadly familiar to the the C C++ C# Java Kotlin Go styles of language. Familiar enough that you accidentally apply ideas from those other languages to ...

Udemy

udemy.com › development

JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts

January 30, 2026 - Demystify JavaScript vocabulary with big word alerts that define terms, reveal simple definitions, and explore under-the-hood concepts without intimidation throughout this course. ... Master deep JavaScript by understanding how the language and browser work, and explore frameworks like jQuery and AngularJS and the weird parts to write robust code.

Rating: 4.7 - 49.4K votes

Medium

medium.com › @cabhishek712 › learn-javascript-summarising-you-dont-know-js-up-going-book-1-2d3e42664f78

Learn JavaScript: Summarising You Don’t know JS (Up & Going) Book 1 | Medium

December 2, 2023 - I believe that, and thus trying to understand these so called tough parts through these books. The first chapter is a introduction to programming and JS, there is basic intro to these concepts, Variables, conditionals, expressions, statements, loops, functions, scopes. One key point from this chapter is, JavaScript is dynamically typed.

Ishaan's Blog

ishaan2053.hashnode.dev › the-reason-why-you-cant-understand-javascript-yet

The Reason Why You Can't Understand JavaScript... Yet.

August 7, 2023 - JavaScript is a loosely typed language that allows you to use any type of value without declaring it. This can lead to errors or unexpected behaviours if you don't pay attention to the type conversions or coercion rules.

reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › i don't understand anything javascript related

I don't understand anything JavaScript related : r/learnprogramming

December 16, 2021 - HTML and CSS are just a standardized way to make stuff look nice while JavaScript is a proper programming language and therefore an entirely different beast. Learning to program is hard! Not because you have to memorize a ton of stuff or have to spend a lot of money or anything like that. It is hard because you have to learn to think like a computer, which is just not something that comes natural to people.