The HTML courses were easy. But the JS courses - I dont understand most of it.
I go 10 steps with no issue, easy instructions. Then I get a question and I cant get anything to write. I can use chatgpt but thats cheating, i can check the forum but most of the people that write are almost there and just miss a dumb dot or something. So what do i do? I skip to the next lesson and I copy the answer and bring it to the previous lesson to finish it.
Should I just quit and find a different way to learn? I'm already creating my own little projects.
I really liked the HTML and CSS course for freecodecamp since it taught me how to do projects and walked me through.
The javascript course doesn't make you do any projects and doesn't follow the same learning method? I went through 90% of the javascript course and I had to google almost every single problem to find new methods that I never knew and I was so lost every step of the way.
I swapped to Codecademy and they taught me methods like toUpperCase() and startsWith() almost right away. Not to mention, they don't even give me all the steps but they tell me that I should go find a method for the Math object. This is way better than how FCC throws me into the deep end. Like these types of methods were similar to how they taught HTML and CSS so what is going on lol
So I just recently finished the html and css sections of freecodecamp and went to JS next on my journey to hopefully become a front-end developer somedays. After a couple of hours of JS tutorials I am having a really hard time adjusting to this new style of learning.
With html and CSS I could pretty much immediately see results when I learned a new concept because it was visualized right away. With Javascript, I am learning about Arrays, Strings, functions etc. but I have zero imagination about what to do with any of these. I am just wondering if this will become better the longer I keep studying or if there is a better, sort of hands-on way to learn with real-world examples and use cases of different concepts I am learning.
Happy about any input!
I'm newbie in Javascript and have heard of FCC a lot of times. I have started the lessons, but I've seen that they are teaching ES5, and then ES6
So is that worth using FCC to learn Javascript or should I learn directly ES6 ?
Previously I'd completed and written up some thought's on Free Code Camp's Scientific Computing with Python and Responsive Web Design certifications. I think people found those helpful, so here I am with some thoughts on their JavaScript cert, and hopefully it'll help some people decide whether it's worth it.
First - how long did it take? I didn't really time myself, but I'd estimate about 60 hours. It's a bit hard to say because I spent some of that time *thinking* about coding challenges and some of that time looking at other tutorials when I didn't understand certain lessons (more on that later). There are 7 'learning sections', 2 'scripting challenge' sections, and a final section of 5 projects that need to be completed in order to earn the cert.
Out of the three programs I've completed from FCC, this JavaScript one seems to be the most polished. Like the Responsive Web Design program, everything is done in the in-browser editor, which makes it really easy if you computer hop or can't set up your own dev environment. So I was able to complete a lot of this program with my work computer while on my lunch break.
Because I'd previously learned some Python, I was able to breeze through about 75% of this course. Many of the core concepts are the same, so I just had to learn a lot of syntax differences. There is a Regular Expressions section early on that I had some struggles with, but it turned out to be very important for many of the scripting challenges. In fact, I ended up using RegEx in 2 of the 5 final projects.
Speaking of the final projects, I didn't think any of them were too difficult. The final "Cash Register" project was the one I had to think about the most. But if you could figure out the core functionality of each project, it was easy to quickly finish them. There was no tedious output formatting like the Python cert had. I think these projects were pretty well designed. But most valuable were the basic and intermediate algorithm scripting challenges, which really forces you to use all the concepts you've learned.
Still, I think there are 2 flaws with the FCC JavaScript cert:
First: while most of the program is paced really well, once you get to the Object Oriented Programming and Functional Programming sections, the difficulty ramps up very fast. You are presented with big walls of text and (relatively) big chunks of code to figure out. The OOP section I was able to get through because I'd learned a lot of those concepts in Python, but a lot of the functional programming stuff (especially the .map and .filter functions), I had to just go and watch other tutorials on the subject. Also, I just had a hard time getting recursion down (and I still need to go and find more tutorials on that).
Second: The program is pure JavaScript. Nowhere do you learn how to use JS to interact with HTML & CSS. I think that's a big hole in the program. The next cert is on stuff like Bootstrap and React. So I guess the vanilla JS+HTML stuff is just skipped over?
Aside from that, I think it's a good cert to get (even if the cert doesn't really mean anything). I learned a ton, and I'm glad I did it.
Goooooood morning everyone~!
I am super duper thrilled to announce that the new JavaScript certification is fully live~! This means you can actually complete the certification projects to unlock the final exam, and sit the final exam to get your cert!
Now, you probably have loads of questions. Jessica has done a lovely job putting together this comprehensive article that should cover any doubts you have: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/
But of course, if you have even more questions you can always reach out to me. :pink_heart:
As always, happy coding! :light_blue_heart:
wild fanatical dime light subsequent distinct work school serious license
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
Hi guys👋
I’ve been learning html, css for the last two months. I’ve been learning JavaScript for about 3 weeks now all of my learning is done with FreeCodeCamp.
Html, css went rather smoothly and the courses with fcc were great. But with JavaScript it’s a completely different story. At the beginning like the first 50% it was ok, even though I found the courses way less appealing and less clear.
But after that it became worse and worse to the point where now I’m completely lost and each challenge is absolutely not doable if I don’t look the answers up …
Did anybody went through this and found a way to move forward ?
I’ve been investing a lot of time and hopes, I know that html, css aren’t programming languages per say but I did enjoy them.
Any help would be much appreciated.
I really didn't like FCC JS course. After the fundimentals I switched to the odin project. Maybe you should too.
It's not like it was hard. It was very unintuitive and sometimes rediculously simple. After switching to TOP, I was forced to take care of problem solving and planning myself and I believe it was very fruitful.
I know this isn't really helping, but make sure you also try codecademy. It's great, I used it (which obviously means it's good /s) and it's interactive so you solve challenges on the website with the help of the instructions. It is just a great way of starting.
Like a lot of people, I flew through the HTML & CSS and then finally met my maker at javascript. The first half went ok, but I have begun struggling like crazy with the second half - delving into possible solutions and then trying to understand why those were the solutions. Record Collection gave me a two day headache and once I had shaken that off, I hit Profile Lookup...
I am starting to feel like my level of understanding is not where it needs to be to continue on and am thinking I should just put this down and supplement my current understanding with something else, to make it through the rest of this section.
Can those of you who have completed this section with no prior programming experience, clue me in as to what helped you? Maybe there is a specific book or website that you found paramount to this section? Any help is hugely appreciated.
I just began the Javascript Algorithms and Data Structures part after finishing the Web Design course and it´s kind of kicking my butt. The basic js was at a medium level for me, but I managed to understand most things. Towards the end things got a bit too complicated and in some challenges I had absolutely no clue how to solve them, so I ended up getting the answer from the forum and making an attempt to understand what was happpening. I feel somewhat dirty for getting the answers on the forum haha, like I´m not learning or I´m cheating.
I have practice with C++ and python so I thought I wouldn´t be struggling so much with js but I am. I know I´m just starting but still, it´s very discouraging. I´m about halfway into the ES6 part and instead of continuing I think I´m going to go back and study the parts I had trouble with. Sorry if this isn´t very relevant, I just wanted to express myself a bit.
JavaScript, while easy to get started, takes a while before things click.
Mostly because new things are added every year (you might see ES2016...ES2021...) Those are informal names for the new stuff.
I highly recommend doing Wes Bos JS30. (It's free). Wes shows some really simple JS projects that makes you feel like a magician. His paid courses are really good too.
Learn what JS can do and the patterns. And keep finding small JS projects to work on. Rooting for you!
A million times yes. Granted, I haven't started on the JS portion for free code camp but I have some background with Java and have tried my hand at building things with Javascript and for some reason I find myself twiddling my thumbs or my brain just goes blank. I don't know what it is about Javascript but I find Java to be A LOT easier.
I cannot complete any of them except for the palindrome one. I’ve been stuck on them for hours at a time, that I put them to the side and finish the remainder of the course and return to them every now and then. I finished the JavaScript course except for the projects. I feel like I didn’t retain any information I’ve learned when it is time to do the projects. Is there another source I should learn to make them easier to understand?
This makes me feel like a dumbass and I feel like giving up
Doing the "JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures" course on FreeCodeCamp. Just finished "Basic Data Structures" section and had to lean pretty hard on some YouTube tutorial videos. Especially for the ones where you have to create your own variables in order to complete the task. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the amount of content I still have to work through before I can even tackle the projects. Have other beginners used this course? Are the projects going to be attainable or will I feel totally lost? Appreciate any insights or experiences that others may be able to share.
Right how I’ve been stuck on one specific sector of beginners JavaScript on the Odin project, I’m considering supplementing it with FCC, but I see so many negative reviews that’s I’m hesitant to give it a shot. What’s your honest opinion of FCC?
Honest opinion is dont be afraid to give a resource a shot just because it didnt work for someone else. There are so many resources out there, and not everyone learns or likes to learn in the same way....one persons best of all time can be anothers worst experience.
That being said, Im a huge supporter of FCC, cause it was the first thing I came across that actually helped me learn and put me on the track that helped me get to where I am now. The reason I love it, is the same reason some people dont. FCC doesnt hold your hand and do everything for you. Its not like following a tutorial or just plugging in whatever code it tells you to. It gives you a goal problem to solve, and is layed out in a way you have to do read docs and do research so when you complete a task, you actually understand what it is youre doing.
Also, the community is engaging and super welcoming and helpful...I made a goal when I started to give back, because I got so much help along the way. And I felt amazing the first time I was able to help someone else out. Teaching is also a great way to learn, because I would often look things up to get a better understanding while trying to help someone else out with a problem.
Im now coming up on 3 years in the industry, and literally.....everyone who asks about my path gets an earful about FCC, cause it really made a huge impact and means so much to me. And doesnt bother me at all if someone else totally hates it. Thats why there are so many different resources, and also why FCC encourages people to get their hands on other resources too...no one source is going to make everything you need to learn click in place.
So yeah, thats my opinion....give it a try, either you will like it, or you wont. But just cause someone else loves something doesnt mean its your only hope and feel discouraged if youre struggling, and just cause someone else hates it doesnt mean you should feel awkward for thriving. But you wont know unless you try....and I kinda feel like its worth it to at least try.
I think their Youtube videos are some of the best and really nice for just getting some of the fundamental knowledge and such
Graduated last year, CS, some experience with LAMP (dissertation) and Ruby, havent been practicing since. Been supporting databases in a BigN since graduation, but highly thinking of at least getting solid development skills, preferably so called 'fullstack' and javascript, let's say NodeJS and React.
How should I go with that? Is freecodecamp any good? Nodeschool? I've also seen some guy Wes Bos having tutorials. Tutorials all around, way too many, what to start? Is ES6 worth it? Any advice?
Cheers
I consider myself a bit of an authority on this. If there is one thing I know, it's self-teaching JS.
I can't speak highly enough for FreeCodeCamp for learning JS. It gives you real challenges and projects to get you thinking and building. You have a CS background so this will be easier for you methinks. Great community too when you get stuck.
Definitely do it through at least the React challenges (though like another said, you will have to use Udemy to learn React in my opinion...Stephen Grider's course on React Here! is awesome.
I didn't do the D3 challenges on FreeCodeCamp, I don't feel those are as necessary as React is for modern web dev.
Yes to ES6. Incredibly necessarily for modern web dev. If you want a job in it at least. Every job description I see wants some ES6 and it will be the standard soon anyway...
Aside from FCC and that course on React, I recommend Learncodeacademy on YouTube, the occasional codecademy.com course to learn basics, and maybe some books!
Good luck.
Free code camp is a good start. I would do that untill you get your front-end cert. Then learn react on udmy or blogs and how to setup a basic backend with db. Then make a few big projects of your own.
I don't want to be negative about freeCodeCamp. I really appreciate what they are doing, and I recognize that they are good people trying to do good in the world.
I've been struggling with coding for a while now, and have some limited experience in C# and Ruby. I went through freeCodeCamp's HTML and CSS tutorials without much difficulty. And now I'm in the JavaScript tutorial, and I understand the concepts of variables, objects etc, pretty well already, but for some reason I am really struggling with understanding the lessons. There are some where I have to run it through an LLM and get it to explain to me what is even being asked to do.
I'm trying to figure out if this tutorial is just generally difficult and I need to power through, or if it's an issue where its teaching style and my learning style are simply not very compatible.
edit: I think maybe I worded this poorly. I am in no way trying to suggest that this should be easy or that I shouldn't struggle with this. The crux is more that I am finding the freeCodeCamp JavaScript course more difficult than their HTML or CSS course, and the JavaScript course is covering concepts I'm already familiar with. So I'm trying to figure out if their JavaScript course is generally found to be more difficult, or if it's a me specific problem.
Thanks for all the responses for far. In these tough times it's really nice that strangers are still kindly helping other strangers.
Hi, so I started going through the JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures legacy version before the beta came out and it was straightforward because they gave you a tutorial on the subject you were learning. Now in the new beta version they are implementing CSS and HTML and offering no tutorial on how to do things. What is the best way to go about completing this course? doing a CSS HTML intro before the javascript course? or just going along and googling everything as I'm doing the course?