I bet that sounds like a pretty silly title doesn’t it? It is but they do have a few things in common. So my class had it’s 3 lecture tonight (or rather last night as it is 2am now), I am getting a better feel for the students so that is good. Like me JavaScript is kicking most of their behinds. It’s just well hard to understand at times. One student asked tonight to know how if ever we will use these functions in the real world. Oh how many times I asked myself the same questions when I was first learning it. So I pulled up my portfolio code and showed them a few functions. Granted that project (see how I tied them together?) had functions that are just a bit more complex than what they are doing now, but the pattern is the same. Declare a function, give it a name, give it instructions, and then tell it to run.
However I am kinda rather proud of myself in how I chose to explain JavaScript. I learned in my own schooling (later in the program that I would have liked) that pseudo-code is one of the best ways to figure things out. So when given a function like
var x = 5
var y = 3
var z = x+y
console.log(z)
I showed them how to break it down => Creating a var calling it x setting it to 5; Creating a var calling it y setting it to 3; Creating a var called z setting it to the sum of x+y; and Logging out the value of z. I could almost hear a few light bulbs turn on.
Then back at Lambda for my Labs project this past month we were given code and honestly I felt like my students. Looking at this code and thinking what the heck does all this mean? You want me to create a function to do what? I can’t even begin to think of how to do that.
It was interesting to discover that just because I know JS and can explain it to students doesn’t mean if I look at a project I can figure out how to build a function to do what they want it too. Can I build my own project and have that same function in it? More than likely yes, but I know the in’s and out’s of that so I know how to adjust x y and z to make a work. What helped with our Labs project is knowing that #1 we aren’t the first class to get this project (we are picking up where the last class left off) and #2 what we can’t finish the next class can work on.
So what is the point to all this? Take good easily understandable notes. We will spend the rest of this week in Labs updating and creating an amazing readme document for the next team so they won’t feel so lost. When it comes to JavaScript the same applies. Take good notes. Break down each function line by line eventually you will look at var x = 5 and just know what it means.