On Jan 18, 1:02 pm, Shawn Stringfield <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Rob. I've got a question for you. When you began learning > JavaScript which approach did you take? Did you start with becoming > familiar with syntax and learning each aspect of the language? Would you > recommend just diving straight in with trivial projects? Just trying to > get a feel for how more experienced programmers recommend a novice > developer begin their journey into programming both in general and with > regard to JavaScript.
I think it's best to start with tutorials that explain language features as you go. You can then start writing programs (trivial or otherwise), but realising that in a couple of weeks or months you'll look back and see just how awful those programs are. It's also best to know that most tutorials are pretty awful so you may be learning some bad habits. I think there are very, very few people who can read a language specification and start writing code without any other assistance. I tried that with C (from the Kernighan and Ritchie book), and while I did reasonable well, it was a lot quicker once I found someone to give practical advice and assistance. I also learnt Korn Shell from the UNIX man pages - now *that* was a struggle! I haven't used either language for a very long time, so I don't think I could program much using either. In regard to javascript, it is very important to read related specifications to understand the precise nature of the environment (to the extent it is specified, there is a lot that isn't) and relate that to the real world where there are a great many defacto standards (e.g. DOM 0). It is a never ending cycle of learning features and their relationship to specifications (and vice versa). W3Schools is a good example. The tutorials are full of technical errors and provide only a very brief coverage of topics, however they are a reasonable starting point *provided* users are aware of the limitations and other references and learning materials are included (e.g. Flanagan, Crockford). -- Rob -- To view archived discussions from the original JSMentors Mailman list: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To search via a non-Google archive, visit here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]
