Back in middle school, while playing video games with classmates in our computer lab, one of my classmates enjoyed experimenting with webpages in a number of ways. His favorite tool was the inspect element. At that time, I wasn’t familiar with it, so he introduced me to it, giving me a visual exposure to the website’s code. He used inspect element to change fonts and words on websites for amusement which made me think he was a hacker. He even changed his letter grades on his report card website to mislead his parents about getting good grades. However, this didn’t last once the actual report cards arrived in the mail. Since then, my interest has grown, leading me to learn more about programming languages like Javascript, HTML, and CSS.
In the beginning of this semester, I signed up for the free code camp with the task of completing basic Javascript exercises as well as ES6 exercises. With prior experience in C/C++ and Python, the exercises were simple to understand except for some of the unique properties such as ‘let’ and ‘first-class’ functions. I also had issues distinguishing between other programming languages and Javascript when it came to coding from scratch. The examples of code given on the description helped me understand the unfamiliar properties. The ES6 exercises supplemented my understanding for newer versions of Javascript.
With the introduction of athletic software engineering, the workload of this class became challenging and stressful, however, I was able to work through this with some strategies provided by the class and professor. One example of this that worked well was a new way to reduce procrastination and that is to trick your mind into thinking a task would only take ten minutes to complete when it is actually longer. While working through the Javascript basic exercises, this mentality was put into practice and worked well after seeing the percent of the exercises that were completed.
With the strong class structure of ICS314, I think moving forward with Javascript and other programming languages will be something to get used to as more assignments are being sent out. I appreciate the approach that this class takes with programming being treated like a sport. The only way to get better at programming languages is practice and more exposure to it like with our WODs. Overall, I hope to be proficient in Javascript by the end of this semester.