I’m doing the Basic Algorithm Scripting section, but I keep finding myself just looking at the course map just to see what i’ve “learnt”?
How do you remember what you’ve gone through in these lessons?
repitition, you can check out the mdn site for reference
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So do i just repeat the challenges?
Or is there somewhere else I can just practice using javascript?
With the hundreds of methods available there is no way you will remember them all unless you are a genius. Remembering the wording for what you are trying to do is not important. Knowing what you want to do is important. For example, I want to get part of a string. I’ve completed the entire front-end section and part of the back-end. I can’t remember if it is:
let string = 'fruit is apple'
// I just want the string 'apple'
let fruit = string.substr(9, -1)
let fruit = string.slice(9)
let fruit = string.splice(-1, 9)
//etc.
The bottom line is that I know what I want to do. If I know what I need to do, I can look it up in two minutes and be on my way. That is one of the things I like most about programming - you don’t need to memorize exact wording, or formulas, or expressions. As long as you know what you are trying to accomplish, you can do so in mere minutes with a Google search.
That being said, the more you do, the more you will remember, so repetition is important. And no, don’t keep going back to things you’ve already solved just to solve them again. If you want to try to solve them better, fine, but don’t punish yourself because you can’t remember.
EDIT: I looked up how to do what I wanted to do. It took me probably less than 30 seconds:
string.substr(string.length - 5)
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Wouldn’t hurt to have a language reference manual to see all commands/functions available to you.
This is Dash for OSX. But I think there’s an equivalent for PC or online service.
I agree with what others have said. You don’t need to remember absolutely everything. It’s often enough to know that something exists so you can look it up. And MDN is a fantastic resource.
However I have encountered that frustration in the past, going through lessons and exercises on Codeacademy, being able to do them and not remembering anything afterwards. Since then I’ve tried to take notes every time I learn something. It slows down the progress but it helps with retention. When you write your own notes, you have to think about what you write down and that’s what makes it stick. Nowadays I take notes on everything I learn on Evernote. It helps me remember, everything is in one place, and it’s very easy to do a search.
I did a Coursera course called Learning how to Learn and one of the main points was that, in order to learn effectively, you need to learn actively. And also make yourself remember what you have just learned. It’s the act of remembering what you just learned that reinforces the memory for longer term. It’s a good course, worth checking out.
One thing a tend to do is to write everything when im learning something new not just copy and paste it also if you are on windows i use this very handy https://velocity.silverlakesoftware.com
It allow you to download manuals for almost every language and frameworks put there to access them later on if you are offline all in one place software also good to learn new functions for a particular language
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There are way too many methods to remember. I think there’s a conception out there specially when you are starting out, that you must remember everything in order to come off as impressive. This is something I had to wrestle with myself.
It’s ok to just use the internet. Computers are really great at remembering things so it’s better to leave it up to them.
Try to put your focus and time on learning how to think and solve problems like a programmer. That could be through coding problems, making apps, etc
If you understand how to solve problems, then it becomes easier to find the tools when you need them.
I haven’t meet a programmer who does not google shit all day regardless of their level of proficiency.
Thanks for all your answers guys. I try it all out.
I’ve used this recently: