How to work through Basic Javascript

When you worked through the Basic Javascript section, what was the best way to remember everything you learned, including syntax? I feel like I set chunks of time to work through a lot of the lessons, but not sure how much I am actually retaining. Did you just limit how many topics you learned a day?

Just keep coding every day. The more you think about this stuff, the more it will stick. I don’t see any need to limit yourself, but if you find yourself getting bored or tired, definitely take a break. Learn to walk the fine line between pushing yourself and burning out.

2 Likes

Repetition in different contexts. It’s as simple as that.
Don’t just be on the FCC site, have your code editor open at the same time!

For example: If you learn how to create a function in different ways, just write a whole bunch of functions that do different things.
If you learn how to do a new kind of loop, go to your editor and write a bunch of loops repeating different things.

The point is to always also apply each lesson, if you can. Perhaps not every single lesson, but certainly those that were a bit tougher and may need some sinking in.

2 Likes

As mentioned, repetition. For syntax, do the codecademy course. They’ll make you type stuff over and over …
What will really help is finding out stuff on your own. For example type a string in your browser console followed by a . “Random”.
You will then see all methods and properties that you can play with. Pick one , check it out on mdn and play around with it. It’s way better to learn this was (reading documentation) than being told “use splice” “use map” etc

1 Like

Yep repetition… Which sounds so uncomfortable(Not rereading though. Rereading is awful). Here is another take on repetition that I found useful. Link

1 Like

another way to think about the algorithms is this: you’re not just learning new syntax, you are also learning problem solving more generally. Using arr.reduce() or whatever is helpful, but what is also helpful is having a bunch of solved problems up your sleeve so the next time you are solving a problem in real life you can think ‘oh this is like the time I had to do one thing over and over on the elements in an array to produce a final number’. So you can practice the algorithms with slightly different values or desired outcomes so you get used to recognising the patterns of thinking that become useful to you.