The Struggle Is Real

Hey, what are you struggling with right now? Algorithms, React, Angular, Ruby Etc Etc?

Free your mind and express your coding struggles :weary:

Are you in the desert of despair?

Freely vent here my camper friends :slight_smile:

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Being mostly a backend developer for the last few years I struggle to catch up with the way the web has changed - the Javascript I left behind is not the same as today! I think the most difficult part is to actually deciding on what framework/stack to run with, not so much learning the technical bits.

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Algorithms make zero sense to me. Itā€™s up there with philosophical questions like ā€œwhy are we here?ā€. My answer for that question and all agos is ā€œI dunno.ā€. Especially the mathy ones. Odd numbered fibonaccis? So much googling.

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A food recipe is an algorithm. When stuff makes zero sense to you, try to look at more abstract definitions of the same thing, by different people.

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I agree, they baffle my mindā€¦

same here, but lately i`m trying writing pseudo code and i can see some changesā€¦

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Pseudo code is a must :slight_smile:

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Code organization is my biggest challenge. Iā€™ve done a bunch of small interactive projects, but as the projects get bigger my code ends up turning into spaghetti.

Breaking things up into smaller files is something I have been doing more and more of lately. Often that just seems to spread the spaghetti around.

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@AndrewStaroscik Iā€™m really getting what you are saying. Itā€™s a big challenge for me as well, probably for a lot of us. Iā€™ve been experimenting project to project with this and so far what seems the cleanest way is to break out anything that can stand alone into a separate function, give the function a name that describes what it is doing, and call the function anywhere it can be used. Sometimes I have good success, and sometimes I could do a lot better. But it is helping me organize my code, and my thinking.

My best example that I think workedā€¦

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I agree that keeping functions small (and pure when possible) is a necessary. Clear naming conventions also help.

There is so much advice out there. Seems like the most important thing is to find a system that works and stick with it. Avoid the temptation to take shortcuts to get things done more quickly. You will pay for these in the long run when you have to go back and add a feature or find a bug.

Nice calculator. Bonus points for using RPN. My first calculator was an HP11c. I still have a 12c (the financial version) somewhere in the house.

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I am between projects at the second. Next one is the noghtlife coordnation app. After back end i am not excited for react.

Iā€™m struggling with Angular 2 right now. Itā€™s the first big framework that I have ever used and it also uses Typescript, which is totally new to me. On top of that I need to build a site with it that has client validation, connects to APIs and offers creation, editing and deletion of userā€™s notes. This is for a university course Iā€™m taking now.

My biggest struggle is the language! English is not my first language. It is really painful to translate forth and back in my mind when learning new stuff.:confused:

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I will add my frustration as well. I took data structures and algorithm courses in college. I hated them because I would get so lost in class. I donā€™t think it helped that the professor had a very thick accent that was very hard to understand. Add to that my ADD, which was not diagnosed at the time, and you get one really confused person. It was not fun. However, though I am still struggling now, Iā€™m not giving up. Iā€™m asking questions, digging deeper than just finding the answers on Stack Overflow, learning from my mistakes rather than allowing myself to become discouraged and powering through the tough parts until I get it. It still sucks, but when I crack it I can smile and say ā€œlook at how awesome I am,ā€ as I pump my fist into the air and take a victory lap.

Then thereā€™s the next one and it starts all over again :persevere:

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thanks for all your replies, just remember when you struggle thatā€™s when you are learning :slight_smile:

Responsive pages are being a real pain right now. I can make pages which look good on my screen, but when I open the page from a phone, it looks really weird. Iā€™m trying to overcome the problem gradually, just here to vent a little.

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Iā€™m struggling with everything at the moment! I thought I was ok with html/css, until I had to do a simple webpage (could qualify as FCC Tribute page, I guess) and realised that without the internet I know nothing. Yes, I can look for the answers now, but take away my internet connection and Iā€™m done.

Iā€™ve been stuck on the Counting Cards challenge for days now, I simply donā€™t know what to do with it and Iā€™m sure the answer is simple, so why canā€™t I see what to do? When I read someone elseā€™s code, I get it. I understand the reasoning and the steps. But give me a problem and I am unable to come up with solution. Itā€™s like my brain refuses to connect the dots.

Also, I see webdev as a very creative process. So what do I do when Iā€™m not feeling creative? Iā€™ve been looking for a change of career for ages now and I think WebDev is what I want to do, it sits well with me on so many levels, but then there are days like today when I think: who am I kidding? I will never be able to do this. .

So yes, these are my struggles. And they are very real.

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THIS! A thousand times this!! I recently learned the term ā€˜callback hellā€™ and it basically described all of my code so far. Iā€™m trying to refactor (I.e. completely rewrite from scratch) my url shortener so that I break out the routes and stuff into modulesā€¦but, man, itā€™s a struggle at the moment. Itā€™s taking a lot of research before things are coming even close to clicking for me. Iā€™m getting there, but itā€™s like wading through mud. Or spaghetti :wink:

I do boring, repetitive tasks by day (replacing files, correcting html content, etc) and would love to have more time practicing JS and creating a project of mine. I would love to have a portfolio and apply for a frontend dev job in my area that could replace my current government job (it pays but iā€™m not much happy).

Iā€™m a father of three, and by the time my kids are in bed itā€™s almost 9pm and I find it difficult to concentrate on new stuff, but feel so motivated at the same timeā€¦ what a struggle ! I wish I had more time in my hands to make a move.

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Iā€™ve been struggling with the minmax algorithm on the Tic Tac Toe zipline. Iā€™m trying to figure it out without just copying someone elseā€™s code.