Lighthouse Labs - Free Resources

Great tutorial on getting started with JS. I like it that it emphasizes that you need to type the code. Practice makes perfect.

It was going great until reaching "Functionality with JavaScript; Client Side" step 3. Got stuck with Brackets stubbornly claiming that it could not use or recognize "$", "alert" or "console.log"; basically everything from a package/library is undefined. 24 hours later, the questions remain unanswered, with one other person reporting similar issue. One assumes that it must be a problem in the way things are installed, but I am completely at a loss as to the cause of the problem, and without any work-around, am completely stuck. If I could carry on, I am sure I could give 5 stars to the course, as the instructions are clear, the examples pertinent, the material logically laid-out. But I am stuck...

I think the objective was appropriate and was not too complex. The instructions given were clear for the most part. It really helps me when an explanation for a line of code is given. Step 2 in Socket.io has no explanation; I am left to guess what exactly that line of code is doing, after reading thru to Step 5. But the fact similar code is repeated in Step 5 and no mention made of what is going on in Step 2, (which looks like a repeat), will cause the student (me) to have to make assumptions as to what the code is actually doing. Point : more code explanation for Step 2 and referencing this in Step 5 to clarify why we did what we did in Step 2 and how it relates to the same code statements in Step 5. (ie. use of socket.on & socket.emit) The challenge I had was that there were insufficient examples on simple task such as passing multiple variables to the server. StackExchange returned 3 hits and the IO cheatsheet on how to use emit vs on was also lacking. I am at this point about 80% confident in what I did. Still working thru stretch goal #3. goals 1,2 &4 were done.

Simple learning focused tutorial and stepping stone for web developers.

The CSS portion of this course was great - just enough guidance and hints to give you some idea of the vocabulary (and Google search terms) to use, some pointers to useful websites, and finally a complete CSS sheet if you're stumped or need to confirm things. The Javascript portion could do with a LOT more of what makes the CSS portion good, especially the Enhancements section - the Initial Field - Part 1 section is woefully cryptic and I wouldn't have gotten past it without the help of a Javascript-literate co-worker. The List of Messages section has some of this, please add it to the Initial Field section too!

This course is interesting but there is a lot of cut and paste of code. Which probably goes over the heads of most. You end up with a neat little app but after doing this you can't really do anything else with javascript.