My programming skills have greatly improved in the following ways:
I entered this class with zero knowledge or experience of programming or coding, so it is satisfying to see how much I have learned. From this class, I have improved my ability to problem solve, comprehend, and pay attention to detail. I struggled a lot at the beginning of class understanding how to apply and combine skills. But after going through the WODs and labs and spending more time with the material, I found it easier to code. I never thought that programming could build so many mental skills.
I need to work on the following to improve my programming skills:
Although I have improved a lot in my programming skills I know that I have a lot of room to grow in being more creative in the application of my skills. Right now, my application of the skills is limited to how we used them in class. I need to be able to form the connections between what I want and code more efficiently. The best way to fix this is to understand each skill better and look at more examples of how they are applied in different situations.
I also need to pay more attention to detail when coding and work on being able to find the errors in my code when it doesn’t output what I want. This is what I struggled with the most when working on the WODs and Assignment 1. To fix this, I need to just make sure I double-check my work after preferably each line or task and also utilize the console to tell me where errors are.
I can do the WODs without looking at the screencast solutions first.
I believe that I can do the WODs without the screencast solutions, but I am not sure if I’d be able to do them as efficiently as I would without referencing the screencast for a refresher. There are a couple of screencasts that I would have to review. For example, I needed to review CSS for Assignment 1, so this would most likely be a WOD where it would be best for me to review the screencast to complete the WOD efficiently.
The labs have helped me to learn and I am able to complete them with confidence.
Without the Labs, I know I would not be able to understand coding. I am not someone who is able to understand from just reading tutorials, so It was nice to have the labs to tie everything together and follow. As of right now, I think that I would be able to the earlier labs with confidence, but the more recent labs I would struggle a lot with. I think that it might’ve been since the class was behind schedule and the difficulty of the content, but it was really hard for me to grasp server-side processing.
I feel ready I am ready to work on the next stage of complexity in programming (building small web applications like Assignment 1).
At the time of starting Assignment 1, I did not feel comfortable starting with the knowledge I had of server-side processing. I spent a lot of time reviewing Lab13 and watching the screencasts. After completing Lab 13, I felt way more confident and understood the process a lot better. A recommendation would be to make a screencast for the workshop because I was very confused when looking at the slides since I learn more from hearing and following.
I think the class can be improved to help my learning in the following ways:
Something that I think would help my learning a lot in class would be to make screencasts for the topics we don’t have time to cover in class. I find it difficult to understand the material when we run out of time. I think that creating a more in-depth screencast with explanations would be more beneficial than rushing to finish in class.
These are things that work really well for my learning in this class:
What helped me the most was the Labs and WODs. Labs helped me to understand the content better and the WODs allowed me to identify topics that I needed to go back and review. Labs really helped me a lot in class, I appreciate how the content is presented in ways that we will use them for WODs and the Assignment so it helps to solidify our learning.