Being a Computer Science major, I have learned a lot about different programming languages. So far I am familiar with about four, and I am becoming more familiar with a fifth one, Javascript. In terms of simplicity, Javascript is going towards the lower end of difficulty. It reminds me of when I first learned Python and it seemed pretty easy to me, Javascript is beginning to become one of my favorite programming languages. It has a pretty similar syntax to Java which also is one of the reasons why it may be a little simple for me as I had spent two semesters learning Java, compared to the two semesters I had learning Python, C, and C++ all together. But, I am only in the early stages of working with Javascript so it may kick up a notch later down the line. But as of right now, I am really enjoying it.
The best thing about Javascript is that everything is an object. It makes things so much easier for me because I do not not to worry about having separate arrays for different data types or worry about getting an error for passing the wrong parameter inside of a function. I have become used to declaring variable data types and now with Javascript, I do not have to do so.
In this class, we are also doing “Workouts of the Day” or WODs. I have only done three different ones of these so far and I have been pretty decent at them. These were practice ones though so I could not say anything about the difficulty of the ones that will actually count. I think these practice WODs are good to prepare me for some of the real ones as they simulate the pressure that I might feel when doing the ones that count. As far as if they actually prepare me for my career, I am not really sure. I know that sometimes during these interviews they will ask you to code something within a certain time limit, but in reality, unless you are working on a project by yourself, you will always have others to collaborate with. But, I also understand that these problems are not necessarily going to be full-on projects and these really are challenging us to think critically, and faster. I do believe that these are helping me though as they will allow me to figure things out faster when I work on larger more trivial projects. I would not say that the process is enjoyable, but when you finish the WOD on time, that is the most enjoyable part. I also would not say that it is stressful as well because these are just ways to help us out and it is not like if we fail a couple, we fail the class.