After completing the basic challenges on D3 from the current curriculum, I have jumped into the challenges ready to do what I’ve done with every single module so far, and put what I have learned into practice - and when in doubt, read the documentation.
However with D3, not only the API taught is from a deprecated version (v3), the Projects expect you to be completely comfortable with concepts like Scales and Axis, when they are barely touched upon during the actual course. Am I supposed to read and master the entire API? To top it off, finding any sort of guidance around is virtually impossible as it seems everyone not only uses different versions, but also does things totally different from one another.
Just looking into the code from the Scatterplot Graph blows my mind. How are we supposed to have the slightest clue on manipulating the data so that it can fit this specific d3 method that’s never mentioned anywhere during the course? Did I miss something? Am I supposed to read some kind of complementary material that went past me? I honestly don’t understand how are people able to complete these challenges starting fresh with the library.
This is the curriculum where they stop holding your hands and expect you to finish projects using your own resources, which resemble more like a real world scenario .
You will learn new concepts faster by researching on your own and practice.
My point isn’t necessarily to vent or to just whine about the course, but rather to honestly ask how did people manage to complete it. I’m really not a stranger to this concept you described of “from now on, you’re gonna have to do some research”, I had to practice a bit with React before tackling on the Projects, and that’s fine, since most of what I learned during the course already gave me a decent enough base to both follow through the docs, or to at least get going by myself and google as I went along.
Not only is D3’s own documentation outdated and very confusing, the difficulty curve on the challenges is so extreme that I just simply have no idea of what to do next, I tried learning D3’s API but good God you could have a 1300 course just on it if you wanted, it’s very complex and expansive.
I hope that makes sense. I’m not complaining about doing my own research or reading some docs, just wanting to know how did people manage to go from the meager knowledge provided in the course, to writing their own Data Trees.
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