I have came to functional programming topic by completing all other curriculum in JS. And finding it hard to learn FP.
Should I quit for some time to learn from other resources and then come back later to complete the curriculum.
I suggest looking for other resources, because, IIRC, freeCodeCamp shouldn’t be your main and only resource. There is also w3schools, etc.
Once you become comfortable with Functional Programming, then there you can come back and finish the course without much struggle as before.
I am thinking to learn from udemy.
I’m not a fan of setting the precedent that if something gets difficult, you quit.
But FCC is not comprehensive and this is hard stuff.
I would recommend staying the course, but doing little side missions, little researches as you go, when you need it. This actually mirrors what developers do all the time. I recently had to integrate a feature, using a package I’d never used, requiring editing in two languages I didn’t know - there was no tutorial. I just had to do a lot of googling and reading.
3 Likes
On some level, to become a functional and proficient Engineer requires you to become Autodidactic (someone who is self-taught.)
Because the industry and requirements on Engineers are always changing, there is a constant need to Update and Expand your Skills set.
Because it will be your responsibly to teach yourself most of the time, It is best early on to start noticing the ways that help you learn the Best and with the most Proficiency…
You should try out many different modes of Education.
Some people learn best with video, some with audio, Some by using a tutorial series like this.
Studies have shown that using as many of your senses at a time, often helps people to learn the most efficiently.
I wouldn’t say quit using freeCodeCamp. I would say you might need a different style of teaching than what is offered for JavaScript.
Or, you may want to use freeCodeCamp’s resources Differently.
For Example, before starting the unit on JavaScript, try following along with some of these fun Projects:
2 Likes
And just to reiterate, I 100% suggest doing little side quests. I know I struggled in parts. Youtube videos were a life saver.
On top of this, Even if you choose to stop doing the JavaScript Tutorials here, Participating in the Forums, and using the other courses and reading the articles, may move you closer to where you need to be as an Engineer.
Looking at your post history, you are in the hard part of learning programming, and it being hard isn’t really due to what resource you use.
Converting from complex task to code is a hard thing to do. Abstraction is hard. A different resource could work better for you or make more sense to you, but the underlying problem solving is still a hard thing to learn.
Time, practice, and asking lots of questions really is the only way to get through this part. You can do it!
3 Likes
Thank you all for motivating me in the journey, I think every programmer have faced such problems, I hope tomorrow will be better than today. I will stick with FCC.
Hello, Kedar.
I’m also going through the functional programming module. I started having a real hard time when I stepped into the 3rd lesson on my own. So I decided to watch and follow along with Ramón’s session which is a part of a free JS Bootcamp at Class Central that is based on the fCC curriculum.
He’s really a nice engaging teacher. His teachings helped me a lot in getting started and understanding better the complicated parts of the course like the OOP. I think I couldn’t have gotten this far sooner without his guidance. I usually refer to his sessions when I get stuck or I think I can’t fully grasp the concepts by myself.
The sessions are collected in a public Youtube playlist.
So I feel really lucky and grateful to stumble upon the free BootCamp. Also following their schedule on how to go around the course let me immediately apply the sections I’ve learned on the main projects which I think is a good thing. Like after learning just Basic JS and ES6, I was able to solve the Palindrome project. If I had handled the course on my own, I would have finished first all of the modules to solve the main projects.
I hope RamĂłn could also help or guide you in dealing with the course 
2 Likes
Thanks a lot I will go through it. I hope it will help. 
Don’t quit mate, just take a break and try another resources (there a lot of places where you can learn), then come back.
When I’ve started the FCC curriculum was very easy for me beacuse I’ve already learned html/css and some JS in the past, but when I reach the advanced topics on JS/ES 6 It was very hard to keep learning just with the FCC curriculum, so I took a break and watched some youtube courses, read a lot of blog posts and the guides on MDN. Then I come back and finish the JS tests, the projects at the end of each certification will help you to practice everything you learned and if in the process you feel like you still needing some more lessons in some topic just google that topic, for sure you will find some good guide.
Since that certification, I keep on that path for next sections of curriculum. For ex, I learned React in other sites, then come and pass the tests, same with redux and so on…
I can resume my path like this:
- Start FCC section
- if is too hard > find a tutorial/course/guide
- Pass the tests and start projects
- If I still having some issues with some topic > google that topic
- Finish the projects and go next (or make some extra works to practice more)
Check the FCC Channel on youtube, you have plenty hours of very good courses there, and also check channels of the youtubers which posted those courses. Check MDN guides, and google a lot.
Keep on learning.
Thanks buddy, Yup I have started learning through Udemy.
1 Like
cool, just a suggestion I forgot to mention, avoid any tutorial on how to pass FCC projects or lessons. There are plenty of users that had posted the path to each project, those don’t help you, you need to get the knowledge and solve it by yourself, is the only way to becoming a good developer, you need to be good solving problems.
1 Like
You exactly said what I was thinking. Solving on own helps a lot.
1 Like
I also agree with you @raven666. I always try to pass them on my own, especially the projects. But I guess watching tutorials on how to pass the lessons after getting stuck for quite a long time is still helpful or not that bad? I mean as long as I’ve put the effort to understand the lesson (like taking notes, rereading, reviewing), I allow myself to watch a tutorial if I get really stuck or I don’t get to understand the concepts fully. As some said fCC is not an all-in-one comprehensive JS course.
Tutorials or sessions like at the Bootcamp assist or fill in the gaps I have after going through the material by myself. Like after finishing the OOP, I went on to watch a session bout it. And it actually helped me connect the scattered dots I had in my head.
Sometimes actually they provide ways to better handle the course like doing the console log in the early parts. I believe I couldn’t highly think about the importance of experimenting with code stuff through maximizing the use of console log if I hadn’t watched the tutorials taught by Ramón.
I just think that they made those kinds of tutorials in the first place to just assist me in absorbing the lessons.
But I do think that watching a tutorial on how to solve the main projects or the mini-challenges (like the basic algorithm scripting) before passing them will certainly not help. I see them as assessment tests that evaluate my comprehension of the lessons that could be accompanied by watching some tutorials like the ones on the Bootcamp. So failing to pass them just means that I also fail to understand the lessons.
But after doing the projects on my own, I watch tutorials about them so I can learn better through knowing more effective and efficient approaches. So they’re not at all completely useless or unhelpful.
Anyway, this is just based on my experience
1 Like
It’s not always a good idea to quit or drop it for another course, this has messed me up for so many years. This year I’m finishing whatever I start ,even if I have to go at a speed of 1 meter per day. Seek other smaller challenges to solve your current challenge, see how others solve similar problems, understand why they do whatever they do to solve it and you’ll appreciate how much you learn just by biting off little chunks at a time.
I’m still green to coding, but this method works.
1 Like
The thing is, you don’t need to give the solution to teach the prerequisites and I don’t think you should use the challenge to teach them. You can use completely different code to show the syntax and logic. Sure at the very end, you might have the solution in an optional spoiler section just for completion (just as we already do).
Some people have the completely wrong mindset going through the curriculum. They think it’s like school and that their “grade” will affect their future. All they care about is passing the challenges in a misguided belief that having proof of finishing the curriculum somehow will make them eligible for a job (which it won’t).
The point of the challenge is for you to learn the prerequisites needed to pass the challenge. Passing the challenge in itself does absolutely nothing. In fact, passing it without the prerequisite knowledge is actively harmful to your learning progress.
We know firsthand solutions become a shortcut for some and they will use them no matter what. If you give them a wrong solution they will use that. Then ask why it doesn’t work because they do not understand the challenge or the solution code. People get way too far into the curriculum without even understanding the basics when they start focusing on passing the challenges instead of learning.
So what works for you might not work for everyone and not everyone has the discipline to not copy solution code just to keep moving through the curriculum.
3 Likes
oh yeah, offcourse, you can watch any tutorial if helps you, there is not any mandatory to “no watch tutorials about fcc projects”. The thing is to provide a complete different solution, so you can truly test your skills and no just follow the video and complete the task.
I always try to figure out by myself first, well, thats for my old “bad path” to learn, before coming to FCC I learned a few languages, php, js some java and C++, but at the end I was very bad solving problems because I was consuming a lot of information and following guides and not making anything by my own.
So FCC projects helped me a lot on that subject, thats why I always suggest to no watch solutions before you break some neurons first. And if you do, try start again from the scratch after watching the solution. There is a lot that you’re not learning from FCC curriculum, I’m talking about Logic and maths asignatures, you need to train those things to becoming a good developer. You can study those things for your own, but if you don’t solving projects by your self will help you a lot.
I started this year an Informatics degree, and on the first class of Geometry, our professor told us something that is worth to remember he says “You wont be hired because you know programming, anyone can learn programming, you will be hired because you’re good solving problems, and thats what you need to practice more…”
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 182 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.