Hello, I have taken a break of 2 weeks and I am ready to continue learning programming today! The intermediate algorithm challenges are so tiring and I would want to start learning react instead and do some real developing. What do you think, can I start learning react and do the intermediate algorithms every now and then or should I learn vanillaJS? I don’t now what i should do.
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Hey there @Nicke !
Look, what you want to do is to skip algebra so you can do experiments in science class. It’s an example but it’s also effectively what you’re trying to do. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when learning is to try to make things easier with a framework.
Frameworks are very important in JavaScript but to understand and make quality code you have to know vanilla JS first. That’s why you may notice that there’s a whole front-end library course on FCC. That’s to teach you those frameworks after you’ve learned vanilla JS.
I’m struggling with JS myself and I dread the algorithm challenges but thankfully there’s documentation such the mozilla web docs. Articles on FCC and Dev.to, and if course a community to help on the FCC forums
Keep on coding! 
Best,
Cy499_Studios
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I think there’s some misconception that you need React or a similar framework to build a project with JavaScript. Programming algorithms is one thing - building a website with functionality and interactivity, or a project like a mini-game, is something totally different. FCC (sadly) doesn’t teach the basics of DOM manipulation (which is what you’re actually looking for I think), but there should be a lot of videos available on YouTube, FCC or other.
If you’re getting tired of algorithms and are hungry to actually build something, then absolutely go for that instead, but stick to DOM manipulation with Vanilla JS for now. It’ll make sure that you’ll learn React much faster after that.
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I’d at least finish the JavaScript section projects before jumping into the next certification. Those projects will let you know if you can put what you’re learn to use and are ready to progress.
The frontend end libraries sections are important because libraries are huge in modern web development. You just don’t really do direct DOM manipulation professionally. So it’s it’s important to be ready to tackle the front end library certifications.
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I think it’s useful to know about direct DOM manipulation, but I think it’s also useful to know about pointers and raw memory management. But in both cases it is important to focus on modern best practices and tools to handle that for you.
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I’d stick to the freeCodeCamp curriculum, and if you see something interesting to you as you go along, jump into some side research.
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I disagree on this, it’s true that you don’t do direct DOM manipulation professionally anymore unless it’s a very small project, but often you also don’t write your own plain CSS anymore from scratch. I don’t think this means that jumping right into Bootstrap would be good idea. I also wouldn’t recommend to learn JSX before HTML. Or to jump right into React before you’ve at least once added an event listener to a button in Vanilla JS.
Plus, from personal experience, it has hindered my learning process greatly that I first learned jQuery before Vanilla JS.
@NIcke These are just our opinions, go for what works for you.
This is why I said it is something useful to know about but not something that learners need to practice doing.
I’m not going to tell JavaScript learners to go stop and practice C even though working with pointers and malloc will make you a better developer.
I think there is a big difference between learning jQuery before vanilla JavaScript and learning vanilla JavaScript fundamentals and objects before learning React or Angular.
I was about to disagree but I just changed my mind. If you jump right into React, it’s less likely that you’re trying something like document.querySelector() in your React code. However, it’s important to know about objects, callbacks, execution context and async.
It’s just that from the OP, I read that they’re frustrated with only algorithm challenges without actually building something, and Vanilla JS is an easier entry compared to React. Guess everyone has to find their own way.
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Yeah, the algo challenges can feel tedious to a new learner. I think some of the JavaScript projects, while not manipulating a webpage, can help provide some middle ground and context.
I mean it’s so easy for me to get frustrated to a challenge and stop coding because of it. So i thought that it would be better to do like 1h-2h of algorithm challenges and 1h-2h of creating something with React, VanillaJS or something like that. @JeremyLT @jsdisco
if you want, the projects at the end of the front-end libraries project can be made with HTML/CSS/JS (though you should submit projects that use at least one of the libraries/frameworks introduced in the certificate not just vanilla)
you will need to look at the documentation on your own
That’s true, nothing holds you back from submitting a Vanilla solution and pointlessly add a cdn to jQuery or Bootstrap without ever using them.
I’ll add that it might be a really good exercise to tackle the challenges multiple times with different tools. I did the 25-5 pomodoro challenge with both Vanilla and React, and it was quite enlightening to see the differences.
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