I have only been able to get through each one with the hints. I don’t understand and I am getting discouraged.
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You won’t be the first nor the last person to say that can’t understand JavaScript, it’s a pretty common situation for self taught people with no programming background. I was in that situation myself when I started learning programming. My advise is to use as many resources as you need, don’t rely only on one particular tutorial or resource.
Also follow a tutorial on how to build something really simple with JavaScript, this way things like functions would start to make sense and you would see how and why they are used. Then try to build something by yourself, you are going to struggle a lot, seriously A LOT, but if you push through it, it’s going to be a very rewarding experience, because that’s how you learn best.
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Thank you, I have been watching videos and bought some books. I’m trying to grasp it but a lot more complicated than HTML and CSS. I’m trying not to completely give up. Thank you for your feed back and advice.
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I didn’t get it at first either. I looked at the hints, but I tried to understand the hints. I googled - google the name of the challenge and you will get more info. Look to other sources of learning like w3schools.com. I wanted to quit when I got to JavaScript because there was less instruction and it was harder. But I stuck with it, because despite all the frustration I found out I like coding. It’s going to get harder, in terms of what you have to learn on your own, as you progress with fcc. Going forward, fcc will give you the “gist” of the language but you have to do a lot of the learning on your own, which is probably a real world scenario. So don’t worry about looking at the hints, learn from the hints, and eventually you will start to “get it”. If you want it and like it don’t give up.
I’m having the EXACT same problem with Javascript as I am also new to programming.
I started to learn a little bit of C.
Javascript is so much harder for me to grasp for whatever reason.
Things like objects & object constructors I have yet to understand how they work. 
What you say is very relateble.
I had the same issue a few weeks back. So I started cs50 course to get the basics down. After doing 3 rounds of problem sets in C and understanding the core concepts, I came back to JS and it is quite easy to understand.
I am only starting so I cant say I know all of JS or C, but concepts are easier to grasp now.
Thank You. I am still at it but it is taking me a bit to grasp.
I agree, a lot harder to grasp. At least right now it is.
I’m feeling the same way about Javascript, man. Just gotta keep working toward figuring it out in the way that works best for your learning style. You only fail if you quit!
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Hi Corey,
Did you eventual learn Java script? I am having the same issue
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If you don t have any computer science background, or nothing related to development in general I recommend you to watch CS 50, it s free and you just have to sign up. You don t have to try their challenges it s enough to only watch the main videos, those of 2 hours each like so you have an understanding how computers work how memory works etc. I was in your situation .
I wish I knew about CS 50 earlier to fill those gaps and help me understand JS easier. After you watched those videos you can come back to JS and try, and even if you decide to go through videos faster even if you memorize like 60% of what s in there will help, also you can always go back later if you want to be more serious about that. When I first started learning JS I had no idea what all those String methods and Arrays methods are for. Nothing made sense till I saw some practice, I followed some tutorials building real like projects and see how they are applied, then I went back and everything made sense.
Even now I m trying to also learn Python and even tho it s my second programming language, and I read a lot about Python being easy to learn, either I got used too much with JS or that language it s quite weird. Many concepts I learned from CS 50 and JS helped me understand some stuff and I could apply the same stuff I learned so far but there are some things that are quite weird to me and I still need to get used to. Python it s quite complex tho, also this instructor , he s good but I feel he doesn t explain properly sometimes so I guess it s not my style, nonetheless I don t give up on Python and prob I ll try to get other course with other instructor maybe I can understand better those things I couldn t from this course. Don’t give up, sometimes you just need to find a better approach to learn, you just have to figure which one fits for you.
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And the link @Osiris forgot to attach:
Isn’t CS50 done in C? I agree that after C, many other languages are easy, but I’m not sure that having to deal with memory management and pointers directly is such a great way to teach algorithmic thinking.
I guess whatever works, works. Can’t hurt to try.
Python is Easy (er)
Python is easier than stuff that came before. Back in the day, beginners used to be taught Basic (one curriculum I went through replaced Basic with COBOL, a similar difficulty level) . Basic was criticized for not being a “real” language. It was a hurdle to go from Basic syntax to C syntax.
Then came Python and people said it looked like a “real” language. It had qualities that made it easier for beginners to learn and use but usually it wasn’t their first language or they had some kind of instruction for things like arrays. It was easy enough that scientists who weren’t programmers could study it and quickly use it as a tool at their work. However those non-programming scientists may have had to learn a language, like my physicist friend, who had to learn Fortran in college. So a novice, yes, but not a total beginner.
Javascript has a odd syntax with which you seem to be comfortable . You’ll get this new syntax soon. Keep at it and good luck.
Hey guys, I just found this news article which led me to this course:
CS For All: Introduction to Computer Science and Python Programming from Harvey Mudd College. It teaches python and computer science at the same time! Prerequisite is a good grasp of algebra.
I’m still learning, it’s very confusing to me.
Knowing how computers work and how everything is stored in memory and the fact that memory isn’t a limited resource and you need to keep that in mind when developing can help. For some people that might not be obvious. Also this way you learn that all the stuff happening isn’t magic. They also teach about algorithms and data structures and about stacks and some of the stuff apply to all programming languages. When you work with JS I agree you don’t work with memory pointers but JS does that for you, so knowing what happens under the hood is always good to know. Also as a developer you need to know how things are stored in memory, what is a memory address etc.
Also you can try some good video course about JS that explains what happens under the hood that might also help, if you don t have time for CS50 course.
Yes same here welcome to the world of JavaScript. I will tell you a secret we all did at first and some of us still do. Trick is to just keep going every day and be actively involed into it.