One of the things about being a developer is that you’re never done learning. You might have a favorite language, or framework, or library, but in all likelihood you won’t be able to use those exclusively. You may love JavaScript, but the project you’re working on may demand Python. You may be great with Perl, but your company’s codebase may be in C++. To new developers, the idea of learning a new language can be very daunting, especially if there are deadlines hanging over your head. That’s the bad news. The good news is that learning a new language doesn’t have to be hard.

• learning
• programming

If there’s one thing that every programmer knows for sure, it’s that nothing ever works perfectly, every time, all the time. Errors are a part of daily programming life and learning to deal with them gracefully is an important part of writing good code. Like most fundamental concepts in coding, error-handling is an immense topic full of complexity; however, we can learn a lot just from understanding the basics.

• exceptions
• javascript
• programming

One of the most fundamental concepts in programming is the idea of *data types*. It’s a concept that is shared near-universally across major programming languages. In short, data types are instructions to a program’s compiler (or interpreter) regarding how it should handle a given value.

• javascript
• programming

One of the most powerful features of JavaScript is the concept of closure. It is this feature that lets us do things like create private data and define application interfaces. However, for new JavaScript programmers, the idea of closures, and how to use them, can be a bit confusing.

• javascript
• programming

A few weeks ago we took a break from JavaScript to talk more generally about how to use a structured problem solving approach. This week, we’re going to depart even further from the norm and talk about learning specifically, what I call “lonely learning,” and why it’s an outdated method for new coders.

• learning
• programming

One of the things software developers think about a lot is how to DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) up their code. The reason for this is relatively simple. The more you can reuse your code, the easier your codebase is to maintain. If you have two objects that share behavior, why define that behavior in two places? And if you do, what happens if you need to change something later?

• javascript
• programming

One of the most common tasks for a developer is iteration. Sometimes the purpose is to carry out a particular operation with each value in a data structure. Other times the goal is to transform the data structure itself. Still other times the intent is to operate on the data structure as a whole, such as in the summing of a list of values.

• javascript
• programming

A common misconception about coders is that their job is to write code. OK, maybe that’s not totally wrong, but it fails to capture the essence of what a coder does, which is solve problems. Every day coders are confronted by myriad problems that need to be solved, whether it is sorting a set of data, transforming messy input into something organized, or figuring out when and how to return some value to a user. We spend all day solving problems, which is why problem solving is a skill worth practicing.

• learning
• programming

JavaScript, for all of its power and expressiveness, is a language that refuses categorization. Some prefer to use it in the object-oriented style and others in the functional style. And the mere fact that it can be used in either tells us something about JavaScript’s dynamism. JavaScript is a flexible language that provides a wealth of features that, if well understood, can be leveraged in powerful ways.

• javascript
• programming

As a JavaScript developer, much of the code you will be writing will deal with objects. We create objects to help organize code, reduce redundancy, and reason about problems using object-oriented techniques. The benefits of object-oriented design are readily apparent, but recognizing the usefulness of objects is just the first step. Once you have decided to use an object-oriented structure in your code, the next step is to decide *how* to do it.

• design
• javascript
• patterns
• programming