Diving Into a New Chapter
17 Jan 2024
When initially diving into the realm of programming, I have this feeling of anxiety and stress crawling up my spine. It’s supposed to be a fun experience of learning something new, but it feels overwhelming to me. Born as a perfectionist, I get dismotivated easily if I don’t get it on the first few tries. Hence, computer science has been a pretty humbling experience for myself, yet, it is also addicting because of the accomplishing feeling when my code runs successfully. I always have a on-and-off relationship with programming, but that was my journey that led me here, as I now take on another challenge with JavaScript.
Getting Comfortable
With previous experience in dynamic programming languages, I now navigate the zone of getting comfortable with writing functions in JavaScript–I find them to be simpler compared to my first language, Java. Java is a much more complex language, where I would have to type out public static void main (String[] args) per every new method whereas JavaScript would simply require the syntax,function NAME (parameters)
The similarity in being able to print to the console such as System.out.println in Java and console.log() in JavaScript has also allowed me to get used to JavaScript quickly.
Per conditional statements such as if statements and switch statements, they are also similarly striking. This is where I realized that the syntaxes of both Java and JavaScript are almost the same. And… I was right. Java and JavaScript stem from C and C++, which I also previously enjoyed learning, as they inherit both rules and synatx from them. Hence, Java and such have what I see as ‘add-ons’, since it is a object-oriented language with classes that make it a bit easier to learn (especially for beginners).
The Pushing Point
While finding similarities between past programming languages I have learnt and starting to get comfortable with JavaScript, I acknowledge that I am still taking my first steps in to programming. Having Workout Of the Day(s) (WODs) in my current software engineering course presents a difficult obstacle where I am required to solve certain prompts given a short amount of time with an all or nothing scoring system.
I often find myself to take more time than others to grasp concepts, and fast paced courses like software engineering tend to terrify me. Still yet, I view that this will be my pushing point and a chance for myself to grow and become a better programmer. As stressful as it is, I want to do my best and hope to find enjoyment thoughout the process.
Close to the Finish Line
As I take on this new adventure, I look forward to grasping every opportunity that comes my way to master JavaScript. With overcoming my anxiety inducing feelings, I am excited to see the challenges I overcome and learn why JavaScript is such a highly efficient programming language, that I will one day become a master of.