Learning to Code: Reflections: December 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Day 164: "JavaScript & JQuery" by Jon Duckett

Today I'm starting on page 64 of the JavaScript & JQuery book by Jon Duckett.

I'm on pg 96 now. I learned that you can have a function return two results, by using an array. The example os on pg 95 of the book, it's neat.

I made a commitment to finish the book by the 5th, because I've got to start making progress again on the Pomodoro Clock project.

It's 11:06 p.m., December 31st, the new year is about to start. I'm going to eat 12 grapes and make 12 wishes in a moment (it's a Spanish custom).

SUMMARY OF CODING SKILLS

Total Treehouse Points: 5,503
Treehouse Points by Subject Matter (Miscellaneous not included):
HTML: 663
CSS: 1,599
Design: 1,193
Development Tools: 747
JavaScript: 1,239

Treehouse Ranking (%): "You have more total points than 93% of all students."

Treehouse Courses Completed:
How to Make a Website
HTML
CSS Foundations
CSS Layout Techniques

Aesthetic Foundations
Design Foundations
Adobe Photoshop Foundations
Adobe Illustrator Foundations (66% complete, switched focus from web design to web dev)
Console Foundations
Git Basics
Introduction to Programming
JavaScript Basics

Codecademy (& other) Courses Completed:
HTML and CSS (Codecademy)

Books Read or in Progress:

Completed: "Head First HTML and CSS," by E. Robson & E. Freeman

Completed: "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript," by Mark Myers

Completed: "HTML and CSS," by Jon Duckett
In Progress: "JavaScript and JQuery," by Jon Duckett (on pg 96 of 622)

My Progress on The Odin Project:

1. Introduction to Web Development 100% Complete

2. Web Development 101 33% Complete
Note: I switched to FCC for the great online community and better updates/support.

My Progress on Free Code Camp (FCC):
1. Get Started with Free Code Camp Complete
2. HTML5 and CSS Complete
3. Responsive Design with Bootstrap Complete
4. Gear up for Success Complete
5. jQuery Complete
6. Basic JavaScript Complete
7. Object Oriented and Functional Programming Complete
8. Basic Algorithm Scripting Complete
9. Basic Front End Development Projects On 4 of 5
10. Intermediate Algorithm Scripting On 4 of 21 (#13 and #14 also done)
11. JSON API's and Ajax
12. Intermediate Front End Development Projects
13. Claim Your Front End Development Certificate
14. Upper Intermediate Algorithm Scripting
15. Automated Testing and Debugging
16. Advanced Algorithm Scripting
17. AngularJS
18. Git
19. Node.js and Express.js
20. MongoDB
21. Full Stack JavaScript Projects
22. Claim Your Full Stack Development Certificate

After the 800 hours of FCC work above, there are 800 more hours of non-profit coding projects.

Hours Spent Coding Today: 2

Total Hours Coding: 752

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Day 163: Bill 'n' Bonnie's Website

All right, since I finished the book yesterday, I'm starting today by going over mobile first design briefly, and then I'm coding up the website for Bill and Bonnie, a married couple here who are mobile mechanics. It will be super basic, the main reason for it is simply to have something for people that find Bill and Bonnie on Yelp to click on. That, and for me to have a project I can start from zero to finish by myself, using mobile-first design principles. Later on, perhaps I'll add some special effects with JavaScript or JQuery.

For the mobile site, we can use max-width, and for the desktop site, we can use min-width. Now, for the in-between site, we can do this:

<style>
  @media (min-width: 500px) and (max-width: 600px) {
    h1 {
      color: red;
    }
  }
</style>

So that covers all the page widths between 500px and 600px. I'll be using a mobile-first design approach, so the first thing I'll do is design the mobile site, then build up from there. Once it's all designed, I'll code it up and deploy it. All right, let's get started!

O.k., I'm done with the site, I made it super basic, and I also made a Yelp account for Bonnie, that will be the more important thing, as people will actually be able to find her. Here's the yelp site:

And here's the actual site:

I also read 64 pages of the JavaScript book, it was lots of basics, nothing I don't already know, so I won't make any notes of it, but that's where I'll start my next entry.

SUMMARY OF CODING SKILLS

Treehouse Courses Completed:
How to Make a Website
HTML
CSS Foundations
CSS Layout Techniques

Books Read or in Progress:

Completed: "Head First HTML and CSS," by E. Robson & E. Freeman

Completed: "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript," by Mark Myers

Completed: "HTML and CSS," by Jon Duckett
In Progress: "JavaScript and JQuery," by Jon Duckett (on pg 0 of 622)

My Progress on The Odin Project:

1. Introduction to Web Development 100% Complete

2. Web Development 101 33% Complete
Note: I switched to FCC for the great online community and better updates/support.

Hours Spent Coding Today: 6

Total Hours Coding: 750

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Day 162: "HTML & CSS," by Jon Duckett

All right, I left off on page 393 last time, so that's where I'lll start off today. The current theme is grid-based layouts, which is great, because I really wanted to go over that again.
The book went over the 960 grid system and how to use multiple stylesheets, if desired. If we link to CSS and also use the @import rule within the CSS, the rest of the code in the CSS style sheet takes precedence over the code within the @import rule (because we always place the @import rule at the top of the CSS file, and the CSS below it, being after, would take precedence.

We went over how the new HTML5 elements are treated as inline element by older browsers, and the code we should enter to avoid this issue.

All right, I finished the book. It did not go over media queries, so I'll have to refresh on that. I'm thinking I will code and deploy the mobile mechanic website tomorrow. That, or start on the "JavaScript & JQuery" book.

SUMMARY OF CODING SKILLS

Treehouse Courses Completed:
How to Make a Website
HTML
CSS Foundations
CSS Layout Techniques

Books Read or in Progress:

Completed: "Head First HTML and CSS," by E. Robson & E. Freeman

Completed: "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript," by Mark Myers

Completed: "HTML and CSS," by Jon Duckett
In Progress: "JavaScript and JQuery," by Jon Duckett (on pg 0 of 622)

My Progress on The Odin Project:

1. Introduction to Web Development 100% Complete

2. Web Development 101 33% Complete
Note: I switched to FCC for the great online community and better updates/support.

Hours Spent Coding Today: 4

Total Hours Coding: 744

Friday, December 4, 2015

Day 161: "HTML & CSS," by Jon Duckett

All right, I'll do the website after I finish this book, in case I want to apply more of the HTML5 on my site, and just to see if I can learn a bit more that will allow me to add some features to the site. The site's going to be deploying live, and it's more work to deploy and make changes to a live site, so I want to make sure I've got a good product before it's deployed.

I'm up to pg 393 of the book now, and I'll stop there today. It's been a great refresher so far, my goal is to finish the book tomorrow and perhaps the webpage as well.

I went over the float and clear properties, which was great, as well as the z-index, positioning, fonts, colors, and many other HTML and CSS basics. My blog notes on the book are sparse, but that's because most of the content is material I already understand and have actually blogged about earlier.

SUMMARY OF CODING SKILLS

Treehouse Courses Completed:
How to Make a Website
HTML
CSS Foundations
CSS Layout Techniques

Books Read or in Progress:

Completed: "Head First HTML and CSS," by E. Robson & E. Freeman

Completed: "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript," by Mark Myers

In Progress: "HTML and CSS," by Jon Duckett (On pg 393 of 490)
In Progress: "JavaScript and JQuery," by Jon Duckett (on pg 0 of 622)

My Progress on The Odin Project:

1. Introduction to Web Development 100% Complete

2. Web Development 101 33% Complete
Note: I switched to FCC for the great online community and better updates/support.

Hours Spent Coding Today: 6

Total Hours Coding: 740