Reflections part III

This class has been a whirlwind. I might have said that before, but it deserves saying again. I’m glad I have these skills–the basics. I know what a markup language is. I know about abstraction and the incredible importance of having a community of fellow coders–people who are trying to figure it out and are willing to discuss (except, something tells me that real coders aren’t like that) and the vast importance of semicolons in the right places.

It may seem silly, but I was amazed at the amount of similarity between learning coding and learning a language. Repetition, repetition, repetition. I did think it would be more like math, but it is so much more like a puzzle or just understanding the basics to know what works with what and why.

I hope to continue learning these languages. I’d like the concentrate on CSS, HTML, and JavaScript–front end stuff so that I can continue to work on better versions of the site I created. I mentioned in one of my more recent posts how I hope to focus on other subjects. I’m also very excited to be taking the data visualization class–maybe I can combine all these elements to tell a story more effectively. I’d love to create my own custom slider with JavaScript, and learning to use PhotoShop and the rest of the Adobe creative suite for the visual elements.

This class really revealed how much more I want to learn. That was both eye opening and daunting. There are so many things I want to be able to do well, so that’s going to take some effort on my part. I’m thinking of looking into one of the local workshops or bootcamps so I can continue to learn more about the languages I mentioned. (I was disappointed that the “hard way” series doesn’t have any visual books about yet!)

I think the best way for me to continue learning this stuff is simply to have a project or two that I continue to putz with and work on. I’m happy to have learned about all these new resources so that I can try and make the ideas in my head come to fruition.