I do have to say that I found this a little easier than the combined HTML and CSS lessons. Somehow this was less confusing. Much of my trouble came from Codecademy’s unclear instructions.

I also wonder if there was a glitch with the program. I have no idea if other students had the same problem but for some reason when I opened some of the lessons, the code was already complete. The solution was simple, I just refreshed the code. But when you are just starting out it is a little confusing.

I also struggled with the directions at points. The exercise would say to write JavaScript but not where. As I found out, the placement of certain elements is very important. I did not find the hints helpful with this, especially since they often gave the answer instead of gentle nudges in the right direction.

Thankfully many of the codes are very similar and build on each other. I struggled with divs and how to put them together and the way they interact with the elements on the HTML page. Variables and functions though, I picked up easily. It is strange because structurally they are kind of similar.

Overall I had significantly less trouble understanding this than I thought I would. Surprisingly enough I found myself enjoying learning this language. Maybe my fear came from the way it was described in class. Or seeing the completed code in another language while I was still struggling with the first two. I’m not sure really, but I like it now that I have tried it. Will I say the same thing later this week while trying to build a photo slideshow? Will I have the same level of clarity as I do today? Watch this space in a week for my answer.