This week’s assignments, though very basic, revealed the complex functions that help businesses and organizations interact with their clients, customers, readers, or viewers through the Internet – the most obvious example being the “creditCheck” assignment. It was easy to see how more complex code (specifically functions) can help businesses make decisions and process information quickly, remotely, and more accurately. There is no doubt in my mind that I will forever think about what is going on behind the scenes when I visit websites, having now had a glimpse into the “inner workings.”

I can see why these lessons are important to those, namely journalists, who use the Internet to interact with others for work. For example, just as one written word in a newspaper can change the entire meaning of an article, one piece of code can change the entire meaning of a web entry. Knowing and understanding the construct of that web page can help journalists prevent errors, and quickly correct those that are missed. This helps them maintain control of and protect their written word and personal brand, two things that are vital to journalists that are seeing more of their work on the Internet.

As far as Codeacademy is concerned, I like the method used to teach code on that site. However, there are parts that are extremely difficult and require one to go to the Q&A section for assistance. The problem is that not all of the answers given in the Q&A are correct, and it can be a little confusing. I would like to see a page where one could go to see exactly how the code should be written. It’s true, this could encourage users to cheat, but that seems to be exactly what web developers do anyway – use code that has already been written. So why not just let users see the answer, and let them retype it and manipulate it as they go through the courses?