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JavaScript for Cats - An introduction for new programmers
- STHayden 14y agoKinda cool. While covering basic topics I don't know if this really the best guide for beginners. REPL is just not a term a beginner needs to know. Also while the console is awesome It's hard for a beginner to take the knowledge and apply it to something they can immediately do on their own.
- maxogden 14y agogood call, I took the REPL section out. the whole thing is also on github in case you wanna help out https://github.com/maxogden/javascript-for-cats https://github.com/maxogden/javascript-for-cats
- rshlo 14y agogreat idea, looking forward for the rest.
- davvid 14y agoThis is a really nice, fun way to teach javascript. The internet is full of cats, so the possibilities are endless as far as the future articles are concerned. I've shared this with my friend who wanted to learn javascript (and also happens to be a total cat nut (just like me)).
- chinchang 14y agoThere is mention somewhere that he is going to talk on underscore.js too but its not mentioned in the future topic list?
- charliepark 14y agoThe copy on this reads a lot like Chris Pine's introduction to Ruby. Playful, insightful, and simple enough that it isn't intimidating. Really nice.
- maxogden 14y agoI hadn't seen this specific introduction, thanks! I first learned ruby through _why's poignant guide which definitely influenced the approach I took here
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoGreat. But teaching beginners not to use semicolons at the end of lines may not be the best of ideas, especially since they can then be caught out when they type two lines that JS sees as one.
- maxogden 14y agoif you find an instance in the code examples where ASI doesn't do its job i'd happily merge in a pull request that inserts a semicolon manually https://github.com/maxogden/javascript-for-cats https://github.com/maxogden/javascript-for-cats
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoNo no no. Teaching people to only use a semicolon in some cases is even worse. It's far better to just tell them to use semicolons everywhere, as they should. ASI is an error-correction mechanism, after all.
- maxogden 14y agoi'll make you a deal: if you can find a bug caused by me not using semicolons in any of my github repos from the last year i will add a section into jsforcats about using semicolons
- magmadiver 14y agoWell, you're not a beginner, so it doesn't really apply to you. Consistency and completeness are very important to avoid confusion.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoYeah. I don't want begginers to be caught out.
- maxogden 14y ago
- swift 14y agoStrange explanation of the word "variable" in here. It doesn't mean "many" - more like "changeable". It's the opposite of "constant".
- maxogden 14y ago"many" as in "many forms". i'll work on clarifying the language
- Udo 14y agoI second this "changeable" synonym instead of "many". At that point, you could also add a quick reference to mathematics, because that's where 99% of all people already got some experience with variables. Very cool tutorial by the way, keep up the great work!
- barnette 14y agoThis is a very good JavaScript beginner intro from msdn channel 9. http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Javascript-Fundamentals-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Javascript-Fundamentals-Deve...
- benatkin 14y agoThis is nice, especially how it encourages using the in-browser development environment. I think it should more strongly direct people to use Chrome so it can be one set of instructions and go deeper.