Hal McFarland’s Post

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I’ve been a little quiet this week as I have come across my first JavaScript roadblock. 🚧 I’ll admit, I’ve been stuck on it for a few days and it has slowed my journey down a bit. It’s really two-part: the first is Nesting Functions.. although I think after a good sleep I may figure that part of my problem out this morning (sleep tends to help solve syntax errors 🙂↕️). The second may also be a simple one for some, or it may be that it’s been haunting you for years, but what is up with Hoisting?! Sound off in the comments if you have any tips or if you are also fumbling through these concepts so we can pull ourselves out of this one! #dev30

One of the first 'aha' moments I've had learning JavaScript has been simple string concatenation. If you are an experienced coder, you may be thinking, 'yep, that's pretty darn simple!' I know that it's a super basic idea, but it kind of unlocked a memory: When I was first learning how to read and write, I remember it being so intimidating. I had a comic book that my Mom brought back for me from a work trip, and I would flip through it, memorizing the words to try to match them up with the context of the pictures. I thought that was what reading entailed. The level of comprehension relied heavily on the illustrations, and once those were stripped away in a school setting, where it was just strings of letters on paper, I felt completely lost. I eventually got a grasp of it (wrote this post myself! 😅 ) but beginning to code has brought back that familiar fear from long ago of not having my bearings. I can look at someone's code and get the gist of what's going on, but once I am left to do the writing is where the anxiety sets in. I am learning the foundations right now, and struggling through the awkwardness of learning to speak/write a new language. I remind myself that whether it is a dialect or a computer-based language, those first phases of learning are always hard. Utilizing string concatenations was the first time I really felt some traction happening, which already feels rewarding. Looking forward to reading this post a few weeks from now and thinking, 'woah!! I've come a long way!' #dev30 What has been one of your 'aha' moments with coding? I'd love to hear!

𝐀𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐆𝐢𝐭𝐇𝐮𝐛’𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. This was a data-backed statement made at this year’s VS Code Day, a 6-hour livestream hosted by Senior Developer Advocates Reynald Adolphe and Gwyneth Peña-Siguenza of Microsoft (whose segue game was on point btw 😭.. seriously, they did a great job keeping things light and fun). The day included new feature announcements, demos, and Q&A’s with fantastic speakers. I’ll compile some distilled notes soon here, but for now, Burke’s main takeaway gave me an optimistic feeling as I have just recently began my coding journey. “𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬… 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥. 𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞.” - Burke Holland Principal Developer Advocate at Microsoft, Keynote Speaker at VS Code Day 2024 Check out this link for Burke’s 5 minute video walkthrough of the Copilot extension for VS Code. And if try out the extension, lmk how it goes! #dev30

Here’s an article that nails down why I chose to learn JavaScript. It really is the logical next step after HTML and CSS, but beyond that it is approachable enough to learn as a first interactive language and get some foundational knowledge to stick. #dev30 https://lnkd.in/g4zQGvHu Also, kind of random and just for fun, check out the perfectly preserved original Space Jam website I came across recently. It is a testament to how much has changed in web development, but also how ahead of the times that dev team was! https://lnkd.in/gnR5bsZi

I recently wrote my first line of code. It’s scary. It’s a big leap from furniture design and seemingly an even further one from restaurant life. These are the fields I’m used to. But in both of those careers, I faced a similar hurdle. For those wanting to seriously make an impact, there is a locked door at the end of the hall of both. And it’s tech. When the pandemic hit and I was a sommelier at a wine bar, we couldn’t afford to hire someone to make our online market place, but that was our key to staying afloat, so we banded together and made one ourselves. No it was not the prettiest, yes it had flaws, but we did it and started selling wine online. In my furniture design career, when I convinced my first amazing clients to give me a shot at making their ideas a reality, I learned Rhino, rendered some mock-ups, and went to a friend’s shop and started building. The next hurdle is where I get stuck: scalability. These days, making big ideas a reality relies on fully embracing the type of connectivity that only technology can provide. I’ve never been able to afford to pay a developer to make my ideas come to life. So I am learning how to program. I’ve heard from a few people to ‘stay in your lane! Find a friend who knows how to program and get them to help you out.’ And I respect the advice, but that’s just not my style. I’m stubborn and I have to learn it myself. So I foolishly call myself a developer, again only recently having written my first line of code. It’s something I’ll grow into, and I’m manifesting it right now. And in a few months/years, once I really feel like I can own it, I can’t wait to see what is possible. When was the last time you tried something completely new? A new hobby, a new work flow, a full-on new career.. what was the spark for you? What caused you to become vulnerable and willing to be a newbie again? #dev30

’Tomato Time’ is going to make my goal of learning JavaScript attainable. I am dedicating the first few days of my #dev30 to building a schedule using Pomodoro blocks that prioritize my current coding goal (to learn and leverage as much JavaScript as I can in 30 days). Pomodoros have helped me conquer big goals one bite at a time before. I definitely have the technique to thank for pushing me through my Sommelier Certification in a past career, and I have affectionately referred to Pomodoros as ‘Tomato Time’ ever since. Tomato Time got me through sleepless nights of studying grapes, and it will get me through the countless lines of code to come. And when I get distracted during a 25er, I’ll simply remind myself, “Not right now, I’m on #tomatotime.” 🍅 Here’s an article I’ve found useful when brushing up on time management tools, starting with a (brief) origin story of the Pomodoro Technique.

Welp, I've put this off long enough. I'm finally going to sit down and document my JavaScript journey! Time for me to spend the next 30 days laser-focused on one of the most powerful languages out there. The learning never really stops with JS, so I'm looking forward to connecting with new coders, gurus, and anyone else interested in pulling me out of rabbit holes along the way. Stay tuned 👨💻 #dev30