Namaste!
Welcome to this guide which will be a companion in this workshop where you'll learn about programming. This guide needs to be used alongside the youtube class
I am Tanay Pratap. I work as an Engineer at Microsoft. I teach students online and get them job ready. If you're a beginner and need a job, I am putting together a bootcamp, a path to become full stack developer in 5-6 months. Check out neog.camp
To know more about me Google "tanay pratap".
A beginner. If you know how to program already, you might learn something, you might not. This goes slow and basic, and might feel like a waste of time. I have warned you!
But, if you have never programmed before, or if you have tried but you feel it's difficult to put together an app, then this is definitely for you.
Send me suggestions or feedbacks on how to improve this futher on Twitter
I want you to write every line, every piece of code yourself. The problem for first-timers is that they don't know how to piece logic together. So, this companion guide will give you exercises, one by one, you do all of it and voila at the end of it you'll have a working application.
Give this method honest 5 hours of your life and you'll be on the right path to becoming a programmer.
A lot of people try learning to program but they don't succeed. Why? Coz they want to stay in the comfort zone of copy-pasting code from the tutorial. So, the moment they get out of tutorial life, they don't know how to think for themselves.
Programming is not about copy-pasting code from a youtube video. It's about structural thinking.
Remember, no pain no gain!
With the rules clear, take notes on the logic building while I am solving the exercises, ask relevant questions during live.
We will do more theory, but let's do few exercises first
Use repl.it to run these programs. You need to sign up and then click on create new repl. Choose JS or NodeJS to create a javascript repl. And from there you can follow on.
Well! If you are from a non programming backgroud, there are chances you have never interacted with a CLI app. Those are pretty obsolete now from the end user scene. But programmers use them all the time.
Most of the tools in a programmers toolkit is CLI: github, shell, programming language repls etc. are all CLIs. In strictest terms, if you are interacting with a program via command line (that black thing with text on it which hackers use in movies) then it's a CLI (Command Line INTERFACE).
Think of it as texting with a program instead of you know the usual clicking of buttons.
In the video, before the beginning of exercises, I showed how to use browser console to run JS programs. If you missed some details, look at this tutorial
Write a program to console your name on the output.
That it's a thing to show output.
The thing you just logged is called a string. It's one type of data that your language understands.
A program to read input from your user. Output this name.
Use readlineSync() for this.
readlineSync() as a dependencyimport it in your index.jsreadlineSync() is a package. In programming, you can use code written by others via this system.
People share their code out in the open to help others. Using this we write bigger programs. This is called standing on the shoulder of giants. Think of this as someone discovered fire and wheel and now we don't have to rediscover it every other generation.
Concept of variable: Think of it as keeping a placeholder in your room. Now in that place, you can keep a bat, a ball, or anything. Variables are placeholders inside the computer and nothing else.
A program to take a string. And add "Welcome" to it. Then console it.
A program to take your user's name. Then welcome them.
Input >> Proccessing >> OutputAsk your user if your age is greater than 25 (or any number) and console right/wrong based on the answer.
CONDITIONAsk your user if your hometown is Bokaro (or your city) and this time increment a variable based on the right answer.
Also, console the score this time.
Take two numbers and add them. Put this entire thing in a function add() and return the result
function functionName(parameterOne, parameterTwo) {
// processing
return outputValue;
}a function is a repeating piece of the PROCESSING while INPUT and OUTPUT changes
Note the difference between parameters and arguments:
Up until now, we have a function() which is kind of a mini-program to do everything which we need to do.
If you look back now, console.log(), readlineSync() are all just functions isn't it?
What we need now is a way to run this mini-program again and again. And each time with a different question/answer pair.
To do this we need to understand a few things.
console.log()for loop to do thisfor (intial CONDITION; exit CONDITION; change CONDITION) {
// code block to be executed
}a program to take input number from user and print stars like this. The below pattern will be printed when the user enters 5.
*
**
***
****
*****
BONUS: Can you print this inverted? Like 5 stars > 4 stars > 3...?
var arrayName = [valueOne, valueTwo, valueThree];what is a data structure? It's just a way of organizing data in a particular way. In the case of an array, data is arranged sequentially and thus can be accessed using index numbers.
what is an easy way to think of array? Think of the array like contents of a book. You can see what's there in each chapter from the top and directly go to a chapter when you know the page number. All chapters are in a sequence.
index-based access, the index starts at 0
accessing the last element and length property of an array
Take the list you made in the last exercise. Now, use a for loop to print every item.
i to access the indexconsole.log() function call with different arguments from array!Create two objects and put information about two superheros: superman and batman. Get familiarity with the syntax. Read and understand what's written in understanding section.
{
// notice the opening bracket
key: value;
} // notice the closing bracketpropertiesdot . notation used to access the properties? One thing to notice here is that console is an object on which log() is a property. And yes, functions too can be a property of object.methods in programming.// hint: there's an error in these objects
// if you copy/paste blindly it won't work
questionOne = {
question: "Who is my favorite superhero?"
answer: "Dhruv"
}
questionTwo = {
question: "Which is my favorite sad song?"
answer: "Channa Meraya"
}We just made a quiz app which tests whether your friends know you. Use the same skills to create a quiz app about something famous and generic which anyone can play. Keep the features same and it would be good enough for levelOne qualifier.
If you want to do something extra, introduce levels: answer 5 right you go to level 2, then 10 right you go to level 3. Use your imagination and make something which your circle would love.
To share use ?embed=1&output=1 at the end of the URL of your app as shown in the video.
Share this and assignment quiz with your friends and family. There are two benefits of it.
You will get motivated by showing off your work. Learn to celebrate your wins. It will help you in your career long term. Tell them you learned this on Diwali and it would mean a lot if they play.
You will get feedback. There's nothing like getting some early user feedback on something you created. They might ask for more features and it will motivate you to explore more. I am counting on it!
Below are bonus homeworks. Try to do it. Feel free to experiment with your app. If you don't do it it's okay. There's no penalty. However, in programming the more you tinker with things without anyone looking over you shoulder the more you learn and thus rewarded in life.
There are different kinds of input which you can take using this library. Check them out. Use it in your apps. You can ask for simple YES/NO or do multi option like Kaun Banega Crorepati.
what I want you to learn here? Honestly, I am trying to instill good habits early on, two habits:
CHALK is an amazing library. You will be amazed to know that I use it in Microsoft for CLI apps too. I want you to play with it. Use it in your current app, use it in your assignment app.
You can use it in more apps later. I would also advise you to read more about writing CLI apps. These apps are used extensively in industry. Knowing it and creating some impressive projects down the line can boost your resume.
You have a data structure created in ex15 which shows high score by players to the current user. Write a piece of function which will check this high score data structure and see if current user's score is a high score or not. if current user has made a high score then congratulate him/her and ask them to send screenshot so that you can update the high score data structure.
By using the same principles we learned in this class you can do it. We did this in exercise 12 where we were comparing superhero powers. This is somewhat similar.
You don't need to udpate the array there. Ask user to send a screenshot to you. You can then update it in the code itself.
We will learn about updating the database later.
< less than or notNot required to go for levelOne
Note: To go to levelOne you need to do all nine things mentioned in nine point system.
There are two exercises which you can try to practice more programming. You don't need to submit these practice exercise anywhere.
a) leap year? b) prime number?