null_coalesce

null_coalesce, 8 months ago

@maldr0id they must really be bored today...

null_coalesce, 10 months ago

@danilo it's wild how dismissive about it a lot of developers are. Obviously, if you're expecting it to be the human being and create the solution for you, you're going to get mixed results at best.

But if you recognize it as a tool to skip past the "read documents and maybe do tutorials or an online course until it mostly makes sense, try (and likely fail spectacularly) to implement, figure out what went wrong, rinse, repeat" phase of learning a new language/platform/etc and skip right to the phase of productively applying your existing expertise in that paradigm... well, like you said, it's an absolute different universe from the old days*

*as in, like, 2021

null_coalesce, 10 months ago

@misc @danilo I think the best language to learn first remains the one most prevalent in the work you seek to do (JS for web/mobile, Python for Data Science, C++ for game development, C for IoT hardware programming, etc), whether you seek to do that work professionally or more as a hobbyist/researcher/whathaveyou.

For new coders, I will say I wonder if there's a danger of missing out on some of the "reasons for being" when it comes to certain best practices. I've definitely noticed a double edged sword with some of the juniors on my team, where they are able to solve problems faster by utilizing ChatGPT, but I also notice bad habits creep in from the GPT-supplied code (which then shows up in other code they write) because they don't yet have the experience to spot bad code intuitively.

All that is to say, whether you get there with ChatGPT, CodeAcademy, a traditional CS degree, a boot camp, or being stranded on remote island somewhere with nothing to entertain yourself but a solar powered Gateway 486 and a copy of Borland TurboC++, there is no substitute for learning the fundamentals.

If you're solid on the fundamentals, any approach you take to learning will likely be productive, and if your fundamentals are shaky, it will show up in your work, regardless of what tools you use.

null_coalesce, 10 months ago

@misc @danilo sure, no problem!

I absolutely love Python, started coding it 2007 and have used it for an expansive range of projects and solutions. It's a fun language to work in, and easy for a beginner to pick up.

That being said, JavaScript runs the web (and the majority of mobile). I also think JS is a great language, it's extremely flexible, and you can use almost any paradigm or combination of paradigms within its structure. But in that flexibility, it also allows for some reaaaaaallllly bad code to slip through the cracks, especially if you aren't familiar with some of the under the hood nuances, which, depending on the particular situation, isn't necessarily a problem, until it is, and then it's a potentially a really big problem.

Now that is not to discourage you from pursuing Python at all, as the time you spend learning Python will certainly help you gain experience with programming concepts that will be applicable in any language. But what it won't do is help you learn the nuances of JavaScript, which is where you need to have expertise to effectively develop for the web.

One last thing I'll mention is, if you do pursue JS, you'll very quickly be exposed to frameworks like React, Vue, etc. The thing to keep in mind is that JavaScript expertise translates to any JS framework, but expertise in React doesn't translate to Vue (or even necessarily general Javascript for that matter). Start with general expertise first (aka plain jane JavaScript), then start extending your skillset to frameworks once you have a good understanding of general JS.

null_coalesce, 10 months ago

@BlackAzizAnansi when I saw Dana White promoting it, even before I knew anything else about it, I knew it had to be some kind of hustle..

null_coalesce, 1 year ago

@shoq um.. wat?