Articles

Are you too old to learn to code?

Hey, it's Zell. Today, we a question from two students, Mark and Todd. They're in their forties and are getting started in web development, and they are worried that they're too old. Too old to learn or too old to get a job.

It's funny I get this question because I felt too old to learn to code when I was 19 years old. It took me six years to before I started to code. When I started, I was 25.

Thinking logically, if I'm too old to learn when I was 19, I should be even more afraid when I was 25. But I wasn't. I wasn't afraid because I burned my bridges. I decided I don't want to work in a bank and decided to learn to design and code. It was a do or die. I couldn't worry because I had to learn enough to find a job within a year.

How to build a calculator—part 1

This is the start of a three-part lesson about building a calculator. By the end of these three lessons, you should get a calculator that functions exactly like an iPhone calculator (without the +/- and percentage functionalities).

Here's what you'll get:

<Image src="/assets/2018/calculator-1/calculator.gif" caption="GIF of a calculator you'll build" />

Experiment publicly

I'm going to be honest with you. This video is probably going to suck. Why? Because I'm experimenting with something new.

I'm going to tell you what I'm experimenting with, why I'm experimenting and why you should conduct your own public experiment.

Case study—a project from hell

Project T is a project that I don't want to remember. It was a big project for a big company—a project that I thought I would be proud to include in my portfolio; and boy, I was wrong.

Project T was bad. It lasted nine months when it was supposed to last three months. At the end, I gave a huge discount to the agency because they lost money on the project; as a result, I lost big time too.

Of the original team—a project manager, a visual designer, a UX designer and a frontend developer (me), I was the only member that survived the project till the end. Largely because of two reasons:

1. I was stupid and naive
2. My sense of responsibility didn't allow me to abandon the project halfway.

By the end of the 9-month long project, I was burned out, and I quit freelancing for a year.

How do you decide what to build?

"Can you tell me what should I build? I don't have any ideas!"

This is one of the biggest problems that stop developers from becoming better at their craft. Upon investigation, I discovered that people have ideas; they're just afraid their ideas are bad, would fail, or nobody would use the thing they made.

These feelings are normal. We're afraid to make things that kinda suck because we're afraid others will shame us for it. We're afraid the very thing we make will convince us that we're the useless fraud that should never have existed in this world.

Then, we freeze in fear.

It's a big problem. I can't solve the problem for you, but I hope the lessons I share in today's article can help you push yourself out of paralysis.

How to use a linter

Today we're going to talk about linters.

When you use a linter, you will see red squiggly underlines all over your code. If you're not used to using a linter yet, it's hard not to feel like you're doing something wrong!

You don't have to feel that way.

A linter is there to help you write better code. There are reasons for the red squiggly underlines. Once you know what brings these underlines out, you'll know what to ignore and what not to.

Responsive Vertical Rhythm with CSS Custom Properties and CSS Calc

Vertical Rhythm is an important concept in web design. It has the ability to bring a design together and make different elements feel consistent on the same page.

It was impossible to change Vertical Rhythm at different viewports previously, because we didn't have the right tools. But now, with CSS Calc and CSS Custom Properties, we can change Vertical Rhythm at different viewports. This article explains how.

Useful VS Code keyboard shortcuts

Today, I want to share vs code shortcuts I use on a daily basis. Here's a list of what we're going to go through:

1. Opening and closing the sidebar
2. File explorer
3. Marketplace
4. Switching workspaces
5. Opening the terminal
6. Go to file
7. Go to line
8. Go to symbol
9. The command palette
10. Split editor
11. Toggle editor group layout
12. Working with tabs
13. Select word
14. Folding and unfolding
15. Move line upwards or downwards.
16. Split lines
17. Pageup/pagedown
18. Jump to word
19. Expand region

Setting up Visual Studio Code (Part 3)—Extensions

Welcome Part 3 of the VS Code setup series.

If you haven't watched the first or second parts yet, I suggest you go watch them first. Everything I'm sharing today builds on what I showed you before. For today, I want to share the extensions I use on a daily basis.

Faux Subgrid

I was super excited when CSS Grid landed in major browsers back in March/April 2017. I thought CSS Grid was going to change the way we make layouts; it did. We gotta thank Rachel Andrew and Jen Simmons for teaching all of us us about CSS Grid.

Unfortunately, even though CSS Grid has landed, subgrid (which I consider one of the most important CSS Grid features) didn't.

But thankfully, there's a way to create subgrids with pure CSS (no hacks at all!). This method works with all browsers that support CSS Grid.

Intro to Object Oriented Programming in JavaScript

Object-Oriented Programming is a popular style of programming that has taken root in JavaScript since the beginning.

It's so deeply rooted in JavaScript that many of JavaScript's native functions and methods are written in the Object Oriented style; you'll also find many popular libraries written in the Object Oriented style.

In this article, you'll learn what Object Oriented Programming is and how to begin using it in JavaScript.

If you already have prior experience with Object Oriented Programming in another language, please put aside the knowledge you know, and read through the entire module with a beginner's mind.

Setting up Visual Studio Code (Part 2)—HTML, CSS and JavaScript settings

Hey, it's Zell. Welcome back to Part 2 of the VS code setup series.

If you haven't watched the 1st part yet, I suggest you go watch it first, because everything we're going to do today follows from there. Everything follows from there.

What we're going to do in this video is to setup VS code to write HTML, CSS and JavaScript properly. Let's work on HTML first.

Setting up Visual Studio Code (Part 1)—appearances

Hey, It's Zell.

I switched from Sublime Text to Visual Studio Code recently, and I'd like to show you how I set it up.

Year End Review—2017

2017 has ended. I didn't do a review earlier in the year because I wanted to wait till enrollment for Learn JavaScript closes. Everything that's going to happen in 2018 depended on the results of the launch.

Now that it's over, it's time for a proper review.

I want to begin the review by talking about the projects I've worked on.

Understanding And Using REST APIs

There’s a high chance you came across the term “REST API” if you’ve thought about getting data from another source on the internet, such as Twitter or Github. But what is a REST API? What can it do for you? How do you use it?

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about REST APIs to be able to read API documentations and use them effectively.

Should you use CSS or JavaScript for animations?

When should you use CSS for your web animations? Or when should you use JavaScript? Is one better than the other? In this article, I'll show how you to use both to produce smooth animations for your web site.

Why mutation can be scary

Unexpected changes in your JavaScript code can be a real headache. When working with objects, it can be even harder to prevent unintended mutation. In this article, I'll show you some tricks (and libraries) to prevent these unintended changes and ensure stability when working with objects.

Can I get a discount?

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You'll have to pay the full fee to enroll in my courses. I don't discount anymore, with the exception of early-bird prices. This article explains why I offer early-bird prices, and why I don't discount anymore.

An introduction to animations with Greensock Animation API (GSAP)

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Greensock Animation API (GSAP) is an animation library that helps you create performant animations. It can be used safely (back to IE6!) to create animations without jank, and it's the only animation library (as far as I know) that handles SVG animations seamlessly.

Many animation experts, like Sarah Drasner and Chris Gannon, use and recommend GSAP.

In this article, you'll learn how to use GSAP to build simple animations.

CSS Animations explained

The second way to animate your components is through CSS Animations. CSS Animations are like CSS Transitions, except they're way more powerful.