
JavaScript for Cats - An introduction for new programmers - dwynings
http://jsforcats.com/
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STHayden
Kinda 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.

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maxogden
good 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>

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ronyeh
Seems like there are still lots of references to REPL. Potentially remove them
all? Why not just call it a console?

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maxogden
Oh hahah I forgot I had used it so much

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davvid
This 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)).

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TazeTSchnitzel
Great. 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.

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maxogden
if 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>

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TazeTSchnitzel
No 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.

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maxogden
i'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

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magmadiver
Well, you're not a beginner, so it doesn't really apply to you. Consistency
and completeness are very important to avoid confusion.

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maxogden
teaching to a broad audience means balancing the likelihood that the learner
will be in over their head (too much information) with the likelihood that
they will have a negative experience stemming from lack of information (bug
due to missing semicolon). given javascript and its many bad parts I believe
the first scenario to be much more likely than the second, especially for an
introductory text.

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chinchang
There is mention somewhere that he is going to talk on underscore.js too but
its not mentioned in the future topic list?

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maxogden
Sorry, it's part of the looping section. I should have clarified

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chinchang
cool! Will wait for the next writeup.

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swift
Strange explanation of the word "variable" in here. It doesn't mean "many" -
more like "changeable". It's the opposite of "constant".

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maxogden
"many" as in "many forms". i'll work on clarifying the language

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Udo
I 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!

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barnette
This is a very good JavaScript beginner intro from msdn channel 9.
[http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Javascript-Fundamentals-
Deve...](http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Javascript-Fundamentals-Development-
for-Absolute-Beginners)

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benatkin
This 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.

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charliepark
The 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.

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maxogden
I hadn't seen this specific introduction, thanks! I first learned ruby through
_why's poignant guide which definitely influenced the approach I took here

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rshlo
great idea, looking forward for the rest.

