Forum Overview :: Still Life
 
Buy a real textbook by Rafiki 03/20/2016, 5:29pm PDT
nope wrote:

coming up with ways to use lists of methods I find in the w3schools references.


I feel like there's a fortune to be made for the first person who can write a decent textbook on this stuff. Engineers are freaking terrible at writing instructional material. Modern Javascript is the class' official textbook and it's written with awful circular explanations. I swear to god it uses definitions like "A constructor function is a function that uses a constructor." I've lost count of the number of times I've been stuck for hours on a concept in the book that I was able to get in 30 seconds of someone in person explaining it.

Fuck programming. Engineer ghostwriting is where the money is.


I looked this book up on Amazon, here's the author's bio:

Despite having written many computer books, I have no formal computer training, save for one Pascal class way, way, way back in high school. So I like to say that I'm not a computer geek, although I can speak their language.

My formal education was in impractical knowledge: English literature, language, and writing; philosophy and religion (with a heavy emphasis on symbolic logic); and, Latin. As you can see, nothing really useful here. I guess what I did figure out is how to learn something new, how to synthesize all the information I come across, and how to communicate what I've learned in a clear and effective manner.

Since college I've worked at a national bookstore chain, at the main library at Georgetown University, and then for DMC Insights, Inc. I started as the head of the Digital Media Technologies department, where my main focus was on developing dynamic Web sites. I've since been promoted to President of the company, but that's not as impressive as it may sound! Most of my time is spent writing (books and articles), teaching (online and in small group settings), and actually using the technologies that I write about and teach.


Also, if you're going to search for textbooks on Amazon, include the word "textbook" in the search, otherwise you're just going to get a bunch of dumb "Learn ______ in 21 Days!" shit.
PREVIOUS NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
Pick my new career, Caltrops by nope 01/17/2016, 8:06am PST NEW
    Something where they won't give you a hard time for t-ing up your wasses. NT by Christmas ghost, maybe? 01/17/2016, 9:08am PST NEW
    Private Investigator? by Mysterio 01/17/2016, 9:17am PST NEW
        How do you get into this by Vested Id 01/17/2016, 7:06pm PST NEW
            Ah that's right by Vested Id 01/17/2016, 7:25pm PST NEW
                p sure Jessica Jones didn't have to go through all that NT by Fullofkittens 01/18/2016, 6:15am PST NEW
    Prostitution. NT by Caltrops 01/17/2016, 10:24am PST NEW
    Serious replies, people by nope 01/21/2016, 7:38pm PST NEW
        No one will give a shit about a "learn 2 web night school!" cert by The Happiness Engine 01/22/2016, 3:43pm PST NEW
            Too late I pulled the trigger! by nope 01/23/2016, 6:09pm PST NEW
                You made the right decision. NT by Kenny Mayne 01/23/2016, 10:53pm PST NEW
        I talked my way into a job as a software tester 7 years ago by Fullofkittens 01/22/2016, 4:15pm PST NEW
    Update: 7 weeks in by nope 03/17/2016, 10:37pm PDT NEW
        No one will give a shit about a "learn 2 web night school!" cert, still. NT by The Happiness Engine 03/18/2016, 5:49pm PDT NEW
            Thank you! It's good to know what I should be worrying about! NT by nope 03/18/2016, 6:59pm PDT NEW
        You will know if you have the ability to program if you can teach yourself by Entropy Stew 03/19/2016, 2:01pm PDT NEW
            Those are good reasons to learn JavaScript by but what about the smell? 03/19/2016, 4:37pm PDT NEW
                The thing about programming languages is that they are mostly shit by Entropy Stew 03/21/2016, 10:17am PDT NEW
                    Java was and is fine. by Kenny Mayne 03/21/2016, 12:38pm PDT NEW
                        Re: Java was and is fine. by dr. no 03/21/2016, 11:31pm PDT NEW
                            Re: Java was and is fine. by Kenny Mayne 03/22/2016, 6:58am PDT NEW
                                Re: If someone has a better back end language I'd love to hear it by Entropy Stew 03/22/2016, 11:20am PDT NEW
                                    It appears I did not know what I did not know. You've given me much to consider. by Kenny Mayne 03/22/2016, 7:11pm PDT NEW
                    Thoughts on Sass? NT by nope 03/21/2016, 4:35pm PDT NEW
                        None. Not my wheelhouse. I was always more serverside NT by Entropy Stew 03/22/2016, 12:39am PDT NEW
            Yeah most of my time is spent practiving on Code Academy projects and by nope 03/20/2016, 2:42pm PDT NEW
                Re: Yeah most of my time is spent practiving on Code Academy projects and by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/20/2016, 2:55pm PDT NEW
                Buy a real textbook by Rafiki 03/20/2016, 5:29pm PDT NEW
                    I am told "JavaScript: The Good Parts" is the essential JS book. NT by Fullofkittens 03/21/2016, 11:38am PDT NEW
                        I thought that one was out of date by Entropy Stew 03/21/2016, 2:02pm PDT NEW
                            AFAIK the central topic is still relevant by Fullofkittens 03/21/2016, 3:48pm PDT NEW
                        Movie idea: Peter Faulk reads "JavaScript: the Good Parts" to Fred Savage NT by laudablepuss 03/22/2016, 7:22am PDT NEW
                            I'd watch it NT by Entropy Stew 03/22/2016, 11:22pm PDT NEW
    Any superior alternatives to Komodo Edit and JSFiddle? NT by nope 03/21/2016, 4:36pm PDT NEW
        I'd be shocked if atom or VS Code were not better for js than Komodo by Entropy Stew 03/22/2016, 12:44am PDT NEW
            both terrible, use Sublime by Ray of Light 03/22/2016, 9:10am PDT NEW
                Trump supporter offers advice on text editing tool by Kenny Mayne 03/22/2016, 9:16am PDT NEW
                    B-b-but I thought it was cool to use the word faggots here????? NT by Shitty Posters Squad, INC 03/22/2016, 9:53am PDT NEW
                        Is that a corporation or two people posting, one of whom is INC? by Mysterio Lollerson 03/22/2016, 9:53am PDT NEW
                    is it possible I know more than you about absolutely everything? by Ray of Light 03/22/2016, 11:36pm PDT NEW
                        When you put it like that, I guess you got me. :( NT by Kenny Mayne 03/23/2016, 8:09am PDT NEW
                        Don't cramp Jso's style NT by Welcome to Omsk 03/23/2016, 8:48am PDT NEW
                You'd think a editor written in js would have first class support for editing js by Entropy Stew 03/22/2016, 11:24am PDT NEW
                Agreed, subLimeText is great. NT by Mysterio Lollerson 03/22/2016, 2:26pm PDT NEW
        WebStorm NT by Fullofkittens 03/22/2016, 4:18am PDT NEW
            JetBrains and MS are the two companies that can build an IDE by Entropy Stew 12/02/2016, 3:34am PST NEW
        web vengeance NT by sega soft 03/22/2016, 8:19am PDT NEW
        Re: Any superior alternatives to Komodo Edit and JSFiddle? by Commander Tansin A. Darcos 03/22/2016, 5:25pm PDT NEW
            gently masturbedit NT by needed another pass 03/22/2016, 6:26pm PDT NEW
        Here is a text editor called "lite" that I saw on The Hacker News. by Horus Truthteller 05/10/2020, 9:59am PDT NEW
            There's no way to open a folder/project or start a new file. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 05/10/2020, 10:08am PDT NEW
                Yeah, WTF is this? NT by Jack Bauer 05/10/2020, 1:07pm PDT NEW
    How did it go, nope? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 09/26/2016, 9:22pm PDT NEW
        I learned just enough by nope 11/22/2016, 9:26pm PST NEW
 
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