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General Discussion

Robert Doyle
Robert Doyle
4,737 Points
Posted by Robert Doyle
Robert Doyle
4,737 Points

How do you approach troubleshooting your coding when learning?

When you are learning coding for the first time, which in my case is JavaScript, how do you approach it when you are really struggling?. Do you stick at it for days until you solve the problem yourself or do you go to any particular forums as well as Tree house?. I know it is important to keep a high level of motivation and avoid burning out especially if you are planning intense learning over a period of months.

2 Answers

Henrik Christensen
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Henrik Christensen
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 38,322 Points
Henrik Christensen
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Henrik Christensen
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 38,322 Points

What I do is:

  • search on google - looking for stackoverflow pages
  • reading the docs
  • searching the Treehouse community
  • I rarely ask questions on forums because it can take a very long time to get a response

If I can't solve the problem in a day or two then I might just work on another project for a period and then come back to it later.

This is what works for me, but it might not work for you :-)

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points
Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

Hi Robert,

I make sure I have a clear idea of what I think the code should do; note what the code is doing and try to assess why those two things are different! If the code is throwing an error, I try a Google of that for some ideas. I add watches on variables - in Javascript, I'd add alerts to show the values in play. I'd then ask in here or on Stack Overflow (scary place!) armed with all the information available.

Steve.

Robert Doyle
Robert Doyle
4,737 Points
Robert Doyle
Robert Doyle
4,737 Points

Thanks. Do you use a particular text editor or IDE that can help identify typos or missing semi-colons etc?. I agree with you on Stack overflow. You have to really think about what you say.

Steve Hunter
Steve Hunter
57,712 Points

Hi Robert,

For Java stuff, I use IntelliJ. For Rails development locally, I use Sublime but more and more I am using Cloud 9 IDE. This is a remote IDE which is now part of AWS. For Rails, this is great as it provides a full-stack without needing to own one. And it is a consistent environment - far too often local environment issues cause a problem which is unproductive.

I also use AWS remote machines to give me up-to-date end-user machines of all descriptions for about $30 a month. Very useful to test deployment for your users.

Steve.