Cognitive debugging

My shift in study practices and understanding.

So week two in my program has come to a close, and I have noticed a shift in my study habits and understanding. When I think back on my initial coding seminar, and even week one, I’ve realized that I’m slowly becoming a very different person. What would’ve overloaded me 3 weeks ago is now my norm. I actually look forward to seeing multiple perspectives and tips for how to create my codes from other programmers and developers, and this is the key.

We have to remain teachable. No one's knowledge is absolute. We are a global database and we have to be comfortable with relying on the knowledge of others.

In my mind’s eye coding looks less like a scene from the Matrix and more of a landscape. I have a vision. I use my whiteboarding and wireframe to plan the vision, and then I use code to make it manifest.

I am thoroughly enjoying this process, and know that it's not always beautiful but growth does not have to be pretty in order to be valid. The is nothing that I would change about my experience thus far and in a year's time, I hope to be a successful developer and mentor to students that will be where I am now. As a matter of fact… I will be.

HTML/CSS: 1UP

Now for the specifics of the week. Let’s start with my current understanding of the DOM. Notice how the last time we leveled up it was just “CSS”? Well, Today we level up in HTML and CSS (Javascript coming soon) because this pertains to the DOM. The DOM, otherwise known as the Document Object Model is essentially a tree of elements that work together to provide functionality. The DOM incases all of the root and child elements that we create and mold to our desire. If HTML is the root, then the DOM is the soil. The root, body, and child elements are kept together by the DOM. I hope that makes sense…

CSS:1UP

Now let's talk about responsive websites. It’s pretty simple. A responsive website is a site that adjusts its parameters to the space given. Ever notice how your mobile websites look a lil’ different when you minimize or expand your browser? That is because those sites are programmed to have specific elements, expand, contract, or even switch places based off of the space given. This is why they are called responsive. Typically responsive websites are designed for desktop viewing first, and then elements are adjusted to respond to smaller device viewing, but there are times when the developer uses something called the mobile-first strategy, and… well… it’s just that. The web page or site is designed to be viewed on a mobile device first, which makes sense with how accessible the internet is on our phones and tablet devices now.