Welcome to Pusuit Core - JavaScript Workshop

What is this thing?

Welcome to the Pursuit Core JavaScript workshop! In this workshop we'll be teaching you the basics of JavaScript and some of the fundamentals of programming. During this class you'll learn about expressions, variables, Arrays, Loops, Conditionals, and Functions, and use these concepts to write your own programs!

Game Plan

This workshop also serves as part of the Pursuit application process. After this workshop, you'll be given an assessment containing questions about reading and writing JavaScript. The assessment will test your understanding of what you will learn during the workshop, as well as your ability and initiative to teach yourself new concepts in a short period of time. We'll look at the assessment as part of your application.

Environment

We will all be using the Google Chrome browser. Make sure you are on the latest version.

We will be using repl.it to write and run small JavaScript programs. Make sure to select the "JavaScript Web" language if you land on the homepage, or go straight to repl.it/languages/javascript_web.

Resources

Some incredibly good JavaScript resources are available at w3schools; Specifically the JavaScript Tutorial for explanations about the language and the JavaScript Reference for a comprehensive guide to the fundamental tools, libraries, and built-in objects and types of the language.

Partnering up

Many of the exercises in this workshop will ask you to partner up with your neighbor. What does that mean?

You should be talking out your thought process with your partner before you write any code. If there's a disagreement, try to identify the fundamentals that you disagree on, and try and use the workshop content and reference resources to find out the truth about the fundamentals. If you're still having disagreements, feel free to raise your hand and a TA or instructor can help you resolve it.

When coding, usually you should have one person code while the other person "drives" by instructing the coder what to type. When you're done, the driver then copies the code back to their computer so they can have a copy of it for future reference. Make sure you switch off "driver" and "coder" as often as possible!

In addition, we will be asking you to switch neighbors at least once throughout the workshop so you can meet lots of your peers! We are interested in evaluating your teamwork skills with lots of different students, so be polite and courteous but push each other to learn and write great code!

Schedule for the workshop