Educate
Before we begin our formal instruction you should familiarize yourself with the various technologies that we’ll be learning. This educational prework will be valuable in giving you a brief introduction to the primary concepts that we’ll dig into throughout the class. Even if you have completed similar exercises in the past, please go through these tutorials again. Repetition on core concepts can solidify that knowledge and create a base from which you can grow in class.
The online courses below are not meant to be a source of stress for you. It is important that you attempt all of the lessons and exercises, but do not worry if some things just don’t make sense yet.
HTML and CSS
HTML and CSS will be covered in depth during the course, but this basic introduction will help ease you into the topic once we begin.
http://www.codecademy.com/en/tracks/web
- Complete the HTML & CSS Unit
- Do not worry about any content requiring a “Pro” account
Optional
Continue your introduction with some additional reading:
JavaScript
Similar to HTML and CSS, JavaScript will be a large focus in our class. This introduction will help to get you familiar with the concepts before our class begins. We will go much further in depth with JavaScript.
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/javascript
- See how far you get! Don’t get bogged down with any one section. Try to grasp the concepts more so than just getting the code to work.
- Do not worry about any content requiring a “Pro” account
Optional
Continue your introduction with some additional reading:
- Eloquent JavaScript - Chapters 1-4
- More online exercises
The Command Line
The command line - also called the “terminal” - is an interface to the internals of your computer, as opposed to the graphical user interface (GUI) that we commonly use. We will be using the command line extensively in our class, but the point of this prework is not to be an expert, just to start to get comfortable.
Especially if you’ve never used the command line before, you may want to go through these more than once. Make sure not just to read/watch, but really dive in and use the commands that you learn about.
Read and practice the following:
- What is the command line?
- Learn the command line
- Only sections 1 & 2 (“Navigating the File System” and “Viewing and Changing the File System”)
Supplemental
Further reading and practice:
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
It is a command line tool that we will be using for every project we do in class. Again, the objective is not to become an expert before the class, but just to start to get comfortable.
- Discover git
- More git exercises (go through section 1.9)
- What is GitHub?
Optional
If you want to spend some more time with git, Git Immersion is a great resource.
Check out the GitHub Guides if you want to learn more about using GitHub prior to class.
Wrapping up
The last thing I need you to do is submit this final survey/quiz. This shows me that you’ve gone through all of the materials and are ready to begin! Please make sure you read each of our policy and prework sections, and that you mark them as “Complete” with the buttons at the top of each page!