Session 2 Readings and Responses

The readings and responses listed here should take you approximately 60 minutes.

To start this assignment, click the button in the upper right-hand corner that says Fork. This is now your copy of this document. Click the Edit button when you're ready to start adding your answers. To save your work, click the green button in the bottom right-hand corner. You can always come back and re-edit your gist.

1. Learning Fluency by Turing alum Sara Simon (30 min)

Your key take-aways OR how you're going to implement specific points (minimum 3):
Learning to code has much less to do with a prior knowledge or history with computer science and more to do with dedication and immersion. Much like learning a foriegn language, coding is about the discipline to push though and figure out a way to understand and/or be able to communicate your misunderstanding to those who can help. (the bee example)
Learning to code isn't as basic as simply learning the languages, but also learning the history behind it and how to work on a team. In the example where Sara talks about "Letters to a Young Chef" she reveals her surprise about how applicable the lessons are in the coding world. It's important to remember that coding is so much more than a language, in practice it is also a lifestyle.
I feel like Sara's point about rote memorization as a key tool to build fleuncy speaks largely to how I learn best. As I do the prework and study I try my best to first make sure that I know the meaning of characters and terms before trying to implement them into functioning code. The better I understand each concept, the easier it is to discover where I've made a mistake in my code. It also helps extremely when someone is trying to explain how the code could be better.

2. How to Google Programming Problems Effectively by Lulu Li (15 min)

Your key take-aways OR how you're going to implement specific points (minimum 3):
The most efficent way of googling is to make sure you focus on keywords. Refrain from making the google search too long, make sure that you specify directly which language the question addresses, and remove all words that are superfluous.
Open tabs can be your friend. This is a practice I am incredibly used to. I often have 7+ tabs open at all times to ensure that I don't lose my place in my studies or school work. If a tab is open it is still relevant. Once it is closed I know that any questions on that subject have been fully answered and comprehended.
Googling is a large part of being a programmer. No matter how new or advanced your knowledge of code is googling is a useful and necessary tool. That is why learning to be a good googler is essential to being a good programer.

3. Do Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently? by Umer Mansoor (10 min)

Your key take-aways OR how you're going to implement specific points (minimum 2):
As a programmer, google is one of your strongest tools whether you're an experienced coder or just starting off. No shame in searching for an answer, especially since things are always changing.
I plan to make sure that not only do I use google as one of my most valued resources, but also learn to google in the most efficent manner so I avoid wasting time.

4. 20 Google Search Tips to Use Google More Efficiently by Joseph Hindy (15 min)

Briefly describe (in your own words) each of the tips below AND provide an example of a search that captures the sentiment of the tip
Tip 2: When looking up a pecific phrase or idea putting it in quotes helps. A good example of this is when looking up lyrics to a song. It would also be helpful when looking up an unfamiliar concept or terms that you run across in lessons or in readings such as "purpose of HTML code". This way there is a better chance of getting an immediate answer to your question without having to search through as many results.
Tip 3: Using a hyphen can exclude search results. An example of this would be Ruby -jewelry
Tip 4: By using site: it will limit your search results to that specific page. This can be helpful for programming since there are verified sites that can be trusted for answers. An example would be define arrays JavaScript site:developer.mozilla.org
Tip 9: You can google more than one phrase or word at once in order to track down the most accurate result you're looking for. An example would be "What are the six rules of JavaScript?" OR "The six rules of Java srcipt are".
Tip 13: Try to use professional terms when using google search since websites are often more formal than every day dialouge. Instead of searching "how does JavaScript work" search "JavaScript tutorials". This would yield better results because "tutorial" is how the internets interprets the question "how does _ work" often.
Tip 14: Eliminate all unecessary words from your search. Too many words can clutter your search results. Instead of looking up "What is the difference between numeric data, string data, and boolean data in JavaScript?" you could more simply put "difference number, string, boolean data JvaScript".
Tip 17: Instead of wasting time looking up how to spell something correctly just to look up a question regarding that word, you can often trust that google knows what you're talking about. The same goes if you're typing too quickly and simply misspell one of the words, it is still quicker to see the resluts that get pulled by google rather than backtracking to fix it. An example is "Diffrence between fixd and liquid layout". Although two of these words are misspelled it is highly likely that the resluts pulled up are the same.

5. Questions/Comments/Confusions

If you have any questions, comments, or confusions from the any of the readings that you would an instructor to address, list them below:

EmilyLalonde/mod_0_session_2_readings.md