ling-tran-js-readings-response.md

• Which sections were interesting?

  • Appreciate the summary via Nature of JS
  • Found concepts of 'freezing' code, closure, pure functions and recursion in Eloquent JS as ideas I would like to dive more deeply into understanding. But am aware this comes with time and practice.
  • Now that we've done Idea Box, I found myself re-reading the sections on binding and apply (EJS Ch5), and getters and setters (EJS Ch6). I recall finding the content powerful, but didn't process it deeply enough to try leveraging this information while implementing Idea Box. However, now that I'm more aware, I look forward to applying this knowledge towards upcoming projects!

• Which sections did you totally skim?

• The list of higher-order functions that are also available in Ruby.

• Drawing a table in EJS Ch6 because I found their explanations confusing and so got totally lost. It was difficult to engage with the material when perplexed.

• Do you think the reading was valuable?

• I recognize the reading's value after doing Idea Box. But some of the best practices and general gists I was able to internalize to an extent, which helped guide my approach to implementing our first JS project! The content seems to stick more upon a second read after doing Idea Box - kind of like reading JRR Tolkien's LOTR in that every time you read it, you always discover something even more interesting or profound upon a subsequent go at it.

• Which topics were notably confusing?

• Prototypes and constructors...I don't think I've quite unlocked the 'secret' to the life of objects in JS.

• Concept of 'abstraction' - how does this play out in JS and what are its implications? I don't think this has quite sunk in for me.