JavaScript: From Fundamentals to Functional JS, v2 Course Introduction

Transcript from the "Course Introduction" Lesson

[00:00:00]
>> Bianca Gandolfo: So this is JavaScript fundamentals to functional programming. We're gonna learn the fundamentals of JavaScript by applying them to functional utility methods. So it's gonna be a fun class and I probably should introduce myself first. So my name's Bianca, I'm an open-source JavaScript framework developer, consultant, and a trainer.

[00:00:25] I work at Bitovi, which is based in Chicago. We are a JavaScript consulting firm that builds our own open-source framework. DoneJS, CanJS, any kind of JavaScript tool that you can think of, we have a like Webpack kind of tool. We have a documentation generator. We have a testing framework.

[00:00:49] So we do it all and it's really cool. I've been learning a lot working there. I've been there for about six months now. Kind of diving into morale of the meta programming side of things, which has been very interesting. You can follow me on Twitter, @BiancaGando, it makes me feel popular if you do that.

[00:01:07] And about me, aside from JavaScript stuff, I like really bad puns. So if you think of one, let me know. I also really like board games, riddles and mysteries, and stuff like that. So that's me. So I just wanna start off to be clear that this course is not really about functional programming.

[00:01:29] There are courses out there about functional programming. This course is about JavaScript fundamentals. And we use functional programming because I believe that the core concepts that it takes the understand and use functional programming methods. Will just help you become deeper with the JavaScript language. So the main things that we're gonna cover are objects, arrays, functions and high order functions, scope closures, things like that.

[00:02:05] And we are going to practice those by using functional utility methods. And if you have no idea what that is yet, you'll learn all about them, and also implementing them. So not only will we be using them but we'll be implementing them. So then when you move onto your future courses or maybe you're picking up rxts or something like that.

[00:02:29] You will understand like how this stuff works under the hood and it will make you just a better developer in general. You'll be able to understand how this stuff works. You don't just trust in the magic, you understand the magic cuz you implemented it yourself, cool. Awesome, anyone surprised by this statement?

[00:02:52] No? We're good? Okay, good. Sometimes people come in with the wrong idea, awesome. But this is probably surprising, because this course is also about figuring out what happened to Mr. Body. Mr. Body is a millionaire tycoon who knows all the secrets of his friends. He threatened to exploit these secrets, and was murdered.

[00:03:12] So through this course, we'll figure out who killed Mr. Body. So now you can see why I like board games and mysteries. And all of this, it gets a little complicated because we'll also be doing some JavaScript, maybe a little bit. But mostly we're gonna be figuring out this murder mystery.

[00:03:29] So just a review, you're gonna strengthen your understanding of tricky jobs concepts. We're gonna be learning about functional utility methods. What are those? Have you ever heard of like, each, it's not super functional, but it's kinda the stepping stone map reduce, concat, things like that. Those are what I talk when I say functional utility methods that's what I mean.

[00:03:50] We're gonna understand how to implement them, and we're gonna apply our JavaScript fundamentals throughout. Learn some ES6 features. When I originally thought about this course, I thought I would just rewrite everything in ES6, and that would be the upgraded version. But then I realized that, in doing that, we would lose a lot of the key concepts.

[00:04:14] A lot of ES6 is syntactically sugar. And to really master JavaScript you have to understand what it's really doing. So we're gonna be focusing on ES5, and then adding ES6, if that makes sense. So it's not that this whole course is gonna be totally in ES6. It's not gonna be arrow functions, constant let everywhere.

[00:04:33] But we will be going into how some ES6 features effect things like objects, arrays, functions, and Things like that. Cool? And we'll also figure out, the murder mystery. That's the bonus. So a little more about expectations. I expect everyone here to be sincere, but not serious. I want to have fun.

[00:04:56] This is an interactive course. My style is very socratic. So expect for me to call on you. You may have warning ahead of time, you may not. So just know that now, maybe take a deep breath while you're digesting that. And this is important for all of us, right?

[00:05:15] It's not about embarrassing you, it's about getting a pulse of where we're all at, right? So we're here together, we're learning together as a team. And I wanna make sure that we're all getting to the same place, right? And if someone's left behind, that means that probably I messed up and I missed something.

[00:05:31] So, that's a part of it. But you do have a way out. I used to not, but I've gotten nicer in my old age. So either I'll ask you a question. Sometimes I'll warn you, sometimes I won't. But you have to be prepared either to answer it, or to ask me a question.

[00:05:51] So if you're terrified of me calling on you, just make sure that you note a question around every few slides, and then you'll be fine.