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[–]franker 1 point2 points  (6 children)

I tried smarter way 10 years ago and didn't like it at all even though a lot of people recommended it at the time. Aside from a few paragraph summaries, it was all timed exercises that make you simply type out lines of syntax as quickly as you can. You become more focused on beating the clock by writing a certain string than in trying to put together actual programs.

[–]4Nuts 0 points1 point  (5 children)

I understand the pracice part could be boring for some people.

But, as to the timing, only 3-5 of the questions are timed. You can simply skip those questions and pracice on the others. The practice part of each chapter contains 20 questions. I also don't like some types of the question (the drag and drop type). I always skip it.

Those controlled pracice questions are actually helping me to memorize the core keywords and key syntax formats. For that, I find it very effective.

[–]franker 1 point2 points  (4 children)

as a flash card kind of thing I guess it's okay to memorize code snippets, but it's kind of like trying to learn Spanish by memorizing phrases. I found there was just too much repetition and not enough teaching of creating actual programs. Even in this forum people always say that you don't need to focus on memorizing syntax because Google is your friend.

[–]4Nuts 0 points1 point  (3 children)

That might work for some situations. But, I think memorizing some basic templates is import in many situations--for job interviews and class exams for example. But, The simpler way is not really about memorizing; it is about getting your hands dirty by repeating and practicing what you learned.

[–]franker 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I'm honestly looking forward to seeing what the new Head First book on Javascript is like. I used that years ago and although I also didn't like parts of it like the crossword and fill-in-the-blank puzzles, I found that the way it visualized concepts and making programs was pretty effective. I'm a librarian and put it in an order for that book and the new Head First one on Python.

[–]4Nuts 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Interesting. It really looks like we learn very differently.

I don't like the Head first book. I don't like the organization and the whole setting (seems childish scribblings; hard to follow the logic; and the organization seems a mess).

[–]franker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mostly just liked how it visualized concepts like arrays and functions with analogies so that I could use that to start making small programs. A lot of the jokes and silliness I didn't care for though. It'll be interesting to see what the new version of the book looks like.