Although I would take longer in my first attempts, I find it extremely helpful to visualize the entire process before manually getting started. This would not only mean skimming through the procedures, but searching up the data types or anything that did not make sense to me. I would re-read the articles and consume further information on topics that I didn’t quite understand. Once I faced conflicts during the process, I would have a better time solving them since the time I used to do the readings helped with delving deeper into the root cause of the mistakes.
Link to E3: Performing WODS Technical Essay
For BrowserHistory6, the task was to divide the one-page “History of Browsers” web page into four independent web sites. The front page includes the introduction and three buttons that lead to three more pages detailing the histories of the three browsers. For more information, click here.
For this WOD, I encountered minor problems that consumed time. This was mainly because I did not look up for guidance online while recording the screencast. The first lesson from this exercise is to not be afraid to search for information online. It’s completely normal to research certain variables because this is all a learning process. I felt that I had to code completely from my brain once the timer and recording started, and that I was restricted to websites such as W3 Schools, but that’s not the case when I’m still and will always be learning.
The visual example helped me get an idea of the final result. The problems throughout attempts 1-3 were mainly based on the code execution. For instance, the external websites would only work when I clicked them in a specific order. I’d see syntax errors; otherwise, I would delete the line of code and rewrite it with more focus to detail.
For SmartPhoneProducts1 with variables, the purpose was to use variables instead of hard-coding for product display. To make it easier to manage, the task is to isolate the product data from the remainder of the code through javascript. For more information, click here.
I got more comfortable with replacing elements using the regEx instead of manually making the changes. This helped eliminate human error and I highly recommend using this method for every situation that allows you to do so. A mistake I made was not opening the live server (http-server), so the images did not appear and I spent a few minutes looking at the code instead of the URL. However, looking at the code does help as I realized that the image was from “dport96.github.io/” and not my computer. That was when I realized that the images would only be receivable if I opened up the server.
For Invoice 1, the goal was to create a sales receipt that includes various oral care products. To dynamically compute the required values, students must use expressions and variables to calculate the subtotal, tax, and overall total. For more information, click here.
A mistake I made was calling a variable that didn’t exist. For instance, I would reference tax_amount instead of taxAmount. This was because I named the variable a different way the first time and realized that I liked another name. However, this is more risky in a situation where the same task is repeated multiple times. From this exercise, I had a better understanding of document.write() and how JS is used within the HTML file. Another error was that I created a table without the tr tag. I eventually figured this out when I reviewed the readings.
Overall, I enjoyed working on this WOD because I could see how this applies to ecommerce websites. To prepare, I watched the lecture screencasts and reviewed the readings in the modules. This has become a reptitive procedure before actually performing the WODs. This time, I did more research outside of the sources given and tutorials on YouTube to get a better understanding of certain data types. In future WODs, I will definitely make sure to open the live server to avoid encounters that take up time.