Reading Material JavaScript Week 4

Agenda

These are the topics for week 4:

1. Higher Order Functions
   • Array methods
2. Closures
   • Execution context
   • Why do we need closures?
3. Problem solving
4. Unit testing
   • Testing framework (Jest)
5. Finalise Your personal brand

Week goals

This week we are going to keep practicing coding and introducing a few more advanced topics that you will encounter. So a little less reading, more practicing! Firstly, higher order functions are a way functions are being used regularly in the real world, most notably in the methods Array's provide us. Read all about it here. Secondly, JavaScript has a thing called closures which you should know about. You will not encounter issues with them any time soon, but it is good to have in the back of your mind that this exists. So read all about them here.

Now that we are getting into more and more complex code it is also a good idea to learn a structured way to solve more complex problems. Have a look at the page on problem solving in your study book over here.

Last week we learned about the assert function which allow us to make code checks, but that is only the start. For real testing we developers write something we call unit tests, have a look at what that means here. Then have a look at test frameworks and what they can do over here. Note that in our curriculum we will always be using Jest as it is very popular and works well with React which we will be studying later. Behind the scenes we have been testing your homework with Jest all this time and it is where the error messages when running your homework comes from!

After that it is time to start practicing again, make as many exercises as you can in the list here and don't forget to hand in your homework. There will also be a test coming up for this module. What and when will be announced in your class channel, so keep an eye on that as usual! The best way to prepare is to keep programming!

Also, don't forget about the personal brand repo if you didn't manage to complete it last week.

Finished?

Are you finished with going through the materials? Give yourself a pat on the back because you rock! When you feel ready to get practical, click here.