RECAP ARTICLE ON #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode BY CHUKWUEMEKA OTI, 31/12/19.

Hi! My name's Chukwuemeka Oti (Chuks), a member of Facebook Developer's Circle Lokoja.

I have been introduced to computer programming for quite a number of years now, handling both C and C++at some point in the past. With the 30 days coding challenge however, I resolved to undertake the task of learning JavaScript.

The first and most useful approach to my learning was using Andy Harri’s book – HTML5 And CSS3 All in One for Dummies, which contained a special section on ‘Client Sid Programming with JavaScript’. In the course of writing codes however, since my primary study material was focused on JavaScript for web development, I usually had to revert back to a JavaScript book I’ve had and used in the past for personal development on programming, titled Eloquent JavaScript.

I’ve learnt comprehensively how to integrate JavaScript with HTML and CSS, to take web pages from rest to motion, from static pages composed of just structure and style to dynamic pages that could even ‘sing and dance’. I’m so pleased to have taken part in the #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode challenge, and particularly to be a member of the Facebook Developer’s Circle Lokoja, it has been so rewarding ever since I joined the group.

All my targets and goals for the 30 days coding challenge, including instilling self-discipline to read materials on coding, learn JS data structures, control structures, functions and programming syntax required for web development, and finally reading, improving and even writing source codes for awesome and entertaining 2d games were decidedly met.

Apart from the programming skills I got an improvement on, as far as JavaScript is concerned, I learnt a lot of moral and motivating lessons from the #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode challenge. The most important moral lesson is probably the need for teamwork and communication in working towards programming projects. A couple of members on the Facebook Developer’s Circle Lokoja group pointed out mistakes or cheered up my little efforts while on the challenge, and all these helped a lot. The challenge revealed to me that apart from the resolution to be disciplined in completing a task, often times a little motivation is necessary to keep on with progress, as the circumstances associated with different days may become so overwhelming that one could even give up on all commitments. I for one, was able to maintain a 30 days streak not necessarily because of my predetermination to take part in the challenge day by day till the end, but rather the suggestions and/ commendations, as well as other forms of communication coming from different people in the course of the challenge inspired my doggedness.

During the challenge, I was assisted by Joshua Alhassan who was able to share a material on React.js with me, and recommend a JavaScript study material to me. Also, Ogbuagu B. Francis enlightened me about the appropriateness of prompt() and console.log(), in view of the genuine screen output commands like the .innerHTML method and the alert() function. Finally one of the administrators of the Facebook Developer’s Circle Lokoja group, Bolaji Ayodeji during the course of the challenge introduced me to GitHub Gist for an easy way of sharing source codes and linking them to other places on the web.

On my end, I was able to reach out and assist Joshua Alhassan and Paul E Hart, by introducing them to the book I used in my learnings.

Okay, on giving a word of advice to the fellows who weren’t consistent or who didn’t take part in the #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode challenge, I know that you have your reasons (I did my best to avoid using the word ‘excuses’), but I’d like to remind you that there’s always more to what you can do as a developer or IT enthusiast. You could be an expert developer, then a challenge like this may not serve to directly improve your skills, but would be a source of inspiration to someone else out there or may open up people’s minds to things they didn’t know before now, hence your’re going to be making an impact to people’s life, and in terms useful for your resume, we can also say that with you being an agent of education, you’re making the world a better place (correcting someone’s code on how to define Pi as Math.PI rather than a 3.14 constant or something else, constitutes changing the world if you ask me). If on the other hand you’re a rookie programmer (as I am/was -depending on if I’m talking to a friend or my potential client) or IT enthusiast, you should know that the first rule for success is giving no excuses, so that whenever you’re met next time with an opportunity like this, you don’t treat it with levity.

My project to mark the end of this challenge is my custom web game, ThroughTract 2d! The game may not be kick-ass for those obsessed with gaming, but however it put into action most of the concepts I learnt during the #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode challenge, notably processing user inputs and event handling. Please see this game at drive.google.com/folderview?id=1awUmJd5vJUg.. and play it too! I trust you’ll love it (and probably start emailing me for the cheats if you can’t understand the codes in the source file).

Well, I’ll prefer a course focusing on web development if I’m a winner of the $12 Udemy course prize. From my research, there's one of such courses that would be my preferred option: The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0. And yes, of course, I want to become a pro in web development –you guessed correctly!

It’s been a real pleasure being in the Facebook Developer’s Circle Lokoja, and I’ll cease this opportunity to say a big thank you to all the organizers of the Developer’s Circles from Facebook, locally and internationally. A big shoutout to the Facebook Developer’s Circle Lokoja, especially for the #DevCLokoja30DaysOfCode challenge which afforded me the opportunity to build programmes I am so proud of.