Calculators on the horizon!

Things I've worked on/completed since my last post...

I finished a the Objects chapter in the Foundations section of the Odin Project and spent more time than I expected on the JavaScript exercises, which were based around array methods and objects which were studied in this section.

At the end of the week, I started on the calculator project (the last project in the Foundations section).

Things that went well...

Getting through the JavaScript exercises in the end and starting the calculator project. My understanding of map, filter and reduce have definitely improved.

When I started the calculator project, I was pleased to see that I was able to produce the layout of the calculator relatively quickly, using flexbox and flex-wrap, without having to google anything, which I was happy about as I had not done anything with CSS for a while. This therefore showed me that I have retained at least some of the material I have previously covered.

Things didn't go quite so well...

I spent a lot of time on the findTheOldest JS exercise. It was suggested that the reduce method might be useful here and I forced myself to try to use it, rather than get into the habit of avoiding (relatively) difficult things.

I was able to figure it out to a point, but my approach was off and defeated the point of using the reduce method, as my approach was making the potential solution far too long and complicated.

I was sure that I was not using the reduce method approach correctly and that I did not understand it well enough to produce a solution with it, so after spending too much time on it, I ended up finding the solution online. Although not ideal, I made myself work through it in order to learn from it and I think that I did. I would not have been able to figure out this solution alone at this point.

Things I've learnt/things I need to improve on...

I learnt a few other things 'by doing', such as how to return the result of one function to another. I also figured out a few other things just by googling, such as how to remove punctuation from arrays. I also learnt how to push new objects into an array.

I definitely need a lot more practice in terms of the reduce method as it it more complicated than it seemed at first glance. I expect that I will go looking for resources to practise it further at some point. I also need more practice in terms of manipulating objects and arrays using JavaScript.

I am just about to move onto the DOM-manipulation aspects of the calculator project and I am looking forward to this.

Plan for the forthcoming week...

I hope to finish the Calculator project this week.