Comments on: Two good books for learning JavaScript, jQuery http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2010/two-good-books-for-learning-javascript-jquery/ Notes from the classroom and observations about professional practices for sharing the news on digital platforms. Thu, 24 May 2012 00:37:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mindy McAdams http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2010/two-good-books-for-learning-javascript-jquery/comment-page-1/#comment-21440 Mindy McAdams Sun, 30 May 2010 15:52:40 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/?p=3251#comment-21440 You are correct (as usual!) -- and when our MacBook requirement takes effect, maybe we will start training journalism students to use Python! You are correct (as usual!) — and when our MacBook requirement takes effect, maybe we will start training journalism students to use Python!

]]> By: Derek Willis http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2010/two-good-books-for-learning-javascript-jquery/comment-page-1/#comment-21341 Derek Willis Sun, 30 May 2010 00:26:44 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/?p=3251#comment-21341 True, although if they have an Apple computer, they have Python and Ruby already installed :-) True, although if they have an Apple computer, they have Python and Ruby already installed :-)

]]> By: Mindy McAdams http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2010/two-good-books-for-learning-javascript-jquery/comment-page-1/#comment-21328 Mindy McAdams Sat, 29 May 2010 21:01:46 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/?p=3251#comment-21328 Good point, Derek. I need to be more clear. I'm thinking about students in a school lab (no root access) or even on their own laptops (don't want to walk them through an install process), so what I should have said: JavaScript runs in your browser with no ... hm ... no need to install anything, or to access the command line? (How's that?) The reason I want to avoid a language install or setup: By the time you get every student through it, they already hate programming. :) Good point, Derek. I need to be more clear. I’m thinking about students in a school lab (no root access) or even on their own laptops (don’t want to walk them through an install process), so what I should have said: JavaScript runs in your browser with no … hm … no need to install anything, or to access the command line? (How’s that?)

The reason I want to avoid a language install or setup: By the time you get every student through it, they already hate programming. :)

]]> By: Derek Willis http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2010/two-good-books-for-learning-javascript-jquery/comment-page-1/#comment-21321 Derek Willis Sat, 29 May 2010 19:54:16 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/?p=3251#comment-21321 "You do not need access to a Web server (except for a few examples in the final chapters) to use JavaScript. For that reason especially, I think JavaScript is a good language to use for teaching journalists the basics of programming, such as variables, loops, and functions." FWIW, I think you could apply this to most any language. Not dumping on JS, but you don't need a Web server to run Python, Ruby or other languages. “You do not need access to a Web server (except for a few examples in the final chapters) to use JavaScript. For that reason especially, I think JavaScript is a good language to use for teaching journalists the basics of programming, such as variables, loops, and functions.”

FWIW, I think you could apply this to most any language. Not dumping on JS, but you don’t need a Web server to run Python, Ruby or other languages.

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