r/learnjavascript • u/DrJoshBastean • Apr 09 '20
Free Full-Stack (HTML/CSS/JS, Node/Express/MongoDB) Web Development Course
Hello everyone,
I’m Dr. Josh Bastean, and I teach web development and education courses at Coker University. With all the recent insanity, all our courses have moved online. I am in the process of recording the entire content of my Modern Web Development course, and decided to go ahead and post the videos on YouTube, hoping to help more people learn the joys of web development.
Click here for a brief overview (aka syllabus) of what the videos will cover.
Click here for the link to the YouTube playlist.
I have already uploaded about ⅓ of the total course videos, and will continue to upload new ones as I complete them. As of right now, I’ve covered HTML, CSS, and lots of JavaScript. I’m finishing the videos on JS arrays and objects, then we’ll move on to DOM manipulation before creating a front-end capstone. Then we’ll move to the back end and get rolling with Node.js, Express, MongoDB, Passport, and others.
I hope this helps a few people learn to love programming as much as I do. I started by watching these types of videos, and I wanted to pay it forward to the next generation.
2
u/Shevcoff Apr 10 '20
I want to learn javascript but I guess I have to learn HTML first, right?
1
u/DrJoshBastean Apr 10 '20
You don't have to. Since Nodejs was released, you can use JavaScript for a lot more than just websites.
That said, it's best use is with websites, so you're best off learning at least the basics of HTML and CSS, which is what I try to do. In class, we spend 2-3 weeks on HTML/CSS. This barely enough time to get the basics, but it's enough that we can build basic websites to use JavaScript to manipulate. The focus is JS, but the basics of HTML/CSS is a prerequisite.
Just curious, why do you want to learn JS if not for web development?
2
u/Shevcoff Apr 11 '20
Well, for web, backend. It's all just very new for me so I dunno where to begin.
2
u/DrJoshBastean Apr 11 '20
Makes sense. If you only want to do back end, you may be better off learning PHP, because it has a larger market share. Or stick with Nodejs and you'll be able to do front end stuff as well.
But really, the important part is just learning one language pretty well. Most of the concepts transfer, so you can generally learn more pretty easily.
For example, most people I trust recommend starting with either Python or JS, because they're relatively simple (compared to others like C++). But once you learn the concepts in one language, you just have to learn the syntax to pick up another. You'll likely have a favorite language after a couple years, but also know the basics of several and be able to work with them decently well.
I love JavaScript and Python, personally. But I can work with C++, C#, C, Swift, Java, Go, Bash, PowerShell, Perl, PHP, Google Apps Script, and others. I'm not amazing in any of those, but I can get stuff done.
So pick one, learn it well, and you can pick up others pretty easily.
2
u/Shevcoff Apr 11 '20
Thank you! This information for me as a beginner is very helpful. I'm learning JS for a month and a half. I want to move further in web development so my next step is Node.js. What would you recommend me to learn after that? HTML and CSS I guess, react maybe? So I could develop frontend too.
2
u/DrJoshBastean Apr 11 '20
Definitely HTML and CSS before React, because it's a front end library. Basically, it lets you create UIs, and the UIs are built with HTML elements and styled with CSS. So you have to have a really solid understanding of both HTML and CSS before starting on React, or you'll be super lost.
1
1
u/captkaty Apr 09 '20
Thank you for this. I've been furloughed from the live entertainment industry, but have dabbled in web development over the years and think I'm going to finally change careers into front-end development. Been scouring the web the last couple weeks for good learning resources to learn from.
2
u/DrJoshBastean Apr 10 '20
Yeah, the large number of people out of work is one of the main reasons I decided to release it for everyone. I hope it helps!
1
u/mreplicator Apr 10 '20
Awesome. Will there be exercises or challenges to practice on?
2
u/DrJoshBastean Apr 10 '20
I included the assignments that I use in class. Most of them are in the front end,. About halfway through the course, we transition to the back end and there aren't many exercises, because we're building a full stack app. In the actual course, I just do weekly checkups on each student's app for their grades.
1
1
u/1sockwonder Apr 10 '20
Thanks Dr. I'm in class till May 29 and can't do anything outside of school work but I'll check it out as soon as I graduate.
2
2
2
2
u/baaaaaaaaaaaaaabs Apr 10 '20
Thanks so much Dr. Josh. You're a real one.