Learning made easy

20 Sep 2018

When you first pick up a spoken language, you usually start off copying the person you are learning from. Usually the same thing happens when you start off learning how to code. You do your best to mimic the source and learn how it all comes together. This is why learning how to code comes so much faster when you have the help of a linter. Linters are language specific, but they all have the same goal: make sure that your code is spotless. Even more important is enforcable coding standards. These help so much in terms of readability of your code. Maybe you’ll understand the importance of this if you take a peak at your code when you were first learning the art.

One of my friends is currently learning how to code using Java, and it is not the prettiest code I’ve seen. Imagine trying to read a paper that a kindergartener wrote. Yes, you may be able to understand it but it might take a few looks over to truely understand the whole thing. This type of thing is understandable when learning something, but should not be happening when you’ve been at it for a few years. No one wants to work with someone that doesn’t know how to format their code in a neat fashion.

With ESLint, learning Javascript has been a breeze. You can get immediate feedback if you made a mistake and can learn from them. ESLint paired with IntelliJ gives you the best coding experience possible. It may be annoying to have to fix those small spacing errors with brackets and suc, but eventually you may notice you aren’t making those small errors anymore. Good habits are formed and you’ll carry it with you throughout your coding career. If everyone used the same coding standards, communication and collabooration would be a breeze. I hope you’ll give it a chance.