Hi all, I've been tinkering with programming for the last couple years as a hobby and am very interested in learning how to do it at a much deeper level.
I made an attempt to get deeper into it at the beginning of this year by reading some books and started with Eloquent Javascript. I got to around Chapter 6 and it started to get incredibly difficult. I didn't have a hard time understanding most of the concepts at a elementary level, but the examples and exercises that were utilized in the book seemed to jump up in complexity without much explanation at times. I remember spending a few hours on some of the provided examples where I was annotating the code just to help me understand blocks that were 10-12 lines long at most.
I'm not saying this isn't effective, but I guess I'm hoping to find something that ramps up at a bit more of a gradual pace so I don't feel like I'm stalling on one problem for far too long. Those moments can be incredibly frustrating and make the marathon of learning much harder.
I'd ideally like to utilize a resource that helps me compartmentalize the broader landscape of tools in the Javascript/React/Node.js world and then go back to a book like Eloquent Javascript and for further drilling etc.
That being said, I'm curious if The Odin Project is a good place to start? I was looking at the full stack javascript course and it looks like it does some Intermediate HTML/CSS which is definitely the skill range I'd consider myself in. For reference, I've got a lot of experience doing hobbyist server management with Ubuntu Server, Linux CLI programs, Unraid, Docker etc.
Note- I'd prefer an online resource that's free, which is why I ask about the odin project.
Sure, the Odin project does seem like a good starter resource. Full disclosure hoewever is that I havent used it myself, I went through it due to you post. It also is difficult say as everyone has a different learning style for these things, i dont know what yours is. However strictly speaking to the eloquent javascript book you will find the ramp up of difficulty be way smoother (the book goes from modules to aynch programming wow). I did however notice that the odin project is very focussed on learning how to programming, without learning why the code does what it does. A bit like learning how to work with a machine without learning how the machine works (just do this to get this result, dont ask why it is that way). This is not necessarily bad, if it is what you are looking for. Also personally I find that even their advanced course have a low to mid skill ceiling, not what I would call "advanced for experts". Anyway you could spend days trying to find the best foothold to start programming, or you could just start and learn along the way. Odin project seems like a good way to just start doing stuff. I would recommend going a bit further with the projects, personally I have found that programming is something you learn by doing, and considering you already are quite good with server management and such you already have the skills to search stuff to implement something extra. Good luck!