As a complete newbie to programming in Javascript the adjustment has been somewhat strange, although most aspects are similar to previous languages I have used. In the past I have experienced programming in Java and C for the most part. Perhaps the strangest difference thus far is the use of ‘Let’ and ‘Const’ and not having to declare a variables type. For the most part however, the fundamentals of programming stay the same from language to language, with nearly all modern languages.
From a software engineering perspective, it often seems the most useful languages are the ones which are the most popular. In this, Javascript is obviously a frontrunner. This is not to say that without its fanbase Javascript is not a powerful language; however with such a large base this leads to enviroments such as Node, Angular and others. Having such a large array of frameworks, engines and enviroments that extend the base code, Javascript becomes an extremely versatile language. It is possible to do web development(both server side and client side), mobile development and even game development using Javascript.
So far I have enjoyed the “athletic software engineering” approach to learning to program. Having practice WODs is a great way to learn, and the timed approach to learning forces you to think on your feet. It interesting to me that programming has, in many respects seemed to move from mastering a single lower-level language to learning a ‘stack’ or a collection of higher level languages and frameworks. Having only worked with Java and C it will be interesting to learn how different languages and frameworks work together. The other aspect I’m interested in is working in a team enviroment. This is something that is rarely taught in introductory computer science courses and is absolutely necessary in a career.