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Homework 02

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originalgremlin edited this page Nov 1, 2012 · 4 revisions

Due 2012/10/31

Part 1: Make a Personal Branch in Git

30 minutes

We were pleased to see that almost everybody successfully installed git and cloned the kinu-web-development repository. Great job, class. Continue down the road to git-mastery by creating a branch for your personal development experiments.

  1. Review the introductory git course (if necessary):
    http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-git
  2. Create a personal development branch using the git shell:
    • git checkout develop
    • git branch your_name_or_git_handle (for example, mine would be "git branch barry")
    • git checkout your_name_or_git_handle (again, for me it is "git checkout barry")
    • git status
    • You should now be working on a personal development branch. Any changes you make here will be saved and can be shared with your classmates, but it won't mess up their own branches with your coding experiments. For extra fun, try making some changes then "git add .", "git commit", and "git push".
  3. [optional] To learn more advanced git usage, check out the definitive reference and guide:
    http://git-scm.com/book/en/

Part 2: Think of a Product Name

15 minutes

The task we have chosen is to build a job posting board for students. What company name best captures this idea? It should be short, memorable, and energetic. To show our Tanzanian roots and differentiate our site from the competition we should consider using a Kiswahili word or phrase.

Part 3: Check Out the Competition

1 hour

We're not the first people to build an online job board. What are the successful products in this space? Spend five minutes on each of these sites to see what features are common and how we can improve upon them.

[optional] Create an account on one of these sites and upload your resume. Try applying to a job. Was it easy? Was it delightful? How could the experience be improved?

  1. http://www.monster.com/
  2. http://www.dice.com/
  3. http://authenticjobs.com/

Part 4: Learn JavaScript

1 hour

Though we won't have many in-class lessons on JavaScript, it is the most important web programming language and you must know it thoroughly to excel as a web developer. As such, I expect you to spend 2-3 hours a week learning JavaScript using free online resources. I'll be happy to help you answer any questions you have during classthrough email, or in the "Issues" section of this site.

  1. Start using Code Academy to learn JavaScript. This is an excellent (and free!) interactive introduction to programming in JavaScript. Start at your level, and spend a few hours a week doing the short lessons.
  2. [optional] Tutorials are great for learning but they never answer all your questions. For that, you have to go to the reference. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference
    http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/

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