I am curious how do you learn new or update current knowledge :)
I discovered beauty of doing only one thing at a time so yo do not get distracted
I study every month only a single topic and then go to next one I have ordered this in need of getting new info
from most important (what I know bad or need to learn) to the least important to me here is my learning curve:
Jan = JavaScript Feb = jQuery Mar = PHP Apr = SQL May = WordPress Jun = HTML5 Jul = CSS3 Aug = Haml + Sass Sep = XML + JSON Oct = Photoshop Nov = Git Dec = User Experience
I used to learn in prescribed segments like yourself but I find it often results me coming back to issues that I previously learned but since forgotten. I think the trick is to set yourself projects that incorporate a number of areas so you keep learning multiple areas as you go.
i find it very difficult to retain knowledge im not currently applying to a project. its mostly in one ear out the other unless i can physically see how the information is relevant to my needs/interests.
When i first started out i just watched a lot of random videos about anything to do with the web and eventually just learned on my feet from there, I still don't have any logic to how I learn as I'm always learning new things at work all the time there for i just do something and hope it works otherwise I spend around 10-20 mins researching on Google.
What I do is go to this forum and ask people what I don't know, and then play on js-fiddle (or codepen) or dreamweaver until I figure it out. I refer to language references often so I can remember what "that function" was called and how to use it.
In general, I learn by doing. Even if I read about it, I have to practice it or take the knowledge and compare to other sources, and draw my own conclusions. This way, I know it, and it isn't just what I heard from someone else.
I am trying to figure out how to best learn JavaScript + jQuery what sort of "project" would include a ton of it yet "suitable" for not so skilled person like myself :]
my preferred method is through personal projects. That way you are learning in order, but quicker. A) pen&paper B) quick photoshop C) html D) mysql and php E) js
and as it is a personal project, it does not need to make sense, In few cases I started making a simple quiz and ended up have lots other features. - personal projects are the best.
when I started learning html5 and css3 (for example) I started creating a website which I called "learning html5 and css3" and spend as much time in php to get the structure, as well on the html5 and css3. though of course if I uploaded that site, everyone would hate it, as it is pointless.
I did try to learn jquery, without anything else, and I found that I forgot other things
I also hate going through tutorials (from start to finish) I just get the best bits and create my own thing
To learn JS you should look around and pick a cool feature that someone has created with JS (from real websites) and try to create something like it. Though without looking at their code. and of course it does not have to be the same as what you see
In a movie a heard a quote "the secret to writing is just to write". thats why, a personal project could be the aim of creating a cool banner, and could easily end up with an entire site - not logical for the real world but the best thing for learning.
I learn by doing - making mistakes, trial and error. As Chris always says - just build websites!
As you go you'll learn how to do what you need as you need it, for me this is absolutely the best approach as I get super bored doing things in theory.
Like others have said, I learn when I need to. I recently learned Wordpress just because I wanted to make a blog. In the process I understood PHP much better (not mastered, but maybe soon). As for Javascript/jQuery, think of a project, and look at tutorials to do parts of it to make something like that. That way you still learn, but in your own way.
I can not do personal projects unless I have a specific goal. I need to be able to show it to others and brag about it, or I'm not really interested. So helping someone else build a jQuery plugin would be how I learn jQuery, because I currently have no reason to sit down and learn it, as I don't have a place to use it. I learned js and php because I needed to implement a flash menu that was completely dynamic and would default to a standard menu if js/flash was disabled.
I am curious how do you learn new or update current knowledge :)
I discovered beauty of doing only one thing at a time
so yo do not get distracted
I study every month only a single topic and then go to next one
I have ordered this in need of getting new info
from most important (what I know bad or need to learn) to the least important to me
here is my learning curve:
Jan = JavaScript
Feb = jQuery
Mar = PHP
Apr = SQL
May = WordPress
Jun = HTML5
Jul = CSS3
Aug = Haml + Sass
Sep = XML + JSON
Oct = Photoshop
Nov = Git
Dec = User Experience
i find it very difficult to retain knowledge im not currently applying to a project. its mostly in one ear out the other unless i can physically see how the information is relevant to my needs/interests.
In general, I learn by doing. Even if I read about it, I have to practice it or take the knowledge and compare to other sources, and draw my own conclusions. This way, I know it, and it isn't just what I heard from someone else.
what sort of "project" would include a ton of it yet "suitable" for not so skilled person like myself :]
and as it is a personal project, it does not need to make sense, In few cases I started making a simple quiz and ended up have lots other features. - personal projects are the best.
when I started learning html5 and css3 (for example) I started creating a website which I called "learning html5 and css3" and spend as much time in php to get the structure, as well on the html5 and css3. though of course if I uploaded that site, everyone would hate it, as it is pointless.
I did try to learn jquery, without anything else, and I found that I forgot other things
I also hate going through tutorials (from start to finish) I just get the best bits and create my own thing
To learn JS you should look around and pick a cool feature that someone has created with JS (from real websites) and try to create something like it. Though without looking at their code. and of course it does not have to be the same as what you see
In a movie a heard a quote "the secret to writing is just to write". thats why, a personal project could be the aim of creating a cool banner, and could easily end up with an entire site - not logical for the real world but the best thing for learning.
thanks
well written post
I will try to redesign my 1st ever made "personal project" web
http://bfh.krsiak.cz/
now there is like 1/4 of it not working, broken links, ...
I will try to bring it to year 2012 with some neat features, including some .JS + jQuery :)
As you go you'll learn how to do what you need as you need it, for me this is absolutely the best approach as I get super bored doing things in theory.