Overview

The Code Academy web site features interactive lessons on various computer technologies, including Git, the Linux Command Line, JavaScript and HTML. It provides an excellent way for you to brush up on basic skills that we don’t have time to cover in class.

If you have not done so already, create an account on Code Academy.

NOTE: The name of the site is actually codecademy, not code academy. In a no doubt futile attempt to preserve what is left of the English language, I nevertheless tend to call it code academy.

After you have set up your account, I want you to complete some simple exercises in Code Academy. This should help you learn about React.

Looking Ahead

We’ll likely keep progressing through Code Academy on a weekly basis, doing about twenty-five percent of both skills each week. Therefore our proposed weekly progress looks like this, where each week we do a new part:

Section Percent
Part 1 25%
Part 2 50%
Part 3 75%
Part 4 100%

If you have already completed these skills, then just turn in the assignments pointing me toward your Profile page, and you will get credit. Please note that completing the skill is binary, you must get to 100%. You will not get credit on the last week for getting to only 99%.

Turn it in

When you are done, submit either a screen shot or a link to your Code Academy profile page. Whether you submit a screen shot or a link depends on whether or not you have entirely completed a Code Academy skill. To help you understand what I want, consider the two following concepts:

  • Bellevue College Assignments, known as assignments.
  • Code Academy Skills, known as skills.

In this assignment we are working on twenty five percent of the Code Academy git and command line skills. If you have completed only 25% of a skill, then submit a screen shot. In this assignment, I ask for only 25% of a skill to be completed, so most of you will submit a screen shot. If, however, you have completed 100% of the entire skill, then submit a link to your profile page. I describe the profile page and the screen shot below.

This means that when you turn in Part IV, you should turn in a link to your profile!

Profile Pages and Screen Shots

On Code Academy, I am known as netslayer43536. As a result, a link to my profile page looks like this:

If you complete one hundred percent of some skill, then you should submit a link to your profile page. Don’t submit a link to any other page on Code Academy. You must submit a link to your profile page or I will kick the assignment back to you. This is because links to other pages on the site are generally useless to me. They will tell me about the status of my account, not your account. To see your account, I need a link to your profile page? Capiche?

In July, 2014 CodeAcademy changed their profile pages so that I will not be able to see your progress through a particular skill by looking at your profile page. Their change made it so that I can see only your completed skills on the profile page. If you have not yet completed a particular skill by finishing 100% of the questions, please submit a screen shot of the skills you have completed. It will probably look something like this:

Send to Kindle

NOTE: You can see an icon or a picture of yourself in the upper right hand corner of the Code Academy site. Click that picture, there you will find a way to get your profile page.

All Done

If you have already completed the assignments, perhaps in another of my courses, you need only provide a link to your existing profile page. If you want to work through a skill again, create a new account and start over. I don’t think you can delete work you have done and reset a course you have already completed. You can use the left panel to pick a section you have not done yet, but I don’t see a way to completely start over.

Hint

I strongly suggest that you set aside a little time at least five days a week to work on this assignment. Trying to do it all the day it is due is likely to be a very frustrating experience. If I want you to do twenty-five percent of a skill each week, then try doing about one fifth of that a day, or about three percent of the total skill. Something like fifteen to thirty minutes a day. That is a much more comfortable pace than a big, hours long marathon.

Also, there may be times when the Code Academy editor can go a bit wacky. Try refreshing the page or clearing the cache. Even better, try cutting and pasting the code into Cloud 9, Geany or some other editor, and working at the linux or git command line. Just do a little work in a completely different environment. If it seems to be working there, then try pasting your solution back into Code Academy.