I have a framed, hand-painted saying on my wall that says, “I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.” It remains one of my most cherished “thrift store finds.” I do not know who gave that frame away, but I am grateful each time I look at it. It inspires me during periods of self-doubt. This past week, I often thought about the words in my frame. However, I revised the words to fit my current circumstances. “I work on coding. It’s buggy. I get frustrated. Meanwhile, I keep practicing.”
The topic I enjoyed most from this week’s learning is the one this class is about, learning how to code. While doing the exercises and trying to understand what was being taught, I realized coding is just like learning a foreign language. It is a foreign language composed of words, symbols, and numbers. I had never thought about the word “HTML,” but in doing these exercises, I understood the definition of hypertext markup language, with emphasis on the word “language.” It is a language computer systems understand and use to interpret commands or language inputted by the user/coder.
There is so much about technology that we take for granted. The internet, combined with the world wide web, has transformed our society. We have an enormous amount of information at our fingertips. When we look at a web page, we can read information about our selected topic, view images or videos to illustrate or enhance our understanding, and click on words that change the web page we are currently viewing to learn more about that topic. Coding is all about how that information is written, structured, and stylized on those web pages. It is a universal language everyone can learn and use to impart their knowledge on a global scale.
This week, instead of speaking the words out loud to communicate, I wrote them into a file and added a .html extension. I then tested my knowledge of this new language by inputting it into an app called Visual Studio Code. With the addition of the Live Server Extension, the program took my HTML file and let me view it in real-time in my browser. I saw my progress (or lack thereof) and made changes until the information I inputted reflected the vision I wanted to see—the completion of my coding homework assignment. I understand that, like any foreign language, you must practice it continuously to improve. And, like any foreign language, there is always more to learn. I enjoy the process even if I experience moments of frustration and self-doubt. Hence, my new mantra, “I work on coding. It’s buggy. I get frustrated. Meanwhile, I keep practicing.”