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The hurdles of learning jQuery
in Getting Started
•
11 years ago
Is it just me, or are there other newbies to jQuery who are finding this one of the most difficult languages to learn? It's not the complexity of the language, I taught myself PHP and MySQL, it's the documentation, the lack of 'nut and bolt' descriptions in tutorials and the general sense that only people who KNOW jQuery are writing about it...in a manner that conveys they are only talking TO people who already know jQuery.
When I learned PHP and MySQL, I found forums, books and tutorials that were written far clearer than any jQuery instructional I have read to date. Where is the, 'If you want to accomplish this, then here's how you go about it' (in detail!)? Every time I read docs for a plugin, it's like reading a software manual written for another software engineer. Any sort of basic, step-by-step guidance is missing from nearly everything I read. This is so unbelievably frustrating, I can't be the only person on the planet who feels or has felt this way.
So I went book shopping. There's a limit to how many $30-$50 books I can buy or order online. Each one is written with a different slant, and I lack the time to sit on the floor at Barnes & Noble reading for hours to determine if a specific book addresses things I want to know in a manner that makes sense to me.
Why is such a powerful language hidden beneath a shroud so thick? Where is the step-by-step guidance? PHP was nowhere near as difficult to pick up. But then again, there were books and tutorials that I found easy to read, easy to understand.
I'm not here bashing anyone who has put time into jQuery or any of its plugins. This is MAGNIFICENT STUFF!! But...the help out there is so basic, generalized and laden with engineer-speak, it's like being taught to drive a car with someone handing you keys and telling you that the car can take you anywhere you want to go...nothing else. PLEASE...there has got to be some resource out there that a beginner to jQuery can use to learn the langauge and how to apply mods to plugins.
Please. Someone else out there must know how this feels.
When I learned PHP and MySQL, I found forums, books and tutorials that were written far clearer than any jQuery instructional I have read to date. Where is the, 'If you want to accomplish this, then here's how you go about it' (in detail!)? Every time I read docs for a plugin, it's like reading a software manual written for another software engineer. Any sort of basic, step-by-step guidance is missing from nearly everything I read. This is so unbelievably frustrating, I can't be the only person on the planet who feels or has felt this way.
So I went book shopping. There's a limit to how many $30-$50 books I can buy or order online. Each one is written with a different slant, and I lack the time to sit on the floor at Barnes & Noble reading for hours to determine if a specific book addresses things I want to know in a manner that makes sense to me.
Why is such a powerful language hidden beneath a shroud so thick? Where is the step-by-step guidance? PHP was nowhere near as difficult to pick up. But then again, there were books and tutorials that I found easy to read, easy to understand.
I'm not here bashing anyone who has put time into jQuery or any of its plugins. This is MAGNIFICENT STUFF!! But...the help out there is so basic, generalized and laden with engineer-speak, it's like being taught to drive a car with someone handing you keys and telling you that the car can take you anywhere you want to go...nothing else. PLEASE...there has got to be some resource out there that a beginner to jQuery can use to learn the langauge and how to apply mods to plugins.
Please. Someone else out there must know how this feels.
