rachsmithcodes
commented
8 years ago heya @kmshub Great question. I would say it took me about 3 years to really get my head around JavaScript. I spent a couple of years writing jQuery and not really improving my understanding of JS. I then spent a year of concentrated effort on getting better at JS. I would only take on JavaScript heavy jobs and started writing vanilla JS - I also didn't spend much time on improving my CSS that year. I blogged about it here: https://rachsmith.com/2014/2013-the-year-of-javascript.html. Since then I've just been getting better by writing a lot of JavaScript in my day job, and on CodePen for fun :)
So to answer your questions, yes it does get easier! But it does take time and practice. You say you've been working with Ember for a few months? You are definitely not a slow learner. When I think about the time it would have taken me to write something I can do now in 5 minutes, back in the first year I was learning JavaScript - it could have been hours.
Here's a couple of things I did to get better, faster.
- use vanilla JavaScript. Try to write anything with JS, outside of your Ember framework.
- read and attempt to understand other people's JavaScript. Read lots of different people's JavaScript because they'll use different styles. I was lucky to do this on the job via contracting but github's a great place to find lots of JavaScript projects. You could even try to read and understand the source code of Ember.
- Make an effort to study up on objects, context, prototype inheritence - the Understanding JavaScript resources from http://superherojs.com were really helpful
Some of this stuff won't necessarily help you build your Ember app faster, but I found I had to take a step back from the work I was ploughing through and spend some time to try to get a deeper understanding of the language. After repeated learning and the applying the learning to your actual work, things will start connecting in your brain and you'll begin to understand how and why Ember works and that part is magical. Good luck and be easy on yourself!!
kmshub
How long did it take you to fully grasp JS? I've been working on an Ember app for a few months now, with little improvement. Am I just a slow learner or is this something some people initially struggle with? Rather, did you specifically struggle with JavaScript at all and/or how long did it take to overcome it, for lack of a better word.