How to get through the JavaScript beginner's hump

It's inevitable. You decide to start learning Javascript. You start learning the fundamentals. You know what an object is, what a function is. You can confidently use a variable. You know the theory. But one day, you sit down in front of your computer and try to code something, and nothing clicks. What is a variable again? All of the built in functions that you just learned have flown out of your head.

It's the Javascript hump. The hump is when you feel confident in all the concepts but can't quite figure out how to apply it to your code. There is hope! There's light at the end of the tunnel! You can make it.

Here's some tips that might help you get over this tough time faster:

1. Review what you can do with each concept. Figure out when do you use a loop, when arrays are useful, and what kind of information often hold. It helps to review it through a variety of manners. Try watching YouTube videos. Check out this Javascript for Beginners course from Traversy Media, where he goes through all the basic concepts. Make sure to try to type out everything that the instructor does so that you can get used to the syntax of Javascript.
2. Write things down. **If you're like me, you might find it easier to learn by writing things out slowly. I find it useful to write down an entire function or line of code, and annotate every single part of, down to why it's a curly bracket rather than a smooth bracket. You can write down what every variable means in each iteration that it is used, or write out the results of a loop yourself so that you can understand it more thoroughly.
3. Codealongs!! This is a very effective way of getting over the hump. Slowly but surely going through codealongs, and understanding every single piece of code that is used in the project. You can find codealongs on Udemy.com or even YouTube! There's tons of free content everywhere. Make sure to pick something with a similar comfort level to yours. Once you complete it, try to do it again by yourself, remembering the concepts that you just learned. Personally, I think this is the easiest way to get used to Javascript.