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Chris Briggs
Chris Briggs

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Vizhub: VSC Without Hubbub

If you're learning Javascript, React and have an interest in visualising data using the excellent D3 libraries, then check out Vizhub by Curran Kelleher from Datavis.tech.

It's an extremely intuitive, compact online platform that supports collaboration and a forum for those seeking a road into analysis and visualisation. Curran has produced a super informative 17 hour free course on YouTube, via freecodeCamp that takes you on a thorough journey through the functionality of D3 with React.

The course is given in two parts, and I'm tempted to say start with Part II, at least for the first few hours, as Curran explores visualising COVID-19 data. There is some crossover of subject matter between Parts I and II (that's no bad thing), but I found the second part to be gentler for beginners.

Even if graphs aren't your thing, the application of React in context of data visualisation makes the use of hooks very intuitive. In general, I'm not a fan of 'type-n-teach' tutorials, but Curran has a very engaging and methodical way of instructing that by and large avoids the "and then I do this, and then I do that..." pitfalls of this style. Regardless of the visualisation focus, I believe this to be one of the best courses for appreciating React itself, its strength and gotchas.

Vizhub is free, open source, and it supports forking of existing visualisations for practice and analysis. Furthermore, all your projects can be shared publicly as links for free ($5/month for private collaboration).

Vizhub is not a replacement for VSC, but it provides a compact platform for learning JS with less fuss, and completely online.

IMPORTANT: In Part II, the final section on graphs cuts off, so watch the full video here.

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Curran Kelleher

Thanks a ton!