Navigating Languages

Playing In The Sandbox

One of the best ways to practice your coding skills is by playing in the sandbox, repl.it or even irb. I’ve been practicing some basic JS code for a couple days. Using the console to see real time changes vs. coding blindly definitely helps. Having “let val” will allow the value change without added work.

let val;
//Number to string
val = String(777);
val = String(1 + 1);

//Bool to string
val = String(true);

//Date to String
val = String(new Date());

//Array to String
val = String([1, 2, 3, 4]);

//toString()
val = (5).toString();

//String to a Number or
val = Number("5");
val = Number(true);
val = Number(false);
val = Number(null);
val = Number("hello"); //Nan not a number
val = Number([1, 2, 3, 4]);
val = parseInt("100.30"); //whole number
val = parseFloat("100.30"); //to show decimal
//Output
console.log(val);
console.log(typeof val);
//console.log(val.length);

console.log(val.toFixed()); //to show decimal(parseFloat)you can put 2 inside toFixed(2) to show 2 decimal places
const val1 = String(5); //will concatnate '5' as a string + 6 = 56
const val2 = 6;
const sum = val1 + val2;
console.log(sum);
console.log(typeof sum);

Playing around with Math & Numbers

Being a Software Engineer requires you to have some knowledge with numbers, so playing around with numbers will do you some good. Know where to go to find those handy methods.

const num1 = 150;
const num2 = 50;
let val;
//simple math w/numbers
val = num1 + num2;
val = num1 * num2;
val = num1 - num2;
val = num1 / num2;
val = num1 % num2;
//Math Object (has props(attribute) & methods)
val = Math.PI;
val = Math.E;
val = Math.round(3.8); //round a number this ex. to 4
val = Math.ceil(3.4); //rounds to 3 .floor does same
val = Math.sqrt(64); //gives us 8 64 squared
val = Math.pow(8, 2); //8 the the 2nd power of 2
val = Math.min(2, 33, 4, 1, 55, -1); //gives min -1
val = Math.max(2, 33, 54);
val = Math.random();
val = Math.random() * 20; //gives random # w/ decimal bet 0-19 to get a whole number wrap in Math.floor
val = Math.floor(Math.random() * 20 + 1);
console.log(val);

Learning about Strings are also a great way to exercise your skills

I’m not one of those natural coders by any means. For those who are, you’re amazing. I know these concepts are considered basic. You gain a lot of knowledge by pairing up and working on projects. However, any little bit helps.

//Strings
const firstName = "William";
const lastName = "Alexander";
const age = 36;
const str = "hello there my name";
let val;
//Concatenation
val = firstName + " " + lastName;
//Appending add on to a variable not replace
val = "Krystal";
val = "Kira";
val += "Kira";
val = "Hello, my name is " + firstName + "and I am" + age;
// which will print out Hello, my name is Brad and I am whatever age is.
//Escaping
val = "That's awesome, I can't wait.";
//escape with a '\'
//escapes the quote with
val = "That's awesome, I can't wait";
//length
val = firstName.length;
//concat()
val = firstName.concat("", lastName);
//Change case to
val = firstName.toUpperCase();
val = firstName.toLowerCase();
val = firstName[0]; //taking 0 index from this value which would give us first Letter of the firstName
//indexOf()
val = firstName.indexOf("l"); //looks for first 'l' it finds and gives the index of that letter
val = firstName.lastIndexOf("l"); //gives us the last 'l' giving us the index[3]
//last charac. of a string but it could change so create a val
val = firstName.charAt("2");
//get last char
val = fristName.charAt(firstName.length - 1);
//substring()
val = fristName.substring(0, 4);
//gives us the first 4 letters of 'william' which is will
//split
//const str = 'hello there my name is'
//val = str.split(' ');
//will give you an array [hello, there, etc.]
//includes() gives T or F values
val = str.includes("foo");
console.log(val); //so we can overwrite the values

“Little Success will get you to your goals. One code at a time.”