JavaScript and the debate

The question of whether it is necessary to have students learn to code in order to participate in the digital humanities conversation is one that I really think could go in either direction. Taking a step back, the question can also be interpreted as whether the content of a digital humanities projects itself is the point of this collaboration, or if getting this information to as many people as possible is the point. The answer then seems to depend on what level of immersion the participant wants to commit to for their project. The more you know, the better the project it seems. I personally wish that learning to code was a mandatory part of school, as I think it will become more and more important in our future, one that is built on a technologically dependent society. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about HTML, CSS or JavaScript prior to this class and these assignments. My experience with JavaScript was limited to trying to understand the premises on which it is built, rather than memorizing the language itself. It seems a very arbitrarily logical process, one developed based on chosen representative symbols or actions. However, once these are memorized and comprehended, the patterns repeat in a consistent way, unlike other languages like english which break rules constantly. It seems as though rather than breaking with the rules, new rules are implemented and continue to exist, sometimes being overruled by new stipulations. JavaScript was hard for me to understand until I got to the math section which helped me to understand how JavaScript seems to work.

Author: wasende