Lighthouse Labs 21 Day coding challenge Overview


Technology Used


  • Language - JavaScript
  • Editor - Visual Studio Code
  • Testing - Terminal

Background


Lighthouse Labs is an online programming boot-camp aimed to improve or teach new an old development skills. From what I have seen they offer and hold quite a few programming events across Canada.

Goal


The 21 day coding challenge was to dedicate a small amount of time every day to complete a programming challenge. The idea is to keep practicing all the time no matter how small a task.

Intro page preview

Decision


I was not going to take part in the event originally, but later decided to jump in for a couple of reasons. The first, was the practice in javascript (aka vanilla javascript) which I use to great extents in my current position as a web developer. The second is I do little practice problems all the time. This little event would not put an extra weight on me or added stress. It would be just a fun little project.

21 day challenge game board

Implementation


The program as a whole was divided into very small problems to complete each day. The problems each day either included writing a function or adding some logic to an existing one. Most of the functions were setup without being tightly coupled together. Creating them this way allowed efficient reuse when needed.

Sample problem from the 21 day challenge

The hints below each problem gave tips and / or pointers to many of javascript's built in functions to make the lives of developers easier. These hints pointed to the api docs so that new programmers learned how to read them and use them as a valuable resource when trouble arises instead of googling a solution that someone 10 years ago found. (Yes that is an exaggeration but I see it happen all the time where rather than leaning how something works a copy and paste method is chosen.)

Grid setup preview

Looking Back


Although, the tasks were small and quite easy to complete for myself the idea behind the event was crucial. Simply put, every developer should practice and do so whenever possible and when in doubt refer to the api /docs created for whatever language, library, framework etc you may be using.

Sample function used

Final Thoughts


This was a very solid event held by Lighthouse Labs and I will be looking for the next one to come around. They did a fantastic job and even though it was easier for me still reminded me of crucial developer techniques.