My first official classes for the Master of Science program in Advanced Data Analytics begin next semester. So, before jumping into that, I wanted to try to find time to work on developing my javascript skills as a pathway to using D3 for interactive data visualization on the web. I love python but I am definitely not impressed with its data visualization libraries (matplot lib, seaborn, etc.) for several reasons. One, they are not so easily deployed to the web by default, and, second, they’re just not appealing to me in terms of design and user interactivity.

So, to start, I completed the course, Programming Foundations: Object-Oriented Programming and then started but have not finished the Javascript Essential Training course.

I also bought the book, Eloquent Javascript and started working through it. It started off with the basics of the language (values, types, functions, data structures, objects, classes, etc.) and then moved on the browser (where javascript shines compared to Python), Asynchronous programming, the DOM, and, finally NodeJS. It included several projects along the way that I attempted to tinker with via playcode but didn’t complete anything unique other than copying/pasting code but it was still a nice learning experience.

Unfortunately, this short venture into the JavaScript world will have to wait as I prepare to embark on this new data analytics journey!