TheOdinProject
Fundamentals Part 5: <Exercise JS.info extendable calculator>
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Hello, I've been currently working on Foundations part 5 and was doing exercises from Javascript.info and I've been stuck at " Extendable calculator " exercise. Don't know if it's supposed to be easy or it's just me, but I've been struggling for 2 days on it. Maybe you can check it to atleast tell me if it was totally planned from you. :) https://javascript.info/array-methods#tasks EDIT : I've been working on exercise " create keyed object from array " with the reduce() function. Took me some hours to understand how it was working. This vid helped me a lot :https://youtu.be/5nzBDkH9lWI Maybe it can be useful ?
Path
Foundations
Lesson Url
https://www.theodinproject.com/lessons/foundations-fundamentals-part-5
(Optional) Discord Name
Hachounet
(Optional) Additional Comments
No response
Hey @Hachounet
Are you part of the discord community because that would be a better place for asking this kind of question?
Hey @CouchofTomato Absolutely, you can DM me if you want or I will DM Carlos or someone else from the staff ? It's because Scheals, one of your moderators, helped me with the "extendable calculator" exercise. He found that it was a potentially blocking exercise to the current level of learners in Foundations and suggested that I submit this ticket to you to verify that it was indeed something planned at this stage and not something new from Javascript.info that could be too tricky for us.
I can confirm that I suggested Hachounet to raise an issue.
I did that because during conversation in question I, as a fellow learner couldn't clarify using context whether Expendable calculator task is something that should be done by the learner at this point of the curriculum.
Object constructors are introduced by the curriculum later in the full stack path but Hachounet noted that you do come across constructors in JavaScript Fundamentals 5 potentially because of MDN article linked there. The javascript.info link does not cover constructors but MDN does.
Now, the part itself where that task comes from looks like this:
For a more comprehensive and in-depth guide to array methods in JavaScript, you can also check out this array method guide. This resource covers each method in detail, with examples and explanations of their usage.
And perhaps one could say "it doesn't clearly state you need to do the tasks" but an expectation was made couple of lessons earlier, in Fundamentals 4:
Once again, same info, slightly different context from JavaScript.info. (Skim the info if you think you know it all, but don’t forget the tasks at the end of the page. You learn best by doing.)
An example of curriculum clearly talking about not doing a particular exercise can be found in Fundamentals Part 3, a little higher than linked section, point 4:
Next, read this article from Javascript.info. We’ve mentioned this before, but JavaScript has changed a bit over the years and functions have recently received some innovation. This article covers one of the more useful new abilities: ‘default parameters’. (NOTE: The last “task” at the end of this lesson uses loops, which you will learn about in the next lesson. Don’t worry about that one.) (emphasis mine)
Take note of how the thing to do is "read this article" but the implicit expectation to do the tasks becomes explicit because of the note.
Taking all this into account, as a fellow learner I had no way of figuring out what's the correct call. It seems to me that raising the issue is the best way of getting clarification due to visibility concerns & lack of alternative channel on Discord since removing #suggestions-bugs and only leaving a #discord-suggestions.
@TheOdinProject/foundations Perhaps the original issue wasn't clear enough at describing the problem. Please look at the last two comments for clarification.
Hi @scheals, I also misunderstood the assignment. The wording made it sound more like a suggestion than an assignment, I tried to do the tasks anyway since it was under "assignment" and not casually mentioned within the TOP article.
@Hachounet thanks for making this issue (and @scheals for providing some additional context). I've reopened this issue as yes, I'd agree that the wording isn't totally clear and the task in question is a bit out of scope considering the context of where it's introduced in the curriculum.
At the very least we should update the verbiage for that assignment item to make it less ambiguous:
Read through the array method guide for a more comprehensive and in-depth guide to array methods in JavaScript.
From there we can either explicitly state to not do the tasks at the end (I think this should be the last resort), or state which tasks to do/avoid. Would you like to be assigned this issue still, Hachounet?
You're welcome @thatblindgeye. If you want me to try to update the verbiage, I could give it a try, yes, of course.
@Hachounet you're assigned! Let us know if you have any other questions