mclarke wrote:Does anyone know of a good resource for instructor-led training in Javascript that doesn't involve web page creation? It can be either online or classroom based.
Most of the online resources I've come across have web design as their main focus. I'm looking to expand my Switch skill set and scripting is the next step.
Thanks.
Hey man. There's lots of non-web based Javascript options with Node. If you Google for any Node coding courses or tutorials, you'll find lots. But the problem isn't so much that Switch's Javascript is unlike the Javascript you find on the web, but that Switch has a goofy implementation that is based on an older version of ECMAScript. I can't tell you how often I throw some perfectly valid JS into Switch Scripter which causes it to crash, losing my work
.
Dwight does some courses at GraphExpo and usually does a post here beforehand:
http://forum.enfocus.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=822
I'd recommend reviewing the
Javascript learn-x-in-y, reading through the Switch Scripting guide (you'll need an understanding of the Job and File classes Switch gives you to do anything useful), and then playing around with some Node tutorials. Understanding Javascript
scope and hoisting are definitely worth your time. Learning how to use the fixture panel in Switch Scripter can also save you a ton of time as well, and it really the only hope you have to test your code, since the way Switch Scripts are packed prevents any real testing from being done. Lots of us have also made Switch script code available to review. Some good resources are crossroads-world,
GitHub, and of course, these forums.
For me, what always helps me to learn scripting/programming languages or concepts is to first start with a problem and tackle something new in my attempts to solve it.