wdi-31-learning-objectives.md

WDI 31 Learning Objectives

Week 1 Learning Objectives

The Internet

• Explain at a high level how the Internet transmits data.
• Distinguish between the Internet and the World Wide Web.
• Understand why HTML CSS and JavaScript work together so well.
• Articulate what an API is.

HTML & CSS

• Edit and update an HTML file.
• Recognize common HTML tags and attributes.
• Describe the structure of an HTML document.
• Target elements using CSS selectors.
• Compare and contrast block, inline, and inline-block elements.
• Draw the CSS box model.

Git & Github

• Explain the uses of Git and GitHub for tracking their changes and collaborating on projects.
• Draw a model of local, remote, and working copies of their repositories.
• Write some code, commit the changes, and write a strong commit message.
• Deploy first live website using gh-pages.

Control Flow

• Reason through boolean logic.
• Write semantically & syntactically correct conditional statements.
• Compare & contrast for and while loops.

Functions

• Identify the differences between defining a function and calling a function.
• Demonstrate proper function naming conventions.
• Compare and contrast a function that prints a value and a simple function that returns a value.
• Draw a model of a function that includes arguments as input, side effects, and return values as output.
• Explain the keyword this in the context of different scopes.

Dev Tools & Debugging

• Solve broken code by reading and solving error messages.
• Interact with the JavaScript on the page through the console.
• View the DOM and styling through the console.

DOM Manipulation

• Describe and draw the document object model (DOM) of an HTML document.
• Manipulate the DOM and styling through the console.
• Compare and contrast JavaScript & JQuery.
• Select elements from the page using CSS Selectors.

DOM Events

• Explain what DOM events are and how they are triggered.
• Attach event listeners to DOM elements.
• Target the source of the event.
• Respond to events with a callback.
• Explain event propagation.

Week 2 Learning Objectives

Iterator Methods & Callbacks

• Use appropriate iterator methods to declaratively loop through collections
• Follow the order of execution in a program that uses callbacks
• Write a higher-order function that calls a custom callback

Objects

• Craeate an object that contains a variety of data types
• Access attributes of an object using . syntax and [] syntax
• Articulate the usefulness of JSON

HTML Forms

• Compare and contrast the available input options for HTML forms
• Use a method and an action to submit form data
• Generate query parameters using a form

AJAX

• Articulate why AJAX is useful and how it works
• Create an AJAX request that fetches data
• Describe the meaning of method:, url:, and onSuccess: keys for jQuery's $.ajax object

Data Templating w/ Handlebars

• Articulate the usefulness of data templating in the browser
• Create and compile a Handlebars template
• Use Handlebars templating to display JSON data

Object Oriented JavaScript

• Instantiate new objects using Javascript constructors
• Create shared methods amongst instances with prototypes
• Model real-world data and relationships with JavaScript objects

Week 3 Learning Objectives

Express

• Draw a diagram of the request response cycle with Nodejs and Express included and labeled
• Describe the roles that Nodejs and Express play in building a server
• Use npm to initialize a node project
• Write a local web server to serve JSON and static assets with Express

Params and Routes

• Create flexible, dynamic routes with parameterized route urls
• Process data sent to a server through query strings
• Process data sent from named form fields with POST requests

CRUD App

• Follow a testing suite to build a functional API
• Apply your knowledge Express to build a full CRUD API

Mongo/Mongoose

• Differentiate and relate the concepts of schemas and models in Mongoose
• Create Mongoose schemas & models and use Mongoose model instances
• Describe the relationship between Mongoose with Express and integrate the two in their projects

Mongoose relationships

• Describe one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many data relationships
• Write mongoose schemas that can reference and embed data
• Reflect model relationships in server routes

Agile Development

• Compare and contrast several development methodologies
• Define features as user stories
• Inform a UI with mockups
• Conduct a scrum

Personal API & Heroku

• Deploy server side code to Heroku so that your APIs will be publically accessible
• Write an API documentation endpoint at the ‘/’ path
• Build an API from scratch

Week 5 Learning Objectives

Big O

• Articulate a set of steps to determine Big O complexity.
• List the Big O complexities of some commonly-used patterns and algorithms.
• Estimate the time or space efficiency of an algorithm using Big O notation.

Bubble Sort

• Describe bubble sort algorithm and identify its advantages and disadvantages.
• Write a pseudocode version of bubble sort and a javascript version of bubble sort.
• Determine the runtime (in big-O() notation) for bubble sort.

Merge Sort

• Explain three steps to create a recursive algorithm.
• Describe the merge sort algorithm and a merge algorithm.
• Write a pseudocode version of merge sort and a JavaScript version of merge sort.
• Determine the runtime (in big-O() notation) for merge sort.

Intro Angular

• Explain the benefits of using Angular and describe the problems Angular aims to solve.
• Initialize Angular in an HTML view, and use expressions and templates to impact the DOM.
• Organize the code into controllers and connect the View & Controller using this.
• Implement 2-way data binding.

Angular $http

• Inject a service into a controller.
• Read data with $http.
• Create data with $http.
• Update data with $http.
• Delete data with $http.
• Update the view to reflect a successful state change.

Angular Client-side Routing

• Compare and contrast client-side and server-side routing.
• Add a module to an Angular project.
• Implement client-side routing with the ngRoute module.
• Display view template files with the ng-view directive.

Week 6 Learning Objectives

Custom Directives

• Explain the justifications for using custom directives.
• Describe the directive definition object and implement it in creating a directive.
• Integrate a third party directive into your code.

Make a Directive

• Create a custom directive.

Promises

• Explain the purpose of promises.
• Draw the lifecycle of a promise.
• Manipulate promises using Angular’s $q service.

Services

• Explain motivations for using services.
• Create a custom service.
• Use promises in a custom service.

Week 7 Learning Objectives

Intro Ruby

• List Ruby data types.
• Articulate strategies to learn new programming languages and frameworks.
• Run Ruby code in an interactive Command Line Interface or from a file.

Ruby Methods

• Write conditionals, loops, and methods in Ruby.
• Apply methods in ruby to solve problems.
• Explain the two main differences between Ruby methods and JavaScript functions: isolated scope and implicit return.

Idiomatic Ruby

• Follow variable and method naming conventions (lower_snake_case, CONSTANT, method_that_returns_boolean?, destructive_method!).
• Prefer built-in methods when available.
• Use implicit return whenever possible.

Ruby OOP

• Define the OOP terms “class,” “instance,” and “inheritance.”
• Create your own classes and instances.
• Define attributes and methods for instances or for the class as a whole.
• Explain and implement the class-based inheritance pattern.

Rspec

• Justify writing unit tests.
• Explain important testing concepts: edge cases and test coverage.
• Read and explain Rspec tests.
• Write DRY and effective test code using RSpec.

Rails Intro

• Articulate the Rails philosophy and the MVC pattern.
• Start a Rails project with no database and create routes that render dynamic templates.
• Distinguish between Express and Rails.

Active Record

• Create a model that inherits from ActiveRecord class
• CRUD data in the database using our model
• Write a migration to define a database schema
• Update our database schema with another migration

Rails Views

• Describe how layouts, views & partials work together.
• Recognize rails url helpers and path helpers.
• Explain benefits of using Rails form helpers and link helpers.
• Find and determine correct syntax for Rails form helpers and link helpers.

Flexbox (Power Hour)

• Use the flexbox grid system and styling techniques.
• Navigate, position, and style different elements using flexbox.

Week 8 Learning Objectives

Migrations

• Add and remove columns from the database.
• Alter an existing column.
• Explain when it is okay to edit a migration and when it is okay to edit the schema.

Associations

• Describe how relational databases can be used to create associations between resources.
• Create one to-many-model relationships in Rails.
• Create many to-many-model relationships in Rails.

Cookies and Sessions

• Describe the request and response cycle's relationship to the stateless web.
• Discuss and use an HTTP Cookie in a web application.
• Differentiate between an HTTP Cookie and a Session.

Rails Auth

• Build routes, controllers, and views for user sign up, log in, and logout.
• Implement a User model that securely stores hashed passwords with has_secure_password.
• Compare and contrast authentication and authorization.

Asset Pipeline

• Explain benefits of using the Rails asset pipeline.
• Describe how the asset pipeline works.
• Require custom and third-party assets in Rails.

Error Handling and Validations (Power Hour)

• Use built-in ActiveRecord validation methods to validate database entries.
• Display errors in the view using Rails flash messages.
• Set breakpoints to check your assumptions.

Week 9 Learning Objectives

Collaboration

• Work on coding projects with a larger group.
• Follow good practices for branching.
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses as a teammate

User Experience

• Explain at least one best practice or convention from user experience design (e.g., consistency, calls to action).
• Incorporate UX questions into project planning:
  • Who is the user?
  • What is the user’s motivation for coming to this page?
  • What is the main thing the user should do on each page?
• Discuss a time when you collaborated with a user experience designer.

Linked Lists

• Describe the low-level structure of arrays and linked lists.
• Manipulate linked lists.

Stacks

• Describe a stack by its methods and last in, first out (LIFO) behavior.
• Build stack methods using linked list methods.

Queues

• Describe a queue by its methods and first in, first out (FIFO) behavior.
• Build queue methods using linked list methods.
• Compare and contrast stacks and queues and appropriately choose which is better for a given situation.

Hashmaps

• Describe and draw the structure of a hashmap.
• Explain properties of a good hash function.
• Perform runtime analysis on the hashmap data structure.

Week 10 Learning Objectives

Trees

• Explain the relationship between graphs, trees, and binary search trees.
• Draw a balanced binary search tree from some given data.
• Use binary search trees in answering interview style challenge questions.

Breadth First Search

• Describe and draw breadth-first tree traversal.
• Pseudocode breadth-first search.
• Identify use cases for breadth-first search.

Depth First Search

• Describe and draw depth-first tree traversal.
• Compare and contrast depth-first and breadth-first.
• Pseudocode depth-first search.
• Identify use cases for depth-first search.

Debugging Lab

• Navigate a large, mature project.
• Submit pull requests to contribute code changes to projects you do not own.

React & Build Tools

• Explain the role of a build tool like Gulp or webpack.
• Create and render React a component in the browser.
• Explain what JSX is and how it’s important to React.

Week 11 Learning Objectives

Debugging (Publify lab)

• Navigate a large, mature project.
• Submit pull requests to contribute code changes to projects you do not own.

ES6 and React

• Explain the meaning of const, let, and arrow function (=>) in ES6
• Build a basic React component

MEN/MEAN stack review

• Explain the role of each technology within the MEN/MEAN stack.
• Give detailed account of the purpose of the different files and folders that make up a MEN/MEAN app.
• Explain basic Angular setup and write examples of important built-in directives.
• Identify key Angular concepts: directives, controllers, templates, services, client-side routing.

Take-Home Coding Challenges

• Communicate with potential employers using appropriate technical terms.
• Demonstrate knowledge of software construction patterns and best practices.
• Consider design and implementation alternatives, and make decisions based on relevant characteristics of the problem and available tools.
• Demonstrate awareness of (1) real-world technical development practices and (2) concerns related to the target company, including testing and security.

Local Auth with Express

• Explain key steps of a framework-independent local authentication strategy.
• Authenticate users in Express.
• Restrict access to data based on whether a user is authenticated.
• Describe alternate authentication or authorization strategies.