JavaScript 101 /finding information
In any job you will sometimes have to find new information. This is especially true as an IT professional. For now, when you need to know something that you don't, you have a few options:
- You ask another student
- You ask the teacher
- You check our documentation/manual
- You search the web
- You ask AI how to do the specific thing
This might sound crazy but each option has its advantages and drawbacks. Thus, you have to keep in mind:
- Will they/it teach me properly?
- Will they give me a short term solution or will they actually teach me something?
- How do I talk to them?
Sometimes you just want an answer to your question, and quickly. But keep in mind that it's often better to understand the underlying concepts as you will carry that with you.
How to ask good questions
To other students and teachers
People can't help you properly if your question is too vague.
Make sure you have your dev tools F12 open.
Bad question |
Better question |
|---|---|
| “My code doesn't work.” | “My button click works, but the number on the page does not update.” |
| “I've tried everything but nothing works” | “I can't figure out why my button click doesn't update the number on the page. I have no errors.” |
| “Sir, I'm stuck” | “Sir, I have an error and I don't understand what it means” |
The 'better' question gives useful information:
- What already works
- What doesn't work
- What feature is involved
Ze Google
- If you don't know what an error means; copy-paste the error into Google.
- If you have a question; less is more. Don't ask a broad question but ask about something specific. Learn how to split up tasks here.
Bad question |
Better question |
Way better |
|---|---|---|
| “How can I make a checklist?” | “How can I make a checkbox in html?” | “Html create checkbox” |
| “How can I make a checklist?” | “Change value when checkbox clicked in JS” | “JS checkbox changed event” |
The 'better' question uses the "less is more" principle. Enter focussed words.
To AI
In the last few years Googling has changed a lot. Firstly there was a decline (which none of you have experienced), secondly there now is the baked in Google AI assistant which is taking over classic Googling more and more (funnily enough the further time goes on, the harder it will get for AIs to get proper answers due to most people just using AI now).
Anyway, if you just type in a question like you would ask a person, the odds of the AI assistant jumping in are quite high. The AI assistant isn't always bad, but do know that they basically just copy paste 'answers' from around the web. And sometimes this has nothing to do with your question, sometimes it doesn't tackle the problem properly.
Using either the AI assistant in Google or in a dedicated AI model; make sure to critically evaluate the answers you receive. Just like with everything, you will have to test and then correct. The AI assistant is a tool, not a solution. And it makes mistakes, all the time. It can be useful but if you don't know the subject it can really, really mislead you. And even if you do... It can honestly be really exhausting because you grow to depend on it and it isn't dependable.
AI tends to spew out a wall of text. If you want to get a good answer, you have to ask a good question and then you have to critically evaluate the spew of text that is the answer you receive and correct where needed.
- Ask proper human-like questions
- More context is always better. The more information, the better it will be able to help you.
Bad question |
Better question |
|---|---|
| “How can I make a checklist?” | “How can I make a checkbox using html, CSS, and JS?” |
| “How can I make a checkbox using html, CSS, and JS?” | “How can I make a checkbox in html?” |
See what I did there? Don't let AI make the whole thing for you! If you do so you're missing out on the learning process and you're honestly cheating yourself out of your future.
Disclaimer
Know that it's totally fine to ask the teacher questions, that's what we're here for after all. But do know that eventually you will have to make the move to finding information on the internet, because colleagues won't respect you asking them about every tiny problem
. If you don't know what an error means and you can't figure it out, paste it in Google and see what it means.