Syllabus

(Fall 2015)

Week 1

• Mon 7/13

  • Topics:
    • JS Console, Node REPL;
    • Operators, Expressions, & Statements;
    • Variables, Assignment & Equality; Boolean expressions;
    • Primitive types; String concatenation; Auto-conversion
  • Reading: Eloquent Javascript
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1
    • Chapter 2

• Wed 7/15

  • Topics:
    • Git: Overview, Installation, Homework workflow
    • ScratchPad;
    • Debugging with console.log
    • Conditionals & Branching; Truthiness;
    • Boolean/Branching Operators (&&, ||);
  • Homework 1: Expressions, Types, & Simple Computations

• Sat 7/18

  • Challenge Day!

Week 2

• Mon 7/20

  • Topics:
    • Blocks; Loops (while, for);
    • Array basics, indexing
  • Reading: Eloquent Javascript, Chapter 3
  • Homework 2: Arrays, Functions, and Loops

• Wed 7/22

  • Topics:
    • Function basics: parameters, return values, definition vs. call;
    • Local variables, scope, and shadowing
    • Defensive Programming; Parameter checking;
    • Basic Testing with Assertions
    • Codewars

Week 3

• Mon 7/27

  • Topics:
    • JS within HTML; Codepen
    • Objects: incremental creation, literal notation, nesting;
    • Properties, membership operators ([] and .), reference chains;
    • Property creation, deletion, enumeration (in operator, for...in loops); Properties vs. Variables
  • Homework 3: Objects
  • Reading: E-JS Chapter 4 through mutability

• Wed 7/29

  • Topics:
    • References; Object linking and sharing, shallow copy and compare, null, reference arguments
    • Arrays as Objects; Array methods
    • String methods; String wrapper objects
    • Custom methods, this keyword & dynamic scoping;
    • Example roles of objects

• Sat 8/1

  • JS Topics (Afternoon):
    • Functions as Objects; aliasing methods
    • Function details: Evaluation Phases, Call Objects/Scopes, Lexical Scoping, preview of closures;

Week 4

• Mon 8/3

  • Topics:
    • Functions as Arguments, Callbacks; Anonymous Functions;
    • Call operator, parentheses types;
    • this as Global Object; Global variables vs. properties
  • Homework 4: Callbacks and Factories

• Wed 8/5

  • Topics:
    • Factory Functions; Duplicate vs. Shared Methods
  • Reading: E-JS Chapter 5 through "Transforming with Map"

Week 5

• Mon 8/10

  • Topics:
    • Access control with Closures; Private variables and functions
  • Homework 5: Closures and modules
  • Reading:
    • E-JS Chapter 3, "Closures"
    • E-JS Chapter 10 through "Require"

• Wed 8/12

  • Topics:
    • Closure Modules (IIFEs); More closure examples
  • Retrospective #1

Week 6

• Mon 8/17

  • Topics:
    • Constructors, new;
    • Wrapper Objects and Converters;
    • Prototypes
  • Homework 6: Constructors, Subclassing; Memory Game
  • Reading: E-JS Chapter 6

• Wed 8/19

  • Topics:
    • Inheritance and Subclassing;
    • Instance vs. Class Methods
    • Underscore.js, _.extend

Week 7

• Mon 8/24

  • Topics:
    • Intro to the DOM: manipulation, retrieval, events
  • Homework 7: Client-side GUI with DOM + jQuery

• Wed 8/26

  • Topics:
    • Event Handlers
    • Overloading and Chaining
    • Introduction to JQuery
  • Reading: JQuery Fundamentals and Traversing & Manipulating

• Sat 8/29

  • DOM mini-project;
  • Whiteboarding, tech interview practice

Week 8

• Mon 8/31

  • Topics:
    • TDD/BDD
    • Testing with Mocha
    • Chai Assertion libraries

• Wed 9/2

  • Topics:
    • Introduction to using APIs
    • JSON
    • Ajax calls with jQuery;
    • Cross-domain calls & jsonp

Intermission

• Mon 9/7

  • Labor Day Break!

• Wed 9/9

  • More Break!

Week 9

• Mon 9/14

  • Topics
    • MVC design pattern
    • Intro to Backbone; Simple Views and Models
    • Backbone Events
    • Nested views in Backbone, Backbone Collections
  • Homework 9: Backbone Issue Tracker (Stage 1)

• Wed 9/16

  • Git workflow & project management
  • Git merge conflicts
  • Backbone Templates; more Backbone Examples

Week 10

• Mon 9/21

  • Topics:
    • Internet concepts (http, server, client);
    • Request types; REST/CRUD;
    • curl & REST clients;
  • Homework 10: Backbone Issue Tracker (Stage 2)

• Wed 9/23

  • Topics:
    • Backbone routes; Collection persistence

• Sat 9/26

  • Backbone project development

Week 11

• Mon 9/28

  • Topics:
    • Introduction to Node
    • Node modules
    • Asynchronous callbacks
    • Basic Node servers
    • File servers and streamers

• Wed 9/30

  • Topics:
    • Static site servers
    • Serving up Backbone app as static web page

Week 12

• Mon 10/5

  • Topics:
    • Server-side Routing; Queries;
    • Server routes, REST apis
    • Integrating Backbone with Server APIs

• Wed 10/7

  • Topics:

Week 13

• Mon 10/12

  • Capstone begins; group formation; brainstorming; API research
  • Git workflow review

• Wed 10/14

  • Topics:
    • The need for persistence
    • Key-value stores
    • Integrating Orchestrate into applications
    • Orchestrate <-> Server <-> Backbone transactions

Week 14

• Mon 10/19

  • Capstone waypoint 1:
    • Initial design conception, commit to domain; explore feature space;
    • At least 3 user stories ("As a role, I want feature so that reason");
    • Wireframes and/or mockups of your site's pages;
    • Details about which APIs you plan to use;
    • Some exploratory code;
    • Clear division of labor

• Wed 10/21

  • Topics:
    • Authentication basics
    • Password salting and hashing; 'pwd' module
    • Server sessions, cookies
    • Authentication server example

Week 15

• Mon 10/26

  • Capstone waypoint 2:
    • Final design proposal; identify MVP and variants;
    • project synopsis due;
    • code in progress for all components from all team members
    • Clear data structure design; models and collections created;
    • Orchestrate app and keys set up
    • BDD descriptions under way

• Wed 10/28

  • Topics:
    • Intro to Heroku
    • Heroku config variables
      

Week 16

• Mon 11/2

  • Capstone waypoint 3:
    • working alpha-level code for all components, MVP integration in progress;
    • BDD descriptions finished; unit-tests in progress

• Wed 11/4

  • Topics: TBD

• Sat 11/7

  • Capstone group tech talks

Week 17

• Mon 11/9

  • Capstone waypoint 4:
    • Functional MVP complete
    • Unit tests complete
    • Bonus feature integration

• Wed 11/11

  • Finish those projects!

• Mon 11/16 - Wed 11/18

  • Date range for final Capstone event