for and while loops aren't common practice anymore and difficult to grok #312

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1. KimberleyCook commented on Sep 27, 2016

   

   KimberleyCook

   on Sep 27, 2016

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   We would very much welcome this update, it's something we've been meaning to do "for" a "while" LOL 😂
2. KimberleyCook commented on Nov 3, 2016

   

   KimberleyCook

   on Nov 3, 2016

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   @juliankrispel Are you still interested in updating our tutorials?
3. juliankrispel commented on Nov 3, 2016

   

   juliankrispel

   on Nov 3, 2016

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   Absolutely. Will have a look next Tuesdayat codebar

   Julian Krispel-Samsel
   rainforestqa.com
   goodafternoon.co

   On Nov 3, 2016, at 2:05 PM, Kimberley notifications@github.com wrote:

   @juliankrispel Are you still interested in updating our tutorials?

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   You are receiving this because you were mentioned.
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4. matyikriszta commented on Nov 7, 2016

   

   matyikriszta

   on Nov 7, 2016

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   @juliankrispel I think we should keep the for loop at least as that is still a common construct one might see in code from time to time. I'd introduce a section on other ways of achieving the same effect such as forEach and map.

   @KimberleyCook what do you think?
5. juliankrispel commented on Nov 7, 2016

   

   juliankrispel

   on Nov 7, 2016

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   @matyikriszta I disagree. It's not a very common construct. In my experience if you look at any sane/modern codebases for and while loops get rarely used. I don't think it's appropriate as one of the first tutorials because forEach and map are easier to wrap your head round. JavaScript has changed a fair bit and I think it'd be good to update the tutorials to reflect common practices and discourage bad practices.
6. richardwestenra commented on Jan 19, 2017

   

   richardwestenra

   on Jan 19, 2017

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   Hi @juliankrispel, thanks for submitting an issue! I've just been chatting with @oliverturner about this. You're right that JS has changed a lot, and I’d like to see forEach and map taught earlier. However my instinct is that for (and while?) loops are still common enough and have enough valid use cases to be worth teaching.

   Oliver's Hot Take:

   We should teach both styles because they're both in the wild and need to be understood. Additionally, we should add the caveat that for loops are mutative (and what that means / why it's considered better not to).

   Also I’m not so sure that forEach/map are easier to learn first. It's true that for loops have complicated syntax and introduce bad/imperative habits, but forEach/map require you to introduce array methods and get your head around things like functors. I’d be surprised if forEach were easier to understand right away.

   I'd be interested to see how codecademy etc handle the topic in their beginner JS tutorials.

   👍React with 👍2Reacted by Kristján Oddsson and Cassie Evans