← the terminal

THE STACK

the whole year, week by week · gold frames are milestone weeks · decks live in the instructor layer
W01

Orientation & Toolchain

No reading · due: Working toolchain + hello repo pushed

Course intro. Install and tour VS Code. Browser DevTools first look. Create GitHub account, first repo, first commit.

W02

Computers, Instructions, Binary

Ch 1 Sec 1-3 + Shannon · due: Binary worksheet

What a computer really is. Hardware vs software. Bits, bytes, and binary counting.

W03

Bases, Hex, and Where We See It

Ch 1 Sec 4-6 · due: Assignment 1 (number systems)

Number bases. Hexadecimal. Converting binary, decimal, hex. Hex in the wild: colors, MAC addresses.

W04

Internet, Client/Server, IP, DNS

Ch 2 Sec 1-4 + Vannevar Bush · due: Diagram: the life of a request

How the internet moves data. Clients and servers. IP addressing and routing. DNS as the phonebook.

W05

HTTP, URLs, Query Parameters

Ch 2 Sec 5-6 · due: Assignment 2 (internet vocabulary + URL anatomy)

The request/response cycle. Methods and status codes. Anatomy of a URL. Query parameters.

W06

HTML Basics and Structure

Ch 3 Sec 1-4 + Berners-Lee · due: First HTML page pushed to repo

Tags, elements, nesting. The document skeleton. Common tags.

W07

Writing, Testing, and Links

Ch 3 Sec 5-7 · due: Assignment 3 (multi-element page)

The edit-save-refresh loop. Practice with text tags. Links between pages.

W08

CSS: Applying and Selecting

Ch 4 Sec 1-3 + Margaret Hamilton · due: Styled page with external sheet

What CSS is. Inline, internal, external. Selector syntax: tags, classes, ids.

W09

Text, Color, and the Box Model

Ch 4 Sec 4-6 · due: Assignment 4 (styled article page)

Styling text and color. Margin, padding, spacing. Shorthand properties.

W10

Divs and Structure Thinking

Ch 5 Sec 1-4 · due: Restructured page with regions

Why flat pages fail. The div. Wrapping and nesting. Thinking in page regions.

W11

Layouts and CSS Grid

Ch 5 Sec 5-7 · due: Assignment 5 (grid layout page)

Layout patterns. Width and display. Building a page with CSS Grid.

W12

Forms and Inputs

Ch 6 Sec 1-5 · due: Working form page

Why forms matter. The form element. Inputs, types, validation, radio and checkbox.

W13

Selects, Textareas, Complete Forms

Ch 6 Sec 6-8 · due: Assignment 6 (complete form)

Dropdowns. File inputs and textareas. Assembling a complete labeled form.

W14

Fall Project Studio

Ch 3-6 integration · due: Project 1 build progress

In-class build: multi-section static site with layout and a form.

W15

Present + Midterm Review

Review Part 1, HTML, CSS · due: Project 1 due; review sheet

Polish and present the static site. Structured review for the midterm.

W16

MIDTERM EXAM

None · due: Midterm exam

Written midterm: computers and internet, HTML, CSS and layout, forms.

W17

JavaScript: First Contact

Ch 7 Sec 1-4 · due: First scripts in repo

What JS is. Embedding scripts. Output. Variables and types.

W18

Strings, Math, Prompt

Ch 7 Sec 5-7 · due: Assignment: greeting calculator

Concatenation and template literals. Math operators. Input with prompt.

W19

Decisions: if, else, Booleans

Ch 8 Sec 1-4 · due: Decision script

if, else if, else. Comparison and logical operators. Boolean thinking.

W20

Loops: while, for, nested

Ch 8 Sec 5-7 · due: Loop lab (milestone)

The while loop. The for loop. Nesting and looping patterns.

W21

Arrays

Ch 9 Sec 1-4 · due: Array exercises

Why data structures. Arrays, operations, looping arrays.

W22

Objects and Nested Data

Ch 9 Sec 5-8 · due: Object exercises

Objects. Access and update. Looping objects. Nesting arrays and objects.

W23

Contact List Build

Ch 9 Sec 9 · due: Contact List assignment (milestone)

Guided walkthrough of the Contact List assignment, then independent completion.

W24

Functions: Declare, Call, Scope

Ch 10 Sec 1-3 · due: Refactor earlier work into functions

What functions are. Declaring and calling. Parameters. Scope.

W25

Expressions, Return, Practice

Ch 10 Sec 4-6 · due: Function practice set

Function expressions and anonymous functions. Return values. Practice.

W26

The DOM and Events

Ch 11 Sec 1-4 · due: DOM manipulation page

The DOM as what JS sees. Selecting elements. Changing content and style. Events.

W27

Reading Inputs, Mad Libs

Ch 11 Sec 5-7 · due: Mad Libs build (milestone)

Reading form values with JS. Interactive greeting. Start Mad Libs.

W28

Single Page Apps and State

Ch 12 Sec 1-3 · due: SPA exercises

What an SPA is. State as the single source of truth. Hide, show, save.

W29

Navigation, Architecture, Notes App

Ch 12 Sec 4-6 · due: Notes app (milestone)

In-app navigation. Basic architecture. Build the Notes app together.

W30

Capstone: Plan, Shell, Style

Ch 13 Sec 1-3 · due: Capstone shell committed

Capstone begins: plan the app before the game. HTML shell. Styling.

W31

Capstone: State and Ships

Ch 13 Sec 4-6 · due: Ships placing correctly

Centralized state object. Render vs logic. Utility functions. Ship placement.

W32

Capstone: Init, Hits, Player Turn

Ch 13 Sec 7-9 · due: Playable player turn

Initialization flow. Hit detection in pure logic. The player's turn via events.

W33

Capstone: Computer, Win, Save

Ch 13 Sec 10-12 · due: Complete playable game

The computer's turn. Win and loss as state rules. Save and load.

W34

Review, Stretch, Final Showcase

Ch 13 Sec 13-14 · due: Capstone + GitHub portfolio presented

Architecture review. Optional stretch goals. Present capstones and portfolios.