My Google-Udacity Scholarship Journey.

Early May I received a congratulatory email. I had been accepted into the Google Africa Challenge Scholarship Program, the Mobile Web Specialist track. Due to excitement, I could hardly read through the email. So I let the excitement wear out, then picked up from where I had left (the email). There is something about been given a shot at something. It provokes ideas and imaginations. And that’s precisely what the last two months have been for me. A spark plug of ideas.

No More Buffering nor Detachment.

We have all been frustrated by network buffers and slow speed connection. Delays in getting content from the web and the insistent hope that keeps you waiting for content to load, even when you want to exit an app or a web page. It can be torturous and even researchers agree it can stress you out.

To cure this(stress and slow connection), the first course of the challenge focuses on Offline-First - a golden standard. This means;

getting as many things on the screen, using the stuff that is already on the user’s device in caches.

And then updates the page if the connection finally fetches content from the web. A “user happy online, happy offline” feature.

Think about it, Africa would benefit from apps with such a feature (Progressive Apps). An expectant mother in the rural will have access to natal information from the web, a student will have more course resources on hand and a farmer will be able to keep up with new farming techniques. All without worrying about their connectivity.

Progressive apps would open up Africa to the world at a scale not yet achieved. And I hope to be part of the venture.

Most things rosy, one thing frosty! The course only focused on getting content from the web and did not touch on the user’s end. Whether or not they would be able to interact with the web(i.e. Post or Upload) despite connection issues. Looking forward to an address on the same.

JavaScript Syntax Got Simpler & Cleaner with ES6 😁.

Every developer would love shortest time on a project and cleaner code. A case of killing two birds with one stone. That’s exactly what the next course is about. The simplicity of ES6. I won’t write on everything in the course but a few things that really stood out to me. You can check the ES6 features for more.

New Keywords let and const.

There are now two new ways to declare variables in JavaScript: let and const. Up until ES6, the only way to declare a variable in JavaScript was to use the keyword var .

Variables declared with let and const eliminate the specific issue of hoisting. Previously, when you used var, variables were either scoped globally or locally to an entire function scope.

If a variable is declared using let or const inside a block of code (denoted by curly braces{ }), then the variable is stuck in what is known as the temporal dead zone until the variable’s declaration is processed. This behavior prevents variables from being accessed only until after they’ve been declared.

So, when should you use let and const? The general rule of thumb is :

use let when you plan to reassign new values to a variable, and use const when you don’t plan on reassigning new values to a variable.

Arrow Functions

I have never been a fan of typing the whole function() keyword, and ES6 has come to the rescue with Arrow functions.

Arrow functions are very similar to regular functions in behavior, but are quite different syntactically.

The following is a regular function that transforms each character to an uppercase.

This is the same transformation using an Arrow function.

Simpler, shorter and cleaner! Such are the merits of ES6. Again, you’ll have to visit ES6 features to learn more about the changes. They have made JavaScript an easier language for me to learn and practice

Teamwork

The program has excellent team collaboration. The guys on my team-36 and group-8 have been absolute supportive. Everyone will scramble to answer a question posted by a teammate and our mentor is always watching, just in case we get stuck.

Currently we are on a “Ramadan Challenge” to help others finish the course on time. Teamwork tonthe end!! I have made acquaintances within my country 🇰🇪 and beyond 🌍 .

Conclusion

I have learnt a ton and I wish I could share everything about this challenge course, but snippets is all I can afford. I’d encourage any interested learner to be on the lookout for the next application advertisement. The program does not disappoint.

Next step: Hopeful for the Nanodegree Scholarship.