Comment by cedric simon on "Do programmers code from memory or look up Functions/API as they code?"

CommentDo programmers code from memory or look up Functions/API as they code?

cedric simon

Web dev

Dec 11, 2018

I think your question is badly worded, and nobody noticed. If you have to look up for the syntax of javascript, you're in trouble. Because it can fit on a post-it. So you have to know it. Here is a reference: w3schools.com/js/js_syntax.asp

What syntax means is that it's HOW to write code, not WHAT to write. So globally, you have:

assignments: =
variables: strings, numbers, arrays
arithmetic operations: +, -, *, /, and a few others (+ also works for concatenation)
boolean operations: |, &, ! and a few others
comparison: ==, >, <, != and a few others
loops: for, while
blocks:, between { and }
keywords: function, return, var, let, cons (I might have forgotten one or two)

Now, what you mean, I think, is about the functions (some people here used the word API as well) and THAT is totally fine. We can't remember all the functions and parameters of all the languages we are using in our career.

Salami Adewale

Aspiring Software Developer (Javascript)

Dec 11, 2018

cedric simon You read my thoughts, this is exactly what i meant, i am sorry for the mix up in my question, i am editing it now. I wanted to say functions/API and not syntax, reading a lot this days got me so overwhelmed i mistook the 2 words for each other. Thank you very much for the correction.

For the record, I've been writing Java for about 17 years and I still have to look up actual syntax stuff - I was even trying to find some stuff with generic method calls last night :) So I didn't catch it, because it was a perfectly valid (and good!) question as it was. But the confusion is understandable - and yes, looking up APIs is perfectly reasonable no matter how long you've been coding.

Search Hashnode