Beginning of 60 #LOCAD (Lines of Code A Day) Challenge! (Code example given)
OK, this might seem a little (or very) easy and simple challenge for most web/mobile developers but that is not the point. This article is mainly aimed towards beginners in software development but this can be helpful for any developer.
I happen to be one of those developers who are in the beginning stages of web development (specifically front-end development). I created a cool challenge for developers that can help hone their skills. This challenge is called the 60 Lines Of Code A Day. Of course the lines of code increases as you become more efficient in coding but to have a nice medium to start I chose 60. The challenge is to write 60 lines of code every day for the month of December (or DEVember) and continue to increase your lines of code each month. writing the same type of code everyday would be too easy, so the trick is that everyday you must incorporate a new concept in your code. For example, if you are starting off with front-end development and you are working on HTML, one day your code would have basic things like <h1>, <Div>, <ul>, and more of the basics and the next day you can incorporate things such as <form>,<label>, <input>, <img src>, and so on. You can do this with any language you are working with.
BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO READ
Please understand that this is not a quantity over quality type of challenge. Some say quality over quantity, I say quality and quantity. Make sure that you are reviewing your code thoroughly to maintain a quality product. I make sure I inspect my code after every coding session but you can also do a weekly code inspection to make sure everything is organized and clean.
An example I did was starting out with creating a signup form and then I start adding different things each day like making the text fields required, making sure user entered enough characters for the password, and then creating a button. Here is an example of my code and what it look like for my first day of the challenge:
This might be extremely easy for some but the point is to create new code and learn new things every day!
Think of a project you want to start and then start the challenge one day at a time. When creating those 60 lines of code make sure your code is clean and organized so it can be easily read by any developer not just you. Also, when you start doing the challenge sometimes you will realize that you went over the 60 line code limit, which is fine it just shows that you are having more fun and learning more things and also having more ideas (which is very good).
Keep all of this in mind. Hopefully in January (or DEVanuary) you will feel confident to do a 100 Lines of Code A Day challenge. By the end of this month you should have 1,860 lines of code or more which is a fairly decent amount for a beginner. Good luck!
