Reasons to Write Code On Paper

Half and a year ago I rewrote the JavaScript encyclopedia starting from "Advanced working with functions" until the end, and oh boy, the result was amazing. From start I easily wrote the JavaScript class for the Webpack plugin, that was a joy.

This time I wrote a React documentation by hand and made it as a book, here is the view of one page:

I made a high-quality GIF with all the pages and the book itself (warning: 550mb size).

Every human is unique and developing during life own types of memory. With their help, the brain remembers our life experience.

The information does not store in the brain and after time will fade away, but! But the links and understanding of things remain, and that experience is reusable.

Juniors developers often falling in the situation, where they do not understand how the data comes or what these two braces doing in code. This is the moment, where educations becoming handy. You know where you saw it, or how to solve it. You can't use, what you don't know, right?

Handwriting very good lays on the existing knowledge base, the practice is needed, for sure, but sometimes without theory, this is a dead-end. The best theory - in sources, the best way to learn - to write.

I have published the previous article with different notes and I received questions, on which I wanted to answer:

1. "You got a big head".

The handwriting of ideal examples if code and work principles of language remains a track. This is an education on real examples. After all, every coder must have an ideal image of the project, and only then adapt to his reality, that is the main task of every developer - be flexible. As well any craft, you can't force yourself to code, this will take some time to stomach. Handwriting with parallel job bear fruits and helping very much.

2. "Better watch tutors on Youtube".

I went through that, no it's not. The most of tutors code remains unfinished and raw, and you better commit your code to GitHub, because the efforts will be lost forever.

3. "Waste of time, nobody cares"... :)

Well, controversial. This is the deepest tutorial you will ever go through the material. Plus, the code not typed, it's handwritten. This is mechanically craving in memory, almost automatic, so much more impact instead of traditional coding. Handwriting is much more meaningful, rather than the watch of the video. Screencasts confusing with captures, rewinds, voices, etc. The code by his nature - is a text. This is a pure material you get, when writing a book with code, without media garbage.

If you were not graduated in university and have no computer education, if have no mentor - you better prepare yourself for handwriting. In sum, nobody except yourself will teach you.