anchor.diff:  JS Learners' Fieldguide
   =======================
  +:hp-tags: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Resources, Recommendations, Learners'
   
   ## Background
   
  
positive.code: In late 2015, they did change the site design, making the skip process less intuitive - to skip lessons, open your "Map" and click on the lesson you would like to complete.
  
  Another great resource for any novice and junior developer is http://www.codenewbie.org/[Code Newbie].  It's more about the social and networking aspects of entering the programming world.  They have a bunch of different things including a pretty active forum and a blog.  They also do a weekly podcast, which is really good (but remember, if it comes down to listening to a podcast OR working through freeCodeCamp - CODE!) They also have a learning resources section, but it's mostly bootcamps that require money or being on location for many consecutive weeks, or resources that simply aren't as comprehensive, and learner-friendly as freeCodeCamp.  (freeCodeCamp really is the best resource I've seen for learning in a guided, thorough, and progressive way!)
  
  ### A Glimpse of What's Happening
  
  
negative.code: 
  When you're starting to feel confident in the basics and need a bit of a change of pace (primary focus should still be on progressing through freeCodeCamp!) the following are great places to play and practice what you're learning:
  
  http://www.codewars.com/[CodeWars] - You can start playing with CodeWars after about the first 1/4 of freeCodeCamp's "Basic JavaScript" exercises (about 16 hours into their series, but that assumes absolutely _no_ prior knowledge, if you have any then you'll fly through it faster than that!).
          
  I'd hold off playing around with the rest until you've finished at least the freeCodeCamp's "Basic JavaScript" exercises (by their estimates, another 8 hours or so).  And —_coming from experience_— don't let them distract you from actually moving forward on your primary goals!
  
  * http://codekata.com/
  * http://nodeschool.io/#workshopper-list
  * https://projecteuler.net/
  * http://play.elevatorsaga.com/
  * http://alexnisnevich.github.io/untrusted/
  * https://github.com/olistic/warriorjs
  * http://fightcodegame.com/
          
  ### Editors
  
  I've had a lot of novices ask about editors.  Developers tend to develop strong preferences, so you should be comfortable working with any editor.  That said, here are some that I've used.
  
  #### Cross-Platform Applications
  http://www.sublimetext.com/[Sublime]:: 
  This is my current go to editor.  It's not open source, but it does have a great eco-system of modules.  A license is $70, but it is worth noting that a license isn't _necessary_ for Sublime 2.
  https://atom.io/[Atom]::
  I haven't used it yet, but a fellow JS developer I know has come to love it.  I'll get around to trying it one day, but if you're just starting, this is probably a great place to start.
  http://www.vim.org/[Vim]::
  If you're just starting to program, I _don't_ recommend starting with vim, but I have several senior friends that use it and are _amazingly_ productive with it.
  
  #### Simple Online Editors 
  http://jsbin.com/?js,console,output[JS Bin]:: My favorite cloud editor for small programs.
  http://plnkr.co/[Plunker]:: If I'm going to have multiple files but it isn't a full blown project, this is my go to cloud editor.
  http://codepen.io/[CodePen]::
  if you're working on CSS, SVG, animations, or anything particularly visual, this is the place to play!
  https://jsfiddle.net/[JS Fiddle]::
  Frequently used, but their most recent redesign makes it so hard to read that I go out of my way to avoid it now!
  
  There's also a https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_online_source_code_playgrounds[Comparison of online source code playgrounds] on Wikipedia.
  
  ##### Online IDEs  
  https://c9.io[Cloud9]:: If I'm working on a project with someone else and we want to work in the cloud, this is where I turn.  The one caveat is that it currently does not support git branches, i.e. you can only edit the master branch.
  
  ### CSS
  
  Sean add in CSS Diner and Flexbox Froggy
  
  
  
  
  ### GitHub vs GitLab
  
  As you're learning JavaScript, and pretty much any other modern open-source programming languages, you'll see a lot of projects and whatnot on GitHub (I'm pretty sure freeCodeCamp now encourages you to get an account before you even start coding).  
  
  GitHub is still the go-to for most open-source projects, but for personal projects I much prefer and strongly recommend, https://gitlab.com[gitlab.com].  Pretty much anything that GitHub does, GitLab does plus GitLab does a lot more (for example, allowing you to have private projects for free).  The important caveat is that private projects on GitLab are, well, private.  In other words, you won't be building up a highly visible trail of code.  If you're looking for a job, then a trail of code is something that employers can reference, just like a portfolio.
  
  I'm MetaSean on both (https://github.com/metasean ; https://gitlab.com/u/metasean).  I look like I'm more active on GitHub only because of things I do with projects already hosted there and because I have private repos on GitLab and so you won't see my activity on those ('cause private). 
  
  
  ### Miscellaneous
  
  https://duckduckgo.com/[DuckDuckGo (DDG)] !bangs - In the DDG search bar you can press "!" (without the quotes) and it will show you the most popular !bangs as well as a link to a very, very, very long list of all the available !bangs (did I mention they have a lot of !bangs!)
  
  Why am I including this, because there is a bang to search MDN! - "`<search term/s> !mdn`"  
  
  Hopefully that helps you get rockin' and codin'!