Is there an idiots guide to thinking like a coder?

Moderators: Disciple, zlovatt

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seanj
Posts: 2
Joined: July 17th, 2020, 6:59 am

Hi,

I'm trying to teach myself how to use expressions in After Effects without having to constantly look for video tutorials or copy and paste stuff that other people have already written.

The biggest problem I'm having is that once I look at something that's more than a few lines long my brain just goes 'huh?' and it's like I'm looking at hieroglyphics. I don't think it's really the syntax... it more a case or 'why is that there?'. For example, say someone defines a variable named 'x'. Then later on x appears as arguments inside other objects and I just find myself thinking 'how did the person who wrote this code make the connections that led them to place 'x' in all the right places in order for it to work the way they wanted it to?'

My question is this...

Is there some kind of 'idiots guide' to thinking like a coder or programmer that I can use as a reference, or that will help me to understand how people figure out their expressions? I don't mean a 'how to think like a coder' book... I really do mean an 'idiots guide'.

Thanks.

SJ.

jdessel
Posts: 1
Joined: July 25th, 2020, 2:38 am

I bought the book, "After Effects The Power of Expression" by Francois Lefebvre. It's pricey but well worth it. Explains Expressions from the ground up.

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zlovatt
Posts: 47
Joined: October 31st, 2016, 5:00 pm
Location: Portland
Contact:

The Expression Session course on School of Motion is made to walk you through how to think like a coder & get started writing AE expressions, from the point of view of a designer / animator! Literally who it's targeted for :)

Full disclosure, I'm one of the instructors / creators of it.

seanj
Posts: 2
Joined: July 17th, 2020, 6:59 am

Hi,

Thanks for the response. It looks like an interesting and useful course but almost $1000 is just way beyond what I can afford to pay.

SJ.

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