Programming Fundamentals for Non-Programmers: Fundamentals

Chris Castiglione, Digital Product Developer

Friday, November 30th from 12:00 - 4:00 pm

The Programming for Non-Programmers Series:

Are you a creative or entrepreneur that wishes you could speak tech with your web development team? Maybe you wish you could code a bit yourself? Programming for Non-Programmers is workshop series at General Assembly designed to help non-programmers communicate more efficiently with developers. Because leading a development team (without being a developer yourself) can sometimes feels like “talking about dancing”, we’ve created an interactive and friendly environment in which to learn the basics. 

If you're running a tech start-up, it's essential that you familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of web development. Ultimately knowing how to "talk to the talk" will help you communicate better with developers, and overall just look really cool. Come with questions, and a desire to have fun!

Part 1: Fundamentals

In this workshop we'll tackle some development principles to get you on the right path. We'll look at questions like, "Front-end vs. Back-end?", "Is UX necessary for my project?", "What is this Javascript function thingy, and why am I passing it strange math equations to it?".

We'll spend about half of the class looking at actual code and writing some basic Javascript, HTML & CSS ourselves.

We'll learn the following:

• What coding languages should I use for my next project?
• Which CMS is right for the job?
• What are the stages of development?
• What deliverables do I need to provide my developer? (FYI - This is important and often neglected or done poorly)
• Reading code & basic developing principles to get us started
• 9 concepts of programming that are the found in every programming language
• Understanding Javascript Variables & Functions
• Understanding development best-practices to help discern the value of a developer

Prerequisites: You must bring a laptop to class (Mac preferred, as the examples on screen will be for the Mac OS). 

Where Do I go From Here?: After this class students will often go on to take Chris Castiglione’s "Crash Course: HTML/CSS."

Christopher Castiglione is a developer with a specialty in UX strategy and Wordpress. He has over ten years of experience developing digital products. In the past, he has designed applications for clients ranging from The Black Eyed Peas, Toyota, Bacardi, CLIF Bar, and American Express. Christopher holds an MA in New Media from The University of Amsterdam. He is currently a member of the General Assembly teaching faculty where he regularly teaches the following courses: Programming for Non-Programmers, Crash Course: HTML/CSS, Business Storytelling and Wordpress Theme Development. 

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Questions? Check out our FAQs. 

Our Refund Policy: Plans change? We get it. But if you can't make it to a class/workshop, please email us at classes@generalassemb.ly at least 5 days before the scheduled event date. No refunds or credits will be given after this timeframe.