Again unable to follow the instructor on Treehouse courses (feedback)

Im sorry to hear about your frustration...its no fun when that happens! Hang in there...

I think that they try to focus the course on certain things for each video. Otherwise it would become a lengthy video. I sometimes skip a video or course & go on to another one & go back & understand it better (Ive done this recently). Did you also look at the teacher notes? In areas where they dont explain much, they often say to look at the teacher's notes for further explanation.

I actually relate to what you are saying. She really is great, but sometimes I feel like she just explains how to do certain things, but doesn't explain why they are done that way. I feel very confused sometimes and have to do a lot of research. There are times when I just read a blog post that is so well explained and I understand things so easily, which I could not do in her lessons. I feel like she goes through building stuff, but it is hard to get the basics.

Hi Bruno Degaspare,

Is there a particular video or concept that is getting in your way? I do count on you having understood previous concepts so we don't have to cover things in there entirety with each course. I am working on a refresh of the basic course and should release two courses mid August that cover the basics of the language. Hopefully those will clear up anything that hasn't been fleshed out enough for you. If there is a particular area in which you are struggling, please let me know and I will try to point you in the right direction.

Hey, Alena Holligan, I've gone through the basic lessons, but sometimes I still have such a hard time to follow. I know the basic lessons from previous teacher were a bit messed up, but I still got some good understanding. I really think your teaching is great, and I am being able to advance, but sometimes I wish you would go deeper into certain things.

For example, in this video: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/build-a-basic-php-website/listing-and-sorting-inventory-items/random-fun-with-arrays

The foreach needed to be changed, but why was there only the $id and not $id => $item, and why would there be $catalog[$id] and not $item as it was before? They seem like silly questions now that I understand it better, but when you know nothing it is hard to get it. I know you say that in the video, but It would be easier to emphasise that it is a completely new array that doesn't have any other parameters to be passed other than the $id, and that since there is no $item to be used as $id => $item, you can't use the $item inside the loop. But still, even though it's a new array, and doesn't have the $item, it doesn't mean that you can't access the values from the catalog array. You can just use another approach to it, which is to do $catalog[$id], which inside the get_item_html function would become $catalog[$id]["title"] and would achieve the same results as $item.

To be honest, I don't even know if what I'm saying is right, but it took me a lot of time and research to get to this conclusion, which I think it would be easier if you went deeper into explaining it. There are other videos which I've faced these kind of situations, but I gave this as an example to see if I can explain what I mean and not just complain and criticise. Of course in the end, if I am really interested in learning, I've got to work hard and keep trying to understand. It is also part of my role as a student to practice and go after some answers myself, and maybe these things are just my own limitations and can be easily understood by others.

I really don't mean to be rude, I just want to express my struggle and make some suggestions. Again, I think you are doing a great job. Thank you for your teachings.

I have learnt a lot from your vids but I have to agree that at times its very hard to follow your train of thought, the logical pattern while building websites you use causes me to lose track of what i am working on, maybe its just me

I can relate to this. I'm having a hard time following what's she is doing. Often times, I get the understanding from the Challenges as I try to analyze it myself.

That is the reason why I found this thread. I searched to see if I was the only one having a hard time following her.