Day 1 Practice: Build Your Cheer Squad

Let's celebrate what you've learned by writing code that cheers you on! Each mini challenge reinforces variables, strings, and data types while producing fun, encouraging messages.

Open a new file called day1-practice.js inside your course folder. Run each section in Node.js or the browser console and enjoy the positive feedback.

Challenge 1: Personal Hype Message

Create a personalized cheer using variables:

const firstName = "Jordan";
const favoriteSnack = "chocolate chip cookies";
const energyLevel = 9; // scale of 1-10

console.log(
  `Hey ${firstName}! With an energy level of ${energyLevel}/10 and a stash of ${favoriteSnack}, you're unstoppable today!`
);

Try this:

• Change the values and rerun.
• Convert energyLevel to a string using `Energy: ${String(energyLevel)}`.
• Use typeof to confirm the type of each variable.

Challenge 2: Compliment Generator

Store a list of compliments and pick one to share:

const compliments = [
  "Your code is cleaner than freshly fallen snow ❄️",
  "You're debugging like a pro 🕵️‍♀️",
  "Every line you write sparks joy ✨"
];

const randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * compliments.length);
const randomCompliment = compliments[randomIndex];

console.log(`Compliment of the moment: ${randomCompliment}`);

Try this:

• Add more compliments to the array.
• Use Array.isArray(compliments) to check you’re working with an array.
• Change randomIndex to pick a specific compliment (like 0 or 2) and verify the output.

Challenge 3: Progress Report Card

Combine booleans, numbers, and strings for a friendly status update:

const lessonsCompleted = 4;
const practicedToday = true;
const minutesSpent = 95;

const message = practicedToday
  ? `You crushed ${lessonsCompleted} lessons today! Total focus time: ${minutesSpent} minutes. 🎉`
  : "Take a break now and come back when you're ready. We believe in you! 💪";

console.log(message);

Try this:

• Flip practicedToday to false and see the encouraging reminder.
• Convert minutesSpent to hours using (minutesSpent / 60).toFixed(1).
• Log the data types for each variable using typeof.

Challenge 4: Emoji Mood Mixer

Use dynamic typing to remix your mood as both text and emoji:

let mood = "curious";
let emoji = "🧠";

console.log(`Mood check: feeling ${mood} ${emoji}`);

// Switch it up
mood = 10; // scale out of 10
emoji = ["🚀", "🎯", "🌟"];

console.log(`Mood level: ${mood}/10`);
console.log(`Pick an emoji: ${emoji.join(" ")}`);
console.log(`Is emoji an array? ${Array.isArray(emoji)}`);

Try this:

• Replace emoji with a single string and notice how .join() behaves.
• Convert the mood number to a string using String(mood).
• Use Boolean("") or Boolean("DevSteps") to see how truthy/falsy values work.

Stretch Goal: Gratitude Wall

Create an object to track what you're grateful for today:

const gratitudeWall = {
  wins: ["Finished Day 1 lessons", "Understood variables"],
  supporters: ["DevSteps community", "My future self"],
  mantra: "Keep going, future dev!"
};

console.log("Gratitude Wall 🧱");
console.log(`Wins: ${gratitudeWall.wins.join(", ")}`);
console.log(`Supporters: ${gratitudeWall.supporters.join(" & ")}`);
console.log(`Mantra: ${gratitudeWall.mantra}`);

Add your own items to each array, or introduce new properties like favoriteBreakSong. Make it yours!

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🎯 Quick Recap

• ✅ Variables can hold anything—strings, numbers, arrays, objects.
• ✅ Randomness and template literals make your output delightful.
• ✅ Practicing with data types cements your understanding faster than memorizing theory.

Save your file—you can revisit these exercises anytime you need a boost. Ready for Day 2? Operators and comparisons are up next! 🚀