With Canvas, I’m kind of torn right now on whether it’s better to start with it right away or wait until a few more things are covered. Maybe raw beginners will need a little slower of an introduction than jumping right in to the Canvas2D API; kind of a lot to swallow in one go. We’ll definitely get to it eventually, I just don’t know if it will be after 1 session or 5 just yet. I’m working on an example Pong game right now that I’m doing two ways, once DHTML and once in HTML5, just to see which one I like better. We’ll probably go with the DHTML example first, though, because it is a decent skill to have on its own as well.

Basic software to have preloaded: if you’ve done any programming on your own yet, you should certainly use what you’re used to, I’m not going to force any particular thing. We’ll spend a little time in the beginning talking about some different options for different tools. I also have a couple of blog posts prepared on the topic to send out in the next week or so.

My goal with this class is to get people learning how to program and making apps on their own. That’s it. JavaScript is kind of the entry vector into that. Games are kind of just the fun, compelling way to get people to keep studying. There are a lot more things that go into it than just programming language, so the “JavaScript” part of it should hopefully be just a small part. But, needed a name for the event, and this seemed the most descriptive.

Thanks for commenting. Would love to have you in the class.