There's still a week in which to compete in CoderPower's JavaScript Holiday Contest. Not only does it offer the opportunity to win a Moto Smartwatch, it also introduces some popular JavaScript libraries.

CoderPower is an interactive platform which sets out to provide "intelligent entertainment". It does this by encouraging developers to train and maintain their knowledge with code challenges and providing interactive content about new technologies. 

In the case of the current JavaScript Holiday Contest which runs until August 28, the new technologies are three JavaScript libraries, chosen for being the most highly rated on npm.

Once you choose which one you are interested in (and you can of course follow all three) the idea is that first learn about it and then use your new knowledge to undertake a series of challenges, for which you earn points.

The Discovery phase, in which you learn about each of the JavaScript libraries consists of five or six short sessions presented in a common format:

At the top left there's a short video, typically less than two minutes in length, that walks through a specific task or function. This is accompanied by an exercise in which you perform a similar or related task following the instructions provided in the bottom left pane.

You can type and copy and paste into the Code pane at the top right. This isn't a full development environment since the validation process is done via a test suite and the technology is simulated by a mocking system. 

Once you have entered the code snippet you think is required click the pink arrow and your code will be compared with what the system expects and you'll see whether you are right or wrong in the Results pane at the bottom left. If your code isn't correct you can return to the Code pane and try again.

One shortcoming is that if you can't spot the mistake the right answer isn't revealed - but hey we are programmers and with the feedback provided should be able to get there eventually!

The lessons increase in difficulty - there's a star system which indicates the level - and once you've worked through them all you should be ready to face the Compete phase, where you'll find three or four Challenges, similarly star-rated to indicate their difficulty.

In the Challenge phase you work in a similar environment, but now the left side of the screen contains a series of instructions:

The other big difference is now you work against the clock, with 20 or 30 minutes allowed to complete the task. And when the time is up you can't retry.

Points, are cumulative within each of the three JavaScript contests with a Leaderboard for each. The winner will be the quickest to code the correct answer.

So if you are a JavaScript dev who enjoys competition and wants to learn about new technologies get ready to do battle! 

More contests in other technologies will be coming on stream in the coming months.

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