I, like you, am a noviceI do JS for making games and visuals and some HTML w/ SQLand I’ve found the easiest way for me to familiarize myself with what to look for, what to do/not to do and what a function does is to simply read through source code on websites. If I see something I find interesting or confuaing, Ill isolate it in a separate file and run it, fiddle with it and see what it does. Because I consistently do this excersize, I’ve made myself pseudo-fluent in C, C++, Java, etc. I recommend this to anyone looking to understand how individual commands interact with others, how multiple languages can be integrated effectively and efficiently and even how to understand source code, not just read a bunch of weird words without understanding it, in such a way that you can find the chunks that are important, isolate individual functions and even find extraneous bits of code that might just be an old back door.
Also, if you do find a function or sequence you dont understand, dont immediately run to someone experienced to see what it does. After copying & saving the original, break it down to individual commands, think about what these do by themselves, then piece them together to figure out what they do as a collective. (Note: its generally easier to put the individual commands back together in small chunks, looking at how… lets say… 5 commands work together, then another 5, and so on, going from single commands to small chunks to larger chunks until youve got the whole picture.) Sometimes it helps to take notes with larger bits of code, such as drawing a flow chart on a notepad. This will ensure you dont forget what that first few bits do while youre working out the rest. You might even want to keep that info if you find a flaw, extra/malicious code, etc.
