Coding Websites Start, Practice or Refine Skills
Before even starting my coding journey in a software engineering boot camp, I relied a lot on the internet to help me whenever I was stuck or when I wanted to learn how to do something I saw on a site that I had to emulate. Luckily for me, I’ve come across a large number of sites, YouTube channels, apps and forums that helped me learn basic HTML/CSS for making tumblr themes, or even preparing for my pre boot camp experiences.
Some sites that I feel would help out a well seasoned coder to a freshly discovered coder would be:
Codecademy
Codecademy offers a comprehensive set of text-based courses on web development and related programming languages. You can pick which language you want to learn and advance through lessons with instant feedback on their code.
Although it’s mostly aimed at those interested in becoming professional web developers, Codecademy courses cover how to build a website and a whole slew of related coding languages, including HTML & CSS, Ruby on Rails, Python, JavaScript, jQuery, SQL, PHP, and more.
General access to Codecademy courses is free. The paid PRO track adds a personalized learning plan, quizzes, projects, and access to live advisors.
codewars
Codewars teaches you your desired programming language via a series of challenges. These code challenges draw from martial arts as each challenge is referred to as a kata.
The goal of each challenge is to help you sharpen your existing skills with a certain programming language or to learn a new one from scratch.
As you progress through each kata, the challenges get tougher and tougher. Once a challenge is complete, you’re able to see how your solution stacks up to others. This will show you different techniques for solving certain development problems.
Some of the languages you can learn with Codewars include Java, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, Python, SQL and more.
KhanAcademy
Khan Academy is a massive online learning platform. It’s a great place to start developing a wealth of coding-related knowledge and skills. You’ll find courses and tutorials that range from computer programming basics all the way up to advanced applications. There are also foundational courses that teach you how to think like a programmer and essential skills for computer programming.
All courses are taught by experts. However, students are encouraged to share what they’ve learned throughout the process. With Khan Academy, you’ll be able to learn and pick up programming languages like:
HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Databases
CrunchZilla
This site reminds me of the PC CD-ROM edutainment games I used to play, only more coding focused. Crunchzilla is a site with interactive tutorials designed to help people of all ages to experiment, build and learn at their own pace. It’s made up of four different segments, going from pretty easy (as it’s for a preteen or younger with adult help) to moderate. Data Maven is an introduction to statistics tutorial that’s designed to spark the curiosity of data and statistics. It’s mainly for beginners. Code Monster is for the younger learners, from ages 9 to 14 according to the site. It’s one of the easiest tutorials as I’ve mentioned, however I see it also as a way to help curious adults see if coding is something they would enjoy. Code Maven is harder than Code Monster, and is intended for ages 13 and up. Here we have problems that are slightly more difficult and go into more depth, while also having more explanation about the problems. Game Maven is designed for older teens and adults that already have some experience in programming. It’s essentially a step by step tutorial for writing 3 different casual video games. These three programs really focus on action rather than explanation.
