Whether you are a Computer Science student or not, learn to code is always opened for everyone. If you are new to programming and want to learn to code, nowadays it's not too hard to find tutorials and resources about programming. As long as you have good intention to learn, there won't be too many obstacles on your path to it. By learning to code, you can know how far your logic developed and build something (software/hardware) that you imagine.
However, you might be confused that there are too many resources about programming out there in the internet. You might not know which is the best to start. Calm down, I will show you the best 5 websites for beginners to start to learn programming.
Codecademy
Codecademy is a great site to learn to code. It provides courses such as HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, SQL, Java, project courses like Make a Website, Make an interactive website, etc and also API courses. The dashboard might be very simple. However, when you have entered a course, you will see an interesting workspace, explanation and instruction on the left, and the console (live preview) on top right. You don’t need to pay for taking a course. It’s free for beginners. There is also Codecademy Pro where you must pay to take the course if you want to develop your skill after taking a free course.
Codeschool
Codeschool? A school for coding? Yeah, you’re right. Codeschool is an online school that is quite awesome for you to learn coding. Different from Codecademy, it provides you a video lecture (kind of introduction) before you start coding (take a challenge) per level. Beside that, you can also download a slide per level to review rather than rewatch the video lecture. Same with Codecademy, the workspace has an explanation on the left and a preview button under the workspaceto see the result. Is it free ? Not all courses are free. However, you can take the free courses that are quite good such as JavaScript, Python, AngularJS, etc.
FreeCodeCamp
FreeCodeCamp is my favourite online bootcamp to develop my coding skills, for completely free. It only focus on Web Development and has a great curriculum. The skills you will learn are HTML & CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, Node.js, Express.js, React.js, Git & Github, AJAX, D3.js, and competitive programming (problem solving). At the end of each level, you can claim a certification. Beside that, you can also help nonprofit organizations by completing their projects. I really recommend FCC for you who want to be a web developer like me. You will learn all web development things there from scratch to Full-Stack Web Development. It also has a good workspace and a unique one is iPhone live preview.
Code Avengers
A cool name !!! On the official website, stated “Learn how to code games, apps and websites with fun and effective interactive games”. Yeah, you code by playing games there for free. It’s really fun. You will learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, building applications and games. The workspace looks good. There are explanation on the left and live preview on the right.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy ? Is it really a place to learn coding ? No “code” word at the name like Codecademy, Codeschool, FreeCodeCamp, Code Avengers. Khanacademy is a site where you can learn everything such as Math, Science, Economics, Finance, English, Computing, etc. To get started to code, navigate to Subject then hover to Computing, you will find 3 subjects such as Computer Programming, Computer Science, and Hour of Code. The 3 subjects are related to coding and algorithm. You can select among the 3 and start coding. Khanacademy has a good workspace especially an audio that has a gesture on your workspace to give you explanation. I don’t forget one thing to say: it’s free.
Those above are the top 5 websites which are the first good step for beginners to learn to code. Also, please checkout Code.org, a platform for everyone to learn computer science. If you have any recommended courses, please leave a comment below. I hope this article is useful for you.