Gone are the days when
programming languages could only be mastered programmers like Bill Gates, who
later got to dominate the world by storm. Noweveryone holds the same potential, and the chance to
learn and even master programming language easily. Today, we will show you 10
interactive websites that will help you do that.
That’s right, forget about
complicated setups and black, cold command prompts that make you want to quit
before you start, and say hi to 10 educational websites with instant and interactive
lessons that teach you programming languages like HTML, CSS, PHP, Ruby and even iOS. Pick up tips,
screencasts and even best practices from industry professionals.
Kickstart the beginning of
your new path into programming today!
Codecademy
Codecademy is indisputably
the most famous website to teach you to code interactively, thanks to its
helpful interface and well-structured courses. Upon visiting the main page, you
can already start tasting the programming right away, with its motivating
on-screen console. Pick a course that Codecademy offers from Web Fundamentals,
PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, Python, Ruby and APIs.
Inside each lesson is a
panel that explains necessary code and
instruction. Another panel allows you to get your hands dirty
by writing acceptable code, then checking if you are doing the right thing.
Don’t worry about making mistakes, as both instruction and code panels will
warn you of errors, and provide hints.
It is as if there’s a kind teacher right beside you.
Code Avengers
Code Avengers is designed
to make you love programming. Though it only offers HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript
course for now, each of the courses is carefully designed to truly
entertain you while
leveling your programming skills painlessly. At the end of each lesson you also
get to play a mini game to release your cumulated stress, and keep you going
for longer.
Code Avengers has a gradual
approach to interactive learning. It does not explain too much
knowledge that isn’t essential for beginners, just a bit of code and
playful instruction, making things very easy to digest. You also get to play
with the code, then see the impact of the changes immediately. It is carefully crafted
with the beginner’s comfort in mind.
Code School
After you finished courses
in Codecademy or Code Avengers, and you are ready to further expand your
capabilities, Code School is the next quality website you should land on.
Unlike most interactive learning sites, Code School offers morein-depth courses to train and turn you into an expert
with the industry’s best practices.
Overall, the courses are
categorized into 4 main paths, and they are:
- Ruby
- JavaScript
- HTML/CSS
- iOS
Almost all courses are
aggressively polished with impressive design and informative screencasts,
though the challenges after the screencast
might bit a bit hard for
amateurs. Luckily, there are hints and answers to refer to. Whilemost of the offered courses are
free, certain ones will require you to spend$25/month to access the entire
course including
all screencasts and challenges, and also all other courses in Code School.
Treehouse
Treehouse courses are more
project-oriented than language-oriented, so they are perfect for novice
programmer with a planned purpose, such as building a website,
or an application. For example, the Websites course is all about building a
responsive website, interactive website or even WordPress theme – a very
practical and efficient way to master related languages. Nonetheless, they have
released a plethora of foundation courses with a video-then-quiz approach.
For Treehouse, every course
is divided into different stages or modules, and beyond every first stage the
learner will be invited to pay a monthly
subscription fee of $25 to access all courses with 650+ videos,
and an exclusive Treehouse Members Forum as a bonus. If you are serious about
your programming future, you could subscribe the $49 monthly plan to
obtain in-depth interviews with leading industry pros and cutting-edge
workshops.
LearnStreet
If you are that kind of
personnel who do not fancy playful design and prefer to deal with cold hard
codes, LearnStreet is probably your thing. It currently offers JavaScript,
Python and Ruby courses at beginner level. With a click on the ‘Start Course’
button you will start the lesson with an exercise, a code interpreter and a
glossary panel (for new programming terms).
LearnStreet adopts command
prompt-styled code interpreters with human language to explain function and
encourage you whenever possible, the kind of command prompt you want for your
own local machine. However, the code interpreter could be as rude as standard
command prompt, as most of the times it requires you to type in the absolute
same code and content it asks for.
Other than that, it’s truly
friendly and enjoyable, and most importantly, free.
Udacity
Udacity is the unification
of insightful video lectures and improved quizzes to achieve the interactive
feel for students, so it’s ideal for those who don’t like to read but rather
get explanations from industry professionals such as Google employees.
You will be given a
screencast from pros discussing the topics and instructions, then you will take
either logic or programming quizzes to strengthen your understanding or forge
it into a skill. The good thing about Udacity is it provides more videos than
any other site, and the instructors are either real-life professors or industry
veterans.
The only pitfall here is
most courses are not much related to each other, so Udacity is probably not
your starting point, but a virtual university to further your study.
CodeHS
At this point all websites
you read here are mainly dedicated to web development and computer science, but
CodeHS is one with simple and fun game programming lessons that involve problem
solving, JavaScript, animation, data structures, game design and puzzle
challenges.
The advantage of CodeHS is
it teaches you to think, and solve a problem like a programmer with its first
course, Programming with Karel. The lessons are fun as you will learn how to
use the code to move the dog, Karel to complete given tasks and puzzles like
picking up ball and building a towel. It plants a solid concept of programming
and the way it solves the problem systematically in your mind.
Other than the course
mentioned above, you must sign up first with $25 per month
to continue your learning journey, but it’s a perfect site to
learn basic game programming effectively.
Khan Academy
Although Khan Academy’s
courses are not as structured as CodeHS, it serves as an open playground for
both novice and amateurs particularly interested in learning drawing, animation
and user interaction with code. It does not preach any specific programming
language, but the code pattern it adopts can be applied anywhere, as a majority
of languages share the similar programming pattern.
You can first join
the Programming Basics course to watch and learn basic concepts,
then explore the given code after the video tutorial to validate your doubts.
With Khan Academy, you can save your modification as a Spin-Off for everyone to
enjoy and customize. There have been hundreds of spin-offs just from one lesson
in one course, so imagine the community size, and the lesson’s effectiveness.
Scratch 2.0
Think CodeHS and Khan
Academy are still too hardcore for your child, who has no comprehension beyond
basic English? No worries, there is something even easier for your aspiring
next-gen programmer, and it’s called Scratch. Previously an offline software
that allow kids to create, upload and share their projects proudly, Scratch is
now fully online with its 2.0 successor.
SQLZOO
Structured Query Language
(SQL) is just a language purely designed to store and retrieve data from a
database, so imagine the boredom you will experience when programming a warehouse.
Yet SQLZOO wants you to learn SQL happily with its interactive interface and
smileys. Since there is really nothing too deep to explain for a
straightforward language like SQL, the site will only ask you to replace the
variables like city names or population number, and raise the difficulty from
that level. One huge let-down will be the shortage of hints, answers and forum,
so you are probably doomed if you fail to solve any one of the quizzes, just
like old times.
Comparison Chart
Here’s a comparison chart
for you to get a bird’s eye view of all these awesome places to learn how to
code.
|
Website
|
Course
|
Feature
|
Pricing
|
Difficulty
|
|
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, Ruby, Python, API
|
Code Interpreter, Progress Saver, Project, Forum
|
Free
|
Easy – Intermediate
|
|
|
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript
|
Code Interpreter, Progress Saver, Project, Note
|
Free
|
Easy
|
|
|
HTML5, CSS, CSS3, jQuery, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, iOS
|
Code Interpreter, Screencast, Progress Saver, Forum
|
Free, $25/month
|
Intermediate – Hard
|
|
|
HTML, CSS, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, iOS,
Android, UX, Database
|
Code Interpreter, Screencast, Progress Saver, Project, Forum
|
Free, $25/month, $49/month
|
Easy – Hard
|
|
|
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby
|
Code Interpreter, Progress Saver, Project, Forum
|
Free
|
Easy
|
|
|
Web Development, HTML5, Python, Java, Computer Science,
Algorithm, AI
|
Code Interpreter, Screencast, Progress Saver, Forum
|
Free
|
Intermediate – Nightmare
|
|
|
Problem Solving, JavaScript, Animation, Game Programming
|
Code Interpreter, Screencast, Progress Saver
|
Free, $25/month, $75/month
|
Easy – Intermediate
|
|
|
Programming Basics, Canvas Drawing, Animation, User
Interaction
|
Code Interpreter, Screencast, Progress Saver, Project,
Discussion
|
Free
|
Easy – Intermediate
|
|
|
Visual Programming
|
Visual Editor, Project, Forum
|
Free
|
Easy
|
|
|
SQL
|
Code Interpreter
|
Free
|
Easy – Hard
|
Have you studied at any
website we showcased above? How’s the experience? Or have we missed certain
interactive learning sites with rich assets for budding programmers? Let
us share our experiences and resources to help and inspire each other then!
0 comments:
Post a Comment