Ever been secretly envious of your friends that understand how code works and know how to program? Code Academy is a free website that offers lessons in how to program. I’ve always wanted to know a bit more about how to write programs, or “code” as it’s commonly called. So, I headed over to Code Academy to find out.
Upon first landing at the Code Academy, I was greeted by a message telling me that coding is interactive, fun, and I can learn it with my friends. Well that sounds right up my alley! To the left of that message was a window with a command prompt and some instructions, asking me to introduce myself. I did so, and was rewarded with a new message in the window, giving me another instruction. Within about two minutes, I had taken my first lesson in coding and learned my first command. I could now declare and define a variable. Two minutes ago I had barely understood what a variable was. I hadn’t taken any programming lessons since learning Basic as a teen.
As I continued with the little flash based command window, I was eventually asked for an email address to register for the Academy so that I could continue my education. I gave it, and moved on with the lessons. So far, Code Academy offers two different courses. A beginner’s course named “Getting started with programming” (aka Time to become a coding Ninja!), and a more intermediate course called “JavaScript Quick Start Guide” , which is a guide to JavaScript designed for people who already know how to code in other languages. I followed the beginner’s course. After all, who doesn’t want to be a Ninja? Each lesson took from 10 to thirty minutes up to an hour. I was enjoying it because it was simple as well as entertaining, just like the program had promised. It offers the option to keep track of the progress your friends re making, as well, so that you can try to stay ahead of them if that kind of competition appeals to you. It also shows your own progress via a screen much like a report card, showing what lessons you have taken, how many achievements you have made, etc.
Code Academy is relatively new, so those are the only two courses they have so far. However, they are always working on more, and are even taking suggestions for what courses to make as well as taking help from users to design new lessons. They are even looking to hire an engineer, as of the time of this post. They are a fun, and completely free, web site that looks to have a great online university someday. Now might be the best time to get in on it and start learning. In their own words, “We (Ryzac, Inc.) run an online service called Codecademy. We’re excited for you to try it out. Everything on Codecademy is currently free, with premium services a possibility in the future.” so now might be the time to jump on it.
[Thanks go to Reader Panzer telling us about this great resource!]
Tested on: Chrome (5.0+) on Windows 7 home Premium 32-bit
Attend The Code Academy.
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