Learning how to code gives you the ability to understand the language of the machines. It gives you the ability to automate repetitive tasks. It helps you solve difficult problems with ease. It is truly a great skill to have today.
If you are reading this article, you are most likely learning how to start teaching yourself how to code. Fortunately, there are many resources available for you to learn anywhere in the world. If you are willing to commit to developing a new skill, you can learn it all on the Internet today.
You can start today even if you never typed code in your life. You can start coding through these fantastic options below.
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The Best Online Programs to Learn How to Code for Free
Codeacademy
If you are learning to code and looking for a place to start, Codeacademy is the right place for you. They have interactive projects with quizzes to give you a guided hands-on experience with no risk. Codeacademy provides forums for general discussion. You can read their content to help you as you progress. They break out different courses for each topic, ranging from:
- Make a Website
- Learn HTML & CSS
- JavaScript
- SQL
- and more
Free Code Camp
You can learn useful skills while building real-world projects for nonprofits with Free Code Camp. It's an open-source community that provides certificates, projects, and coding challenges to help you learn at your own page. It's free. You can connect with other coders in your city through their interface.
Udemy
Udemy is an online learning marketplace. It hosts over 130,000 user-created courses. You can learn on all kinds of topics, like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and much more. Udemy offers plenty of free coding courses, and some paid courses ranging from $20-$200 per course. To start for free:
- HTML and CSS Essentials
- Learn to Program in JavaScript (From Beginner to Pro)
- Game Development with JavaScript
Codewars
Codewars is a place where you can sharpen your coding skills in "kata" challenges. As you progress through the rankings, you will encounter more difficult challenges. You can see which answers the community likes the most. Eventually, you can even create your own challenges for other people to solve.
Upskill
Upskill is a high-quality tech training platform. You can learn technologies like git, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and more. They are adding new courses all the time to help educate students on computer science fundamentals.
Skillcrush Free Coding Camp
Skillcrush provides a free coding camp to help beginners to get their feet wet in tech. They send everything directly to your email inbox. You can learn from the simplest terms possible.
Coursera
Coursera has a ton of classes taught by real-life instructors. The courses are pre-recorded video tutorials. They provide quizzes and projects to apply what you learn. You have the option of paying for a certificate with Coursera as well. They offer specializations that help you become a master of a selected area of expertise.
EdX
edX allows you to learn from the best higher education communities, like MIT and Harvard. You can find tons of computer science courses. You can learn programming at your own pace. While the courses are free, you will need to pay for a certificate (typically $50-$90). You can also take edX "MicroMaster" programs which compose of graduate-level courses.
The Odin Project
The Odin Project teaches you skills to have a successful career in web development. It is created by the founders of Viking Code School. Through the Odin Project, you will learn Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, jQuery, and more. They create a community for you to connect with other coders. They also allow you to team up or trade tips on projects.
MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT OpenCourseWare is an MIT initiative to publish their educational material online for free. They provide plenty of content to help you learn to code. They also have more content for computer science and coding content:
GA Dash
GA Dash is a free arm of General Assembly. They provide courses to teach the basics of web development, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You are able to learn in an interactive way. It's a free tool to help you start learning how to code for free.
Udacity
Udacity provides a huge plethora of free and paid courses for codings. They provide over 200 coding classes through their "nanodegrees" for free. To get started with their coding classes, here are a couple of places to start:
HTML
HTML Dog
HTML Dog teaches HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to help you start building web pages. They have tutorials, techniques, examples, and references to make things easy for you.
HTML.com
HTML.com helps make HTML and CSS easier for beginners. With their chapters, you are able to learn about HTML, run through tutorials, get their cheat sheets, and even more. They have built a suite of online tutorials to help with your web design needs.
W3Schools
W3Schools walks you through tutorials, examples, and editors for you to experiment with HTML risk-free. They provide over 200 examples in their HTML course to play with. They also have almost 100 HTML exercises to keep your skills sharp.
CSS
HTML and CSS for Beginners - Build a Website and Launch Online
Udemy provides a free tutorial for you to learn HTML and CSS. With over 5 hours of content, you are able to launch your first website.
Codeconquest
Codeconquest has a free CSS tutorial that explains how CSS and HTML connect together. Through this course, you are able to learn how to style webpages with CSS.
CSStutorial.net
CSSTutorials help you learn CSS, the sister technology to HTML. You can use their step by step guide to use CSS and make your website look great.
JavaScript
Eloquent JavaScript
Eloquent JavaScript is an amazing book that allows you to learn the ins-and-outs of JavaScript. They break down hard-to-understand concepts in a way that anyone can understand. It breaks down concepts like closures, higher-order functions, and data structures in a way digestible fashion and helps you progress in your career. Whether you are a novice or an expert, you can learn something from this book.
MDN JavaScript
MDN, the folks behind Firefox, hosts a beautiful document to explain the intricacies of JavaScript. They dedicate this entire section to the JavaScript language. You can view examples and usage of the language itself.
SoloLearn
SoloLearn is an online learning platform with coding courses in 13 different disciplines, including JavaScript. You can learn on their website or mobile. With over 1700 lessons and over 14,000 quizzes, you will learn programming skills with ease.
Python
The Python Foundation
The Python Foundation's website hosts free tutorials for programming beginners. They also have tutorials aimed at people who have previous coding experience. Whatever your level is, there is something on this website for you if you want to dive into Python.
Hitchhiker's Guide to Python
Python.org has an official tutorial that covers all the basics and the standard library. They have a repository of free and detailed tutorials created by Python professionals. You can learn anything from web development and web scraping to data visualization, and more.
Google's Python Class
Google's Python Class is a free course for people with some programming experience to learn Python. They provide written content, lecture videos, and code exercises to dive into Python programming. They teach concepts from strings and lists, all to the up to HTTP connections.
Ruby on Rails
Rails Girls
Rails Girls Guides provides tools and community for "women to understand the technology and how to build their ideas". They provide guides in over 10 languages. They give you a step by step guide with building your first Ruby on Rails app.
Ruby Koans
Ruby Koans walk you through to learn the Ruby language, syntax, and structure. They also give an overview of the common libraries used in Ruby. They also provide content to teach automated testing, which is essential to writing good code.
LEARNRUBY
learnrubyonline.org gives a free interactive Ruby tutorial. They provide educational content for beginners to experts. You are able to do exercises, run through the basics, and read about programming concepts.
Mobile App Development
Design & Code a Cool iPhone App Website in HTML5
If you have gone through and mastered HTML5, you can use that skill to build your first iPhone app. In this tutorial, they walk you through the PSD concept, show you the HTML structure, and CSS styling.
Apple Start Developing iOS Guides
Apple's Swift guide is the perfect starting point for creating apps for iOS. They created incremental lessons to walk you through your first iOS app. You can learn about tools, major concepts, and best practices to help you level up.
Android Developer Training for New Programmers
Google created a self-paced series of courses for Android beginners. You can learn to create your first Android app. You will add functionalities to the app, connect to the Internet, and pass the data to the back-end. If you enroll in their Udacity program, you will get guidance to work through beginning courses for Android.
Final Words
Learn how to code online for free is easier today than ever. There is an unlimited amount of resources to help you develop your programming chops through practice. With determination, time, and effort, you can begin your programming experience today. As you go along, it's worth your while to invest in good education. Investing in yourself is the most important thing in the world. Put upgrading your abilities as a point of priority for yourself. Work on making yourself better every day.