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I want to learn coding

K

Kaspyn

Arcanix Lover
Hi guys!
So, I really want to learn coding. I don't have hardly any knowledge about computers, but have always been interested in how things work.

I also know that coding is something of a luxury skill, and not something everyone can do. I wouldn't mind being able to put it on my resume, and it could definitely come in handy for my future career path.

Any ideas? I've already checked out the free courses on corsura and another site (who's name escapes me now) but...anything like "coding for dummies" that's worth an investment? Any tips?
 
Make a website for yourself. Pick something and run with it. Then try to make it a reality.

That is my best way of learning having to google every little thing as it arises and learning from doing.

But if not there are many books I am sure that work well too I just don't know them :(
 
Thanks, Tristan.

I do have an idea, but I have no idea where to start, so I guess it's best to just start somewhere!
 
This won't teach you the coding, but it will show you how to get an easy website up and running. Watch it then you can tweak things about your own project or follow his directions exactly.

Just know that any links he gives you to purchase stuff will probably give him a small commission.
 
Awesome!

First question is WHAT you want to do with it, which will help guide what and how you learn. (I have friends approach me with the same question often, and that's always my first response.) I suggest picking/defining a project, then looking for help (here and elsewhere on internet or wherever!) on how to tackle it (big or small).

If you tell me what specific topic you want to know more about, I might be of help on book suggestions. :)
 
Daniel Fortesque said:
www.codeacademy.com
Click to expand...
Don't just throw a link!

Yes, Codeacademy is a must in my opinion. http://www.codecademy.com/learn
Unlike most websites, this one is very interactive. You wont get bored easily.
Start from Web Fundamentals.
Then go to PHP.
And last Javascript.
(I think you wont need more than 10 hours to complete them.)

I also think you must do the above before even starting a book. In the book you ll come across things like "functions" or "for loops", but if you havent seen them it will be hard to understand what exactly are they.

I am currently being a collage student for computing, the above helped me more than the teachers did.

Good luck my friend.
 
Oh man, you stole his moment of joy when realizing how awesome that site is. All I got back in the day (ahem, some months ago) was a link, and I was all like "whatwhat?" but then I was all like "Oh my god YES". And you took that from Kaspyn. For shame.

For shaaaaame.
 
If by chance you have any interest in the algorithmic stuff, and/or you get through the CodeAcademy tutorials and are looking for some quick applications, there are a bunch of sites that provide problem statements, sort of like CodeAcademy, but rather than looking for you to type specific code, they describe a set of input and request you write a program to produce a specific set of output (generally within a certain program execution time limit). You upload code to the site, which then tests and evaluates it for you.

Other people may very well have more recent/relevant alternatives to share. :) But here's a few sites I know of to start.

CodeChef (http://www.codechef.com/) See their "Practice" sections.

Sphere Online Judge (http://www.spoj.com/)

USACO Training Gateway (http://cerberus.delos.com:790/usacogate) This one is here for sentimental reasons. This site/the competitions they used to hold are what led me through first learning the basics of C++ during my junior year of high school (they support Java, too). Not sure if it still works, though... oh and their logo is a cow head wearing a galea. Yep.

Project Euler (http://projecteuler.net/) More mathy, but fun nevertheless. Got pretty into this for a while halfway through college. Works a bit different than the other sites in that it doesn't ask for or execute your code, but rather simply asks you to input the numeric answers your program produces for specified inputs (if I remember correctly). Not sure if it's still maintained (its layout seems to have vanished sometime over the last two years..?).

TopCoder (http://www.topcoder.com/) Kind of like the big leagues for online programming competitions. They have practice sets, too.
 
Coding is not easy. I just recently wrote a code for my wife to see (basically a love letter) with a border, title, body and a signature in it. Man that was some tough work. (i'll post the code later, on personal computer)

So i tip my hat off to you Katie on making an amazing site that keeps me entertained 5 days out of the week at work.
 
Baldoraxx said:
Coding is not easy. I just recently wrote a code for my wife to see (basically a love letter) with a border, title, body and a signature in it. Man that was some tough work. (i'll post the code later, on personal computer)

So i tip my hat off to you Katie on making an amazing site that keeps me entertained 5 days out of the week at work.
Click to expand...

Katie RULEZ! But yeah man it is good to hear when someone tries it themselves and then looks at the sites they frequent all day. It is cray cray the amount of code that goes into this shit. The achievements alone are thousands of lines of code. BTW Impressive fact on Katie she codes on a yellow notepad... no not in a computer.. then puts it in a computer and it works... MIND BLOWN.
 
Kudos to Katie for not only being able to code, but for being able to creatively balance the technical with the visual. Anyone can learn to code with some effort, but not everyone can 'visualize' a good looking site with proper navigation and usability. I really enjoy this community with all of its talented inhabitants.
 
Kismet said:
Kudos to Katie for not only being able to code, but for being able to creatively balance the technical with the visual. Anyone can learn to code with some effort, but not everyone can 'visualize' a good looking site with proper navigation and usability. I really enjoy this community with all of its talented inhabitants.
Click to expand...
Kis, you're a doll. <3 Thank you so much! I must add however that Tristan is the champion of all forum navigation at AltTabMe. Forum navigation credit goes to him!
 
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