During the earliest days of computing, programming and coding was the proud redoubt of 4-eyed geeks who usually lived with their parents, drank soda by the gallon and had no social skills to speak of. Those times of yore just like the original Nintendo Gameboy or the Commodore 64 computer has passed. Now, anyone with a reasonable IQ and some eagerness can set about writing practically any computer program.
Since it’s not that hard to do and will come in very useful throughout life, why not get schooled on the how and why of coding via the best coding websites out there. As well, most of these sites are free, so even if you don’t have a ton of money to throw around you can still make your mark in the coding world. And the best of the best of these websites where you can learn coding from scratch to any desired level are:
1. Codeacademy
If you are a total newbie to the world of coding and want to learn to code for free, there’s simply no better website than Codeacademy for effectively and effortlessly teaching you all that’s to know about the subject. The site is loaded with all sorts of quizzes and codes to teach both advanced and aspiring coders and also lets them get useful hands-on experience. More, the available courses are numerous, with each tailored to your exact skill level and needs. As well, there’s a forum to interact, discuss and otherwise rub minds with other coders from all over the globe, a glossary of the oft-confusing current coding terms and tools are made available and there are quite a few blog posts and articles on hand to guide you as you journey through the coding world. All in all, it makes for a quite thrilling experience.
2. Free Code Camp
Free Code Camp is just like the summer camps of your childhood. Only instead of your spending all day feeding your face and frolicking around, you are provided with a way to learn coding in a way few other sites can match. Free Code Camp is an open-source community that’s positively replete with immense amounts of projects, connections, challenges and the like for aspiring coders. More, like Codeacademy the quite bountiful goodies the site has to offer is free and effective in action and you are also let alone to learn how to code in a way that’s just-perfect for you. Overall, transporting yourself to this website is one of the best ways to learn coding that we can think of.
3. Codewars
There’s possibly no better entertaining way than at Codewars for both learning how to code and getting your coding skills honed like the Katana of a Samurai who expects to die in battle. As you might expect, the site has a heavy martial arts theme and makes available coding challenges called “kata” in which you compete in order to gain prestige and honour, move up in rank, earn immense bragging rights and everything else save the hand of the fair maiden! As well, the more challenges you ace the higher your status and god appeal. And with new challenges rolled out ad infinitum, there’s always something for everyone. However, unless you have at least a smattering of coding skills the site is not really for you. To compete in the Codewars battle arena you are therefore required to know a bit about such programming languages as Ruby, Javascript, Java, CoffeeScript, Haskell, Python, Clojure and others.
4. The Odin Project
From the creators of one of the finest online coding boot camp in existence comes The Odin Project. It’s a free version of the aforesaid boot camp and serves to really polish up your skills in preparation for your getting hired by the top movers and shakers in the industry. Skills taught that leaves you feeling ready to take on all comers include Ruby On Rails, HTML, Javascript, JQuery and CSS. As well, tools, tips and means are provided to help you connect and interact with coders from all over the globe and so broaden your horizons.
5. HackerRank
If you are in the intermediate to advanced level and have a more than good idea as to how to perform coding, there are few better ways to both learn from others and test yourself than on HackerRank. It boasts over a million users, has lots of competitions you can try your hand in and so earn points that will catapult you atop the leaderboard and is overall a very effective means of both proving your skills against the best coders on the globe and getting some attention.
6. Khan Academy
Like quite a few other educational platforms on this list, Khan Academy offers a diverse array of content and subjects apart from programming languages. As well, it does make available the chance for you to learn the bare-bones of coding in an hour or so. This immensely helps you know if coding is for you or if you are better off dancing ballet. More, you can start at your own pace, progress through the ranks and get lots lots of hands-on obstacles that will test what you have learned. Coding languages supported include Javasript, HTML, CSS, SQL and tons more.
7. CodeFights
CodeFights is not a coding website for beginners, and as you might have guessed from the name it enables you to test your skills and battle for mastery in real time against either complete strangers or friends and family who share your affection for coding. Think of it as the coding BattleNet on steroids, only instead of winning fortunes you progress up the ranks and possibly eventually get the immense respect due to a coding master such as yourself. More, to keep things lively problem solving gets harder as time goes on and there are as well tournaments that pop up every now and then where you can show off your skills on.
8. MIT Open Courseware
Ever wanted to go MIT but never managed to cobble together either the funds or time? Don’t despair, you can still attend this peerless institution via MIT Open Courseware. Here, you are exposed to practically every subject and topic ever taught in this particular establishment. And when you are tired of hearing what past great minds have heard and been immensely inspired by on a variety of topics, you can head over to the science section where the computer science subjects are located. There, learning at your own pace takes on an all-new meaning. As well, you have to give homework, tests, mock exams to yourself and -no cheating please!- also mark the scripts! Overall, MIT Courseware is a top coding and educational website that’s totally worth getting excited over.
9. edX
At edX, the focus is on learning from the very best coding schools out there. It’s an open-source and higher education community offering a really diverse array of computer-oriented and programming language courses. As well, each and everything being taught is supported by multiple stone and mortar universities, with reputable professors being on hand to ensure that you soak up all that’s available. More, you can optionally learn at your own pace and for free. But if you do need a verified certificate to frame, you have to pony up from $30-$100, with the amount varying depending on the course you signed up for.
10. Upskill
Upskill is perfect for beginners and is a free boot camp that’s dedicated to seeing you progress from beginner to intermediate or advanced level at a pace you can match. With its emphasis on web development, the coding languages taught include Git, Javascript, Ruby on Rails, Bootstrap, CSS and more.
We hope you’ve taken a good look at the above-listed coding websites, decided which would be best for you and got your coding career underway. If so do let us know what your experiences with them were. As well, if there are other equally awesome websites for learning coding we don’t know about we would love to be informed about it, so that we can in future feature them on this top review website. Well, let’s get the coding movement underway!