10 OF THE BEST PLACES TO LEARN TO CODE FOR FREE
If you’re brand new to the world of coding and web development, it makes sense to start by teaching yourself using all the free coding resources online.
By taking advantage of these resources as you learn to code for free, you can discover what you like and don’t like before investing money into a certain coding language or set of courses. Once you've gone through enough free coding lessons to find that direction, you'll be able to channel your passion to continue learning coding online most efficiently.
However, there are so many free coding resources and classes and books to choose from. How do you know which are the best places to learn coding online?
Well, I did some research to save you the time! Here are 71 of the best websites to learn coding for free–from simple coding tutorials to full free online coding courses. To make things easier, I broke these coding resources down based on topic. Use the table of contents below to jump around.
GENERAL
1. freeCodeCamp
This free online coding school teaches coding first through an established curriculum (approx. 800 hours total), then by giving you hands-on experience working on projects for nonprofits. It's perfect for learners who want to learn code online by getting practical, hands-on experience that will do some good and look impressive on a resume. Here you'll learn HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Databases, React.js, Node.js, and others by networking and joining this nonprofit's community of professionals and students. You'll even work together on your coding skills so that you can build apps for free. Here's the catch: You're learning those skills and building helps to help solve real-world problems. Code is available to nonprofits.
Free coding certifications on offer: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, data visualization, DevTools, QA testing, Node.js, React, jQuery, and more
2. Code.org
Code.org provides learning materials specifically dedicated to increasing the rates of female and minority students entering computer science careers. Their free coding courses are designed for K-12 students, but can be useful to all ages. Start out with their quick Hour of Code tutorials, or build projects in lab courses.
3. Coursera
Coursera is one of the best places to learn to code for free, with its professional and versatile course options. The site is a large online course library where classes are taught by real university professors. All courses are free of charge, but you have the option to pay for a “Coursera Verified Certificate” (prices range between $30-$100) to prove course completion. Sometimes paying for a certificate also grants access to content not available in the free versions. Coursera also offers “Specializations,” which are collections of courses on a specific topic, typically with a capstone project at the end.
What free coding courses they offer: Many (far beyond your basic coding/computer science topics)
4. edX
EdX is an open-source higher education program governed by MIT and Harvard, making it another high-caliber resource where you can learn to code for free online. The site offers 107 great courses under the “computer science” category, teaching various coding languages.
Free programming courses offered: Java, C#, Python, and many more
5. AGupieWare
AGupieWare is an independent app developer that surveyed computer-science programs from some of the leading institutions in the U.S. It then created a similar curriculum based on the free courses offered by Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley and Columbia. The program was then broken into 15 courses: three introductory classes, seven core classes and five electives.
While you won’t actually receive academic credit, this is a perfect introductory program for prospective computer programmers.
6. Khan Academy
Khan Academy offers tons of subjects (as their front page says, “You can learn anything”), including many on computer programming. A few courses are offered for younger kids, too–so the whole family can learn to code for free!
Coding resources they offer: JS, HTML/CSS, SQL, much more
Competition to get into MIT may be stiff, but accessing their course material online has no tuition or minimum SAT score. They maintain an online library of every subject they teach, with no account required for access; just browse for a course and start reviewing the material. Yep…you can learn programming for free at MIT. What a world.
8. SoloLearn
SoloLearn is a social platform where anyone can learn to code. It's different than other course providers because it's mobile-based: learn coding on the go, on any device. With bite-sized lessons, achievements to unlock and interactive quizzes, it makes learning to code fun, and it's free to download.
Based out of New Zealand, Code Avengers provides fun and interactive programming lessons for kids 5 to 14; for schoolteachers wanting to teach coding; for people going into coding professionally; and for creators ages 15 and up. Also offered are one-to three-day "code camps" for students up to 17. These day camps are located in multiple states -- and foreign countires.
Courses focus on game design, C++, HTML, Python and more and they're available in multiple languages.
This Google project for web developers launched in 2010 to counter Apple's HTML5. The site is full of tutorials, resources and the latest HTML5 updates. It's open source, so developers can play around with HTML5 code. Because this site's offerings are more advanced than more advanced than most introductory courses, you'll need some knowledge and experience before jumping in.
Learning code used to require access to expensive books and classes, but no longer. I highly recommend that every enterpreneur learn to code.
Post a Comment