You want to learn to code, but you have not idea where to start.
It’s scary, I’ve been there.
Your genius new web app idea is just waiting for your brain to catch up and program it.
The truth is, it’s never been easier to learn to code online from one of many sources – both free and paid.
But where do you begin?
We breakdown our favorite sources and tell you what may be best for you.
Learning to Code by Language
HTML
- W3schools.com
- Udemy
- Mozilla Developer Network
- Code.org
- Codecademy
- Khan Academy
- Coursera
- Edx.org
- Google Developers Training
- The Code Player
- Free Code Camp
CSS
- W3schools.com
- Udemy
- Mozilla Developer Network
- Code.org
- Codecademy
- Khan Academy
- Coursera
- Edx.org
- Google Developers Training
- The Code Player
- Free Code Camp
Javascript
- W3schools.com
- Udemy
- Mozilla Developer Network
- Code.org
- Codecademy
- Khan Academy
- Coursera
- Edx.org
- Google Developers Training
- The Code Player
- Free Code Camp
Python
SQL
iOS
Data Science
Mobile App Development
Android
iOS
Best Way to Learn – Different for Everyone
More than any other subject, you can learn a lot of coding online for free. It make total sense though, since the entire internet is built on code. We recommend free sources for beginners who aren’t ready to invest any money into a paid online course. Once you’ve gotten the coding bug, it makes sense to follow a structured program, built by experienced developers.
1. W3Schools.com
This site claims to be “The World’s Largest Web Developer Site”. If you really want to get to know the ins and outs of coding and structuring a website from the ground up, this is a great resource. It is simply laid out and includes sections for learning HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This learning site will introduce you to HTML Graphics, JavaScript, Server Side programming, Web Building, and XML (Extensible Markup Language) tutorials.
The School provides a full suite of learning tutorials, examples, and classes. You can also receive certifications in HTML, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, PHP, XML, and Bootstrap programming languages. Why bother getting certified? “Documentation of your skills enables you to move upwards in your organization.” And as a bonus, if you ever move beyond your current project, these certifications and skills are highly transferable. All of the provided exercises, tutorials, and references are completely free. This source would be a great way to learn to code for free for someone who learns best by doing.
2. Udemy
Udemy is undoubtedly one of the best ways to learn to code especially for beginners. This site promises that you will “Learn how to publish your own website live on the web in no time with this web hosting crash course.” Through a series of short videos, it teaches you how to design and publish your site in no time at all. The site itself is quite expansive and includes links to more knowledge and more ways to learn programming and coding. The best part is that the Web Hosting Crash Course is completely free. More courses are available for a small fee. But this site makes it super easy to get started.
3. Mozilla Developer Network
This site has a number of guides, articles, tutorials, etc. It doesn’t offer as much of a hands on experience as many of the other programs on this list. With that said it is still a great way to learn to code for free, and it has other great resources for when you’re done with learning to code that can help you to learn some other important skills related to hosting. This particular article goes into simple but great detail on how to pursue a couple of easy options for publishing your site.
For complete control of your site, you’ll want to rent out server space from a hosting company (SiteGround or BlueHost), and purchase a domain name, to make certain that no one else can take your name from you. Use an online publishing service such as GitHub, Google App Engine, or Dropbox. You can also use a web based IDE (integrated development environment) such as Thimble.
4. Code.Org
This site doesn’t offer classes of their own, however they do connect you to courses from a variety of sources that span any experience level. The site is broken down into three sections, K-5, 6-12, and beyond K-12. The K-5 courses promise to help you“Learn to make your own game, app, or computer drawing.” The 6-12 states it’ll teach you to “Build real working apps, games and websites using blocks, JavaScript, CSS, HTML and more.” Lastly the beyond K-12 gives you the ability to “Go beyond Code.org and take university courses online or learn a new programming language.”
As you may expect because of the fact that it has courses starting so young it does have a fairly childish look. Don’t let that fool you though, there is some fantastic content on this site. I would consider this to be the best way to learn to code for a child, however it really has some amazing free courses for all ages.
5. Codecademy
Codecademy boasts that you can “learn to code for free.” The main page is fairly bare; you have to sign up for the site to actually be able to use the tutorials and learning materials. One you do this though there is some great interaction provided with the learning materials. The main page though, does offer a handful of testimonials from those who have used the site, as well as those who overcame obstacles in pursuit of their dreams. It will teach you how to build and launch a website. It also covers CSS and Java, as well as various other useful programming languages.
6. Khan Academy
This is an interactive community of developers learning together. The site encourages interaction with other users and collaboration on projects and has a space to share your current or past projects with others for feedback and help. It covers drawing & animation, HTML/CSS web pages, Intro to SQL, advanced JavaScript, python and much more. This site covers pretty much any topic you can conceive in regards to computer science and web development. It does this with full tutorials, videos, and a full community of interactive teachers and learners. This is perfect for beginners.
7. Coursera
Coursera.org is a beautiful site, similar to Khan Academy. It is all about learning, learning, learning. This is another full community of thousands of learners who interact and collaborate on projects and learning. It offers numerous courses in any programming language you could possibly want to learn. It includes courses taught by university professors online. The best one is probably the HTML, CSS, and Javascript for Web Developers course. It covers all of these programming languages and how to effectively use them to build exactly what you need.
8. EdX.org
This is another open-learning course site such as Khan Academy and Coursera. It offers more than 165 courses on computer science. So depending on how in-depth you want to get, this site is ideal. You can find so many resources on learning programming languages and working with web hosting and development. Here is a short list of courses all about web development and programming offered should you choose to pursue this route. Some of these courses get fairly in depth too. But again, the more you learn, the more marketable and transferable skills you have.
9. Google Developers Training
This resource has some very basic web development training for the most common languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. However what really sets this program apart from the others on this list is the focus on mobile programming for android and Google’s own mobile platform firebase. They provide you “training classes that describe how to accomplish a specific task with code samples you can re-use in your app”. It works through helping you build smaller projects that can be applied to real world application building. Like some of these other sites Google Developers Training has some other great resources that you can use when you feel comfortable with coding and want to learn more.
10. The Code Player
This site is another full community collaboration event, it will help you to “Learn HTML5, CSS3, Javascript and more…” It provides video walkthroughs on how to create any project you can imagine. It takes you through real world projects which have already proven to be successful, ensuring that you know what they’re teaching is actually going to work.
11. Free Code Camp
This site as you may expect from the name is best summed up as a free online coding bootcamp. It gives you the ability to work at your own pace which is great for anyone who’s busy. They cover HTML, CSS, and Javascript in detail. Also a great thing about this site is when you finish the curriculum you will get a certificate to show that you’ve completed the course. You complete the curriculum by completing 5 final projects, which allows you to get some real world experience with the skills you are looking to learn.
Between all of these programs we I feel confident that you will find the best way to learn coding for you, whether you are looking for free courses, a free online coding bootcamp, paid courses, these sources have it all. They will be invaluable when trying to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, SQL, iOS, and/or Data Science.
Last Updated on October 7, 2020 by Joe