Knowing how to program was once something only the geekiest of geeks knew how to do, but now it’s a desirable skill for just about anyone to possess. Fortunately, you don’t need to shell out tons of money or put yourself in debt in order to gain this knowledge. If you’re interested in learning how to code to expand your skillset, below are 10 online sources that offer courses for free.
Pictured above is a lesson in Code Avengers.
If you’ve looked into online coding classes, chances are you’ve heard about CodeAcademy, as it’s one of the most popular free places to learn how to program. More than 24 million people have already learned how to code through its educational and engaging experience. Starting is easy, and you can take a variety of courses including everything from HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, Python, PHP, and Ruby.
Coursera was founded in 2012 and has grown to be a major for-profit educational technology company that offers more than 1,000 courses from 119 institutions. Though you can pay for specific programs to receive a certificate, there is a variety of free introductory programming courses from universities such as the University of Washington, Stanford, the University of Toronto, and Vanderbilt.
Online-learning platform, edX, is open-source instead of for-profit. It was founded in 2012 by Harvard University and MIT and currently includes 60 schools. And let's face it, you just can’t go wrong with a free introduction to computer science from Harvard.
Founded in 2010, Udemy is an online learning platform that can be used to improve jobs skills or learn new ones. While there are lessons that require payment, there are plenty of free programming courses, which are taught via video. Available courses include Programming for Entrepreneurs – HTML & CSS, and Introduction to Python Programming.
Once you’ve explored the basics and are ready for something more challenging, such as exploring the theory behind coding, look into MIT’s free courseware site — it includes classes such as Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, Introduction to Programming in Java, and Practical Programming In C.
After surveying computer-science programs from some of the leading institutions in the U.S., aGupieWare, an independent app developer, created a similar curriculum based on the free courses offered by MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Berkeley, and Columbia. Then the program was structured into 15 courses: three introductory classes, seven core classes, and five electives. Although you won’t receive any actual credit, it’s a useful program for beginners.
Just as the name suggests, this company provides fun and interactive programming courses that will teach you how to code games, apps, and websites using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Each course takes 12 hours to complete and is available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, and Turkish.
There are times when you need to refer back to a reference book when you find yourself stuck on a problem. That’s where GitHub comes in handy. With GitHub you can find more than 500 free programming books that cover more than 80 different program languages. Located on the Git repository hosting service, it’s frequently updated by collaborators.
Who doesn’t like free food? At Free Food Camp you can learn HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Databases, DevTools, Node.Js, Angular.Js, and Agile by joining and networking with a community of students and professionals. You can even work together on your coding skills so that you can build apps for free. Is there a catch? Yes. You’ll be learning those skills to help solve real-world problems, since code is available to nonprofits.
Created by Salman Khan in 2006, Khan Academy is one of the original free online-learning institutions. It includes step-by-step video tutorials, and you can learn how to program drawings, animations, and games using JavaScript and ProcessingJS. You can also learn how to create webpages with HTML and CSS.
Have you used any of these educational resources before? Do you have anything to add to this list? Let us know — leave a comment below.
Source: Entrepreneur
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