Best Learning Websites / Software?

Programming can be a little intimidating for a beginner and, more often than not, overwhelming when you don’t know where to start. But as soon as you know where to start, teaching yourself how to code and gain that competitive edge becomes very enjoyable and easy. In the modern world, coding has become significantly more important than ever as we see the rise of new technologies each and every day. This has resulted in an increase in demand for these skills, and many companies and organizations are offering courses and materials to help learn programming in order to bridge the gap.

In this article, we will explore the best coding websites for beginners and professionals and what makes each unique.

Different programming websites offer different methods and approaches to learning. Most, however, offer a text-based approach, while others use videos to demonstrate. We will be looking at the top ten coding websites based on developers’ feedback, interactive learning, and the quality of the content offered. Let’s dive into it, shall we?

1. Udemy

Udemy, by far, is the most used website for buying programming courses. It offers a myriad of different languages and so far has over 24 million students and over 80000+ courses. It also offers over 3 35,000 tutors making it the most famous coding website for beginners.

Udemy allows you to choose your course, which ranges from $15 to as low as $10;, they also have free courses. What makes it unique is the wide variety of courses to choose from; from beginners to experts, there is something for everyone. The flexibility of its charges also sets it apart, you only pay for the course you are taking. And you can choose from different tutors with different charges for different courses depending on your needs.

Overall from the developers’ feedback, Udemy is a go-to coding website, and it will surely meet your programming needs.

2. W3Schools

This is another amazing website for programmers. It’s a text-based platform that offers an interactive platform to practice and test your codes. It covers programming languages such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript, C++, Angularjs, JSON, Python, PHP, React.js, and Bootstrap.

What sets it apart is its interactive learning which allows you to practice coding in real time as you learn in its try-it-yourself button, and it’s completely free. This website offers some of the most comprehensive content with its online tutorials, references, exercises, and courses.

3. Codeacademy

Almost like the previously mentioned website, Codecademy offers free interactive courses that cover over ten different programming languages. What sets it apart is how it is divided into stages. You have to pass one stage in order to be able to progress to the next one. This ensures that the learner gets the relevant skills before progressing. It’s also a good way to gauge one’ skills as you progress from amateur to expert.

Through its instant feedback response, you can be sure to know which areas to work on until you have achieved the results and skills of an excellent developer.

4. FreeCodeCamp

This nonprofit organization offers free verified certification from its website. They have an interactive platform where you can practice your code, and they offer lots of assignments and questions to help you practice your coding skills as a beginner.

What sets it apart is the free certification and wholesome free content that, once you sign up for a course, you can be able to access.

5. Coursera

If you are looking into an online IT program in the lines of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and deep learning, then Coursera is your go-to website. With its vast collection of courses, this website offers degree programs in collaboration with universities in over 2900+ categories.

What’s unique about Coursera is the fact that you get access to various experts in the IT field in collaboration with the top universities This ensures as a learner, you get up-to-date content and yet can still learn at your own pace.

6. HackerRank

If you aim to improve your coding skills, then Hackerank is the programming website for you. Its approach is through practice problems and challenges.  For this, you will need at least some prior knowledge of programming. Its uniqueness lies in the way it helps you track your progress and skills through the badges that you earn from solving challenges and practice problems. This website is free and offers different programming languages that you can practice in.

7. Educative.io

With over 560+ courses, this website offers content in programming, design, SDE, and DevOps interviews. It ensures that not only do you get the skills you need as a developer but also prepares you on how to handle interviews.  Its unique selling point is that you can track your progress in graphs, and you get an interactive learning approach where you solve challenges and questions to help you retain the information you have learned.

8. Udacity

With over 200+ courses and Nanodegrees offered, this website delivers content aimed at helping the learner achieve cutting-edge technology skills from AI,  machine learning, and robotics. Its unique selling point is that with the help of experts, this website focuses on in-demand skills in various fields. Depending on your needs, you choose what suits you and get access to real-world projects from experts to practice on, technical mentor support, career guidance services and at your pace learning program.

9. YouTube

I am sure at one time or another, you have used YouTube to check for something. While all the previously mentioned websites’ approach has been text-based theory and practice, YouTube offers a video-guided approach. There are so many tech channels that offer programming videos for absolutely free of charge.

The best thing about videos is you can follow through the tutor’s step-by-step, and you are able to pause as many times as you need to match your learning pace. Furthermore, you can open a few channels to compare and contrast different approaches to one problem and use the one that easily resonates with you.

10. Github

GitHub is one of the best websites for coding projects; it gives you different options, whether you want to share your code, look at other people’s code for clarification, or ask other developers to collaborate with you on a project in case you are feeling stuck somewhere. Its unique selling point is that it’s free to publish or pull other people’s code. Being able to also work in collaboration with a few developers makes it a darling to many beginners and experts in programming.

Conclusion

The websites mentioned here do not even begin to cover all the websites out there. However, these are the ones, in my opinion, that are the best for learning code as a beginner. At the end of the day, your needs as a developer are the ones that will determine what kind of website you are looking for. But as you can see, you only need determination and the drive to learn. The information is plenty and mostly for free.