Last week we discussed Khan Academy. This week we will focus on another educational resource to help give your web skills a boost.

Codecademy

It can be intimidating, to find a place to start with coding and programming languages. One great resource is Codecademy. From the beginning, they offer a survey to find out what courses are right for you. Alternatively, you can skip right to the course catalog.  There are course offerings in a variety of topics such as JavaScript, Python, Git and the command line.  These courses are great options for beginners.  Codecademy provides lessons for learners are all levels.

History

Codecademy was founded in August 2011 by Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski. They both attended Columbia University were they began fostering the idea that would become Codecademy.  The company has been growing and is steadily raising funds ever since. In August 2015, Codecademy partnered with the White House. They were willing to host in-person meet-ups for 600 students for disadvantaged women and minority groups. Their goal is to redesign education from the bottom up.

Features

Codecademy is a fairly feature rich website. With the interactive lessons, you can jump right in and get both feet wet with code. The basics are free,  however,  the more advanced lessons are locked behind a paywall. As shown in the image, the interface is clear and easy to navigate.

The interface is clear and easy to navigate.

One great feature is that if you are stuck, you can skip to the solution. Another feature is at the start of each lesson there is a brief rundown of what the lesson entails. This run down occurs before code is expected to be written. Some of the modules can be difficult to find, but the documentation provides an easy way to get back on track. In conclusion, Codecademy contains many features to help aid in your learning.

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