Fun Ways to Learn Coding

I want to learn some fun ways to learn coding. I need to learn coding, but it is so dry and complicated that I need a fun way to learn it.

I suppose one of the fun ways to learn coding is to find an online HTML5 game, and dissect the code the way you could any other webpage based script. You could learn some cool hax after saving it to your computer.

That does not work unless the JavaScript or HTML5 code is saved in the web page I can save to my PC. And it does not teach me the in depth level of programming I want to learn.

Start at the beginning, and go to Khan Academy’s website.

They teach K-12 math, science and grammar. What does this have to do with coding?

Coding is the new math. Khan Academy has lessons on HTML5 and basic programming in JavaScript.

At least using that site is less demoralizing than checking out programming for stupid people books.

Khan Academy actually makes coding for the first time because it makes the subject understandable in digestible bites, and it starts with teaching you how to make a game.

What are some other ways to learn coding, other than the homework site I already use with my kids?

There’s a lot of hype about gamification. You could try CodeCombat dot com, which is supposed to teach you how to code by playing a game.

For all those jokes about there being an app for that, I’m glad to know there’s an app for that.

Code dot org slash learn has basic lessons on coding with Anna and Elsa from Frozen.

That’s a little beneath my level.

Try Code Wars. It lets you earn points for completing various katas or challenges in programming languages like Ruby, JavaScript and CoffeeScript.

All I know is that CoffeeScript is a knockoff of Java, and it is better just to learn Java.

So learn JavaScript, which is as ubiquitous as HTML5 because the HTML5 standard calls for that for a lot of interactive website functionality.

Do you have any other fun ways to learn coding?

Perhaps not as fun but definitely worthwhile is Code School. It costs around $300 a year, but it has modules on almost any programming language out there, except for the one based on color coding and punctuation.

I’m on a budget, and $300 seems like too much.

So try CodeAcademy. That’s free.

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