Why You Should Learn To Code (And How To Actually Do It)

In the Lost Interview with Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder said, “I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think.”

I like to think of coding as applied math and sciences because it teaches us an iterative approach to solving problems and testing out our ideas. While I don’t consider myself a coder, apart from HMTL/CSS I don’t code in my daily work, I did notice that learning the basics of how to code on CodeAcademy has done wonders for improving my problem solving skills.

Now that software is eating the world by automating all kinds of routine jobs, the basic knowledge of  how lines of code create the digital worlds we explore every day is becoming a fundamental digital literacy. It’s not particularly easy but it’s also not nearly as hard as you probably think it is. Even if you don’t want to become a software developer, learning to code is an excellent challenge to sharpen your mind’s ability to troubleshoot and solve problems.

Watch the video below to discover why coding is the new “superpower” that isn’t being taught in in 90% of schools.




Fortunately, it has never been easier to learn how to code. There are now so many education platforms and tools to make creating software applications and mobile apps easier. Who knows, you may discover that coding is something you really enjoy and you may actually want to become a software developer. Considering that a experienced developer can earn more than $100,000+ a year, it’s not a bad skill to start learning.

Learn To Code Platforms:

 

1. CodeAcademy - The education startup CodeAcademy has done a lot of incredible work to make learning to code more accessible for everyone. On their interactive website, you can learn to code in HTML/CSS, Javascript, PHP, Python and Ruby through building and executing your own code projects.

Their Code Year initiative has helped introduce over 450,000 people to coding through a series of a simple code exercises that land once per week in your email inbox. And now they have made it even easier to learn the basics of coding with the release of their Hour of Code app for iPhone. This app let’s anyone code their first program in less than in an hour on their iPhone.

For their latest One Hour Code initiative they have teamed up with Code.org. This initiative even received a shout out from President Obama who ask every young Americans to learn to code by saying, “Don’t just play on your phone — program it“. Incredibly, all of CodeAcademy’s project-based learning programs remain 100% free.




2. Code.org - This initiative backed by Silicon Valley heavyweights like Facebook, Google and Apple offers a number of excellent free beginner’s tutorials for learning how to code.



3. Programmr - Learn to code by completing live HTML exercises in your browser.




4. Code Avengers - Discover how to make web apps and websites using HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript.



5. Google Cloud Playground - Venture Beat’s John Koetsier calls it ““Codecademy for the cloud, Google App Engine for idiots, or cloud-enabled applications development for newbies.”

Online Courses: Introduction To Computer Science

If you want a more fundamental understanding of how computers operate, I recommend also taking an introductory computer science course from a skilled professor at an elite University like Harvard or Stanford. Fortunately, you don’t need $30,000 to access Ivy League-quality higher learning anymore, these institutions are now offering these courses online for free.
These are all free MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) sorted by their next session:



1. Introduction to Computer Science (Harvard)
Next Session: January 1st, 2014
If you want to really learn computer science Harvard University’s David J Malan is the guy to learn from (as of 2012, this is the second most popular course at Harvard). In this entry-level course, Malan teaches you to think algorithmically and he covers a broad range of programming languages such as C, PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

The problem sets in this course force you to do the work to finish the course and are inspired by real world issues in biology, cryptography, finance, forensics, and gaming.
Instructor: David J. Malan, Senior Lecturer on Computer Science at Harvard University
Duration: 16 Weeks
Platform: edX




2. Introduction to Computer Science (University of Virginia)
Next Session: January 2014

The best introductory computer science course on Udacity. Learn how to write your first computer program in the popular Python language by building a web crawler that actually works. You don’t need any prior programming knowledge to take this course.
Instructor: David Evans, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Virginia
Duration: 7 Weeks
Provider: Udacity





3. Creative, Serious and Playful Science of Android Apps (University of Illinois)
This course just started on December 2nd, 2013 but you can still join in on the action. Learn to code by programming your very own Android apps for smartphones and tablets. No prior prorgramming knowledge is necessary but you’ll need an Android device to test your creations.
Instructor: Lawrence Angrave, University of Illinois
Duration: 11 Weeks
Platform: Coursera




4. Computer Science 101 (Stanford)
Another course aimed at people with no previous programming knowledge, this computer science course attempts to demystify coding. You learn to code through play and experiments by writing short bits of computer code to explore the power and limitations of computers.
Next Session: Self-Study
Instructor: Nick Parlante, Computer Science Lecturer at Stanford University
Duration: 12 Weeks
Platform: Coursera




 5. Startup Engineering
Next Session: Self-Study
Instructors: Balaji S. Srinivasan and Vijay S. Pande, Stanford University
Duration: 10 Weeks
Platform: Coursera

Other Good Options:

6. Introduction To Programming: Problem Solving With Java
Next Session: Self-Study
Instructor: Cay Horstmann, Instructor at San Jose State University
Duration: 9 Weeks
Platform: Udacity

7. Learn to Program With Python: The Fundamentals

Next Session: Self-Study
Instructors: Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries, University of Toronto
Duration 7 Weeks
Platform: Coursera

8. Learn to Program: Crafting Quality Code

Next Session: Self-Study
Instructors: Jennifer Campbell and Paul Gries, University of Toronto
Duration: 5 Weeks
Platform: Coursera

9. Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists

Next Session: Self-Study
Ajay Kapur, California Institute of the Arts
Duration: 8 Weeks
Platform: Coursera

10. An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python
Next Session: To Be Announced 

Instructors: Joe Warren and Scott Rixner, Rice University
Duration: 9 Weeks
Platform: Coursera

Developer Communities You Should Join:

 

GitHub - Open-source code repositories in the cloud, GitHub is the place where new and experienced developers collaborate and build on other’s code.



Mozilla’s School of Webcraft - A free online community for learning  web design & development from the makers of the open source Firefox browser.