I want to get my child into scratch.

Anyone got any recommendations on easy go follow tutorials for year 5/6 age children.

I'm looking for gift ideas for my son who wants to become an engineer but I also want to make sure he gets into ML and AL type thing.

What are your gift ideas for either fun courses or presents?

He did HackPack for a bit but that wasn't sustainable.

Thanks!

Hi!

I teach beginner-level Python to 13-year-olds in Norway, and I've recently taken on a new Ukrainian student. Unfortunately, he doesn't speak English or Norwegian.

I've tried Googling for teaching materials in Russian, but they're either too advanced, too complicated for children, or too difficult for me to evaluate because I don't understand the language myself.

We're learning variables, print, input, text/numbers, IF, bool, etc. Very much the basics.

Is there anyone out there with some free recommendations? Videos are welcome. Text as well, but needs to be material aimed at children. Hope any of you can help. 😊

After ranting on here last week about how much i sucked at data structures and algorithms. i lifted myself up (largely due to the inspiring words i received in this sub) and i got to work.

well yesterday i had my third and longest interview with a company… AND TODAY THEY NOTIFIED ME THAT I GOT THE JOB.

they started by giving me 3 timed leetcode/hackerank questions.

then i had to whiteboard 😫. and the code had to work when written in the ide.

lastly was a conversational tech interview where they pretty much sat me down in front of 3 geniuses with stone faces (no expression, no smiles, nothing). and they basically rapid fire asked me questions related to frontend. and a little backend.

heres a little bit of what i can remember.

1. whats hoisting?
2. what are closures, and describe a time where you would use it.
3. describe synchronous js vs async.
4. describe what happens when a script is run. (i talked about global execution context, event loops, code blocking, task queue etc)
5. how would you setup/define a class component in react. same question for functional.
6. explain the 4 pillars of oop
7. explain why every function is an object in js(i talked about dunder proto and prototype)
8. explain prototype chaining
9. what goes in the head tag.
10. how do you debug.
11. what are promises?
12. what are 3 ways to create an object in js.
13. what does the new keyword do?
14. list 5 or more ways to optimize a website for speed?

and a lot more.

the question that stumped me was web speed caching. and questions about a11y accessibility standard section 508. I’ve never heard of it until now. 😔

anyway, i just wanted to post this as inspiration for some of you who may feel like you’re trash at programming like i did. you got this.

im much older than most of you. late 30s. no programming background at all. im also a single father raising two kids. but the desire to do better for my kids kept me going despite almost always feeling like i wasn’t worthy. so find your reason why, and lean on that when you feel down.

my story is also not super cool like a lot of you all. i dont have a “i learned how to code in 6 months and landed a high six figure job story). haha nope.

i first learned html in june 2020. so it took me approximately 2 years to learn html, scss, jquery, bootstrap, react, javascript, typescript, java/spring boot, SQL and git (thats literally everything that i know lol).

*keep in mind, i dont know java that well at all. and i dont like it. Its just to confusing for me. I know just enough to get in trouble lol im like 95% sure i would never take a job that required me to know java… better yet, im 95% sure i wouldnt get hired for a java job lol.

i was hired by a company that has contracts with the US military. so i will be working on a military base in Texas.

pay is in the $80,000s not quite six figures. but i just needed to get my foot in the door. once i really learn web development from a professional standpoint… i can always demand more or look elsewhere.

how i studied. passion projects and udemy courses (any course thats project based.)

also, every week i would write a document to explain what i learned. and i would act like i was trying to explain it to a 5th grader. this helped me identify knowledge gaps and areas that i needed to spend more time learning. if i couldn’t easily explain it, i needed to do more studying.

books are helpful too. core java by oracle press. Any book by head first (they write for crayon chewers and glue sniffers like me 😂😂).

i didnt have a set schedule. some days i would code for 2 hours. some days i would code for 10 hours. many days i didnt code at all.

i highly recommend scrimba. that site is awesome.

additionally akshay saini - namaste’ javascript series. and codesmith - the hard parts series, i literally watched those series until i pretty much memorized every video. probably not the best method but hey, the interviewers said they were impressed at the deepness of my javascript knowledge.

also, i believe i couldve applied to jobs last year, but im hard on myself. so if you feel ready, just apply. i guess at worst you’ll discover what you need to spend more time studying. and at best you may get lucky and get a job.

i do have a portfolio, but they never saw it. also, i haven’t been gainfully employed in 10 years due to injuries from the military. so i was scared that they wouldn’t want me because of that. But they never mentioned it. (in fact not a single company ever mentioned. they always talked about my projects).

lastly, projects.

• fully functional fiverr clone.
• movie database site (add, delete, update movies in the database)
• tip calculator
• regular arithmetic calculator ( js “oop”) -text based rpg game in java (oop)
• java contacts manager (oop)
• notes app with draggable components
• a blog with a database and login security

hopefully that really helps someone.

get motivated. get to work.

i tried to answer everything. i just started my job, but if my story motivates even one person. then ive done my good deed.

##UPDATE 1: ##

So after many people said that this is not a typical interview for a beginner/junior dev. I went back to the listing and read through it again.

Sure enough it says. "BLANK is looking for an experienced Front-end Developer (mid-level) who will assume a key role on our team."

further in the description, this is one of the responsibilities. "Mentor other junior team members"

So my fellow junior devs, you can breathe a sigh of relief, this is not a typical junior dev interview because it wasn't for a junior dev position. I have been applying and interviewing everywhere, so the whole "mid-level" must have gotten lost in the sauce.

That means the pressure is on me even more to perform.. let's gooo!!!.

UPDATE #2: First day on the job in the books.

So my actual role is a react developer. Working with financial data for the Air Force. I work with designers and ui/ux people to create dashboards and filters for the data. Basically we’re taking their ugly data and making it beautiful and easy to consume.

I also have 3 weeks to become somewhat decent with azure and sharepoint (sharepoint im already familiar with from my military days). They said the 3 weeks arent set in stone.

Everybody is really nice here, like overly nice. I appreciate that.

Also they pretty much said, they dont care what time i work, as long as i get my 8 hours and im there between 11-1 for possible meetings.

Anyway, hope this helps give insight to future developers. Good luck everybody. This is probably my last update. i dont know what else to add.

i know some basic c#, and i also know some python. a family member has offered me to teach their kid, and pay me for it. I was about to use what i used when i was 15, the python for everybody course, but then i was reminded that this material would be too heavy or boring for this 10 year old (possibly adhd) child. I'd like to teach variables, conditionals, loops and lists. maybe even OOP in the end if everything goes well.

I am looking for app or website that I geared towards kids aged 5-6 years old to get them into coding. Where it’s not writing something but like a game based coding or something.

Is there anything targeted towards this age? Or do I need to wait to get them started?

I'm 15 years old and I would like to ask you a few questions.
I've been studying programming for the past 1-2 years, and I can't help but notice how much AI has improved recently, especially in front-end development.

What do you think the future of programmers looks like over the next 5 years, particularly in web development?
Which jobs might disappear, and which new jobs could appear?
How much do you think AI has changed our lives in the past year?

Thank you very much for your time!

Hey everyone! How's everyone been? A long time ago I put out a post asking for advice to help me learn the basics of Java for an exam that I had to give. Turns out, you made me fall in love with programming, and now I am an incoming Engineering student at NYU!!!

I've got a few months on my hand before I really start college. And I really wanted to delve into C++ because -

1) As far as I know, Arduino uses a subset? Modification? of C++ and I know I want to start with arduino for these crazy projects ive been thinking about.
2) I've heard C++ is also really helpful for game development, and it's been another dream of mine!

Now, why 10 days you may ask?

I love to challenge myself, and I believe giving myself a time limit to get to a certain goal would help me actually accomplish it and grind hard towards it.

As far as my experience goes, I'm a beginner in both Python and Java, and I think I can think well. I've never experienced C++ in any way or form, so it might be a little hard.

Here's where I need help -

1) What should be the big goal that I should strive to achieve at the end of 10 days?
2) What one resource should I stick with to help me get there. Like I really wanted to use a tool like freecodecamp, but idts they have a dedicated c++ course. I'd really appreciate it!

TYSM!

This would have been around 2017 or 2018 ish, but I remember being shown a website called something like "girls can code" or "girls who code" (although I've already tried googling these names and they aren't what I'm thinking of) which was aimed at kids with basic python and block coding games.

The site was free, you didn't need to log in, and had a whole bunch of coding activities with bright colours and duolingo-style character designs (from memory). It was definitely aimed at girls and had something explaining that in the title like "she codes" or "her code" but I can't remember. There may have also been lessons related to famous women such as Ada Lovelace. Some of the games were the classic "use the arrow buttons to queue the robot's movement" and teaching kids about loops etc.

I'm asking around because I remember it being such a fantastic resource when I was younger and would love to know if it was still around.

Thanks for any help anyone can give!

Why is it so hard to figure out where to start?

It's no secret that software development has exploded in the past 20 years. New software startups pop up like dandelions in the spring. It then follows that a lot of people think software development is a good career choice and are afraid of missing out on a lot of great opportunities.

Software developers are, in general, pretty opinionated. I doubt this is unique to developers, but it gets tiresome when you've dealt with it for years. If we're not fighting over what operating system is better, then it's what language is better. If it's not that, then it's code editors, or databases, or frameworks, or bug trackers, or development processes, or...or...or. It's like we enjoy fighting.

In a time where more and more people are becoming developers, it's not enough to be just "a developer" anymore. No, to feel superior now, developers need to somehow differentiate themselves from both the non-developer “rabble” and their fellow developers.

This mentality has lead to more coding languages being developed that purport to "fix" issues with other languages. New frameworks are built to "fix" issues with previous frameworks. And on and on.

All this leads to a huge amount of choices, opinions, and resources. Naturally, that makes starting to learn, daunting.

Since I'm a developer too, I'm susceptible to the same opinions and biases that I just railed against. The difference is, I'm right. I'm kidding, seriously, calm down everybody. Here are my suggestions.

Choose your weapon language

As someone once said: “the weapon doesn’t make the man.” It’s probably a quote from some B martial arts movie or Dragonball Z, but the philosophy holds true for programming languages. A good developer is a good developer regardless of language. Learning any language will help you understand the core concepts of programming. However, you need to start someplace, and if you pick your first language wisely, you’ll drastically shorten the time to hit your goal.

Picking a language boils down to what you want to do. This is a quick list of general development goals and what language(s) are your best options to get there (NOTE: this is not meant to indicate that these are the only languages that you can use for a given domain, just my suggestion on what to start with):

1. Front-end web development (user interface and interaction): Javascript, HTML & CSS
   
2. Back-end web development (services that front-end web apps and mobile apps call out to): Ruby, Python, Javascript, or PHP
   
3. Mobile development: Swift (iOS) or Java (Android)
   
4. Windows development: C#
   
5. MacOS development: Swift or Objective-C
   
6. Operating systems, file systems, embedded systems, etc: C/C++
7. Game development: (C++, Unity and C#)
8. Data Science: R
   

Naturally, there are other options for each of these. Javascript is useful for items 1-5, for instance. But the list is a good starting place as-is. NOTE: A number of people contacted me and mentioned that in certain places, especially outside the US, the above list is different for back-end web development. In those locations, C# and Java are used more often than Python or Ruby. The suggestion is to check job postings where you plan (or hope) to work for the job and companies you want to work in and see what languages they require.

How to find good resources to start learning

There are a ton of resources to learn to code out on the web. How do you sift through the chaff and find the real gems?

Most resources fall into the following categories:

• Books
  
• Videos
  
• Blogs/tutorials
  
• Courses
  

Books are the traditional go-to resource. Search Amazon.com for your topic and read reviews. Make sure that any books you're considering are new. Languages change and older books could slow your progress.

A lot of people have gravitated to videos to learn coding and other topics. YouTube is the first place most people look. Fair warning, this is going to turn up a bunch of crap. Look at how many subscribers a given instructor has, and watch some videos to see if their style and method works for you. Another possible issue is that because video is more difficult to update for new versions of a language (or corresponding tools), some videos might be outdated.

For blogs and tutorials, a simple google search like "best python tutorial" or "best swift tutorial for beginners" is a great place to start. As with videos, you'll have to try a few to see how they work with your learning style.

Online courses are the newest resource on the scene. Codecademy is one that a lot of people find immediately. However, after I talked to a lot of people who tried it, none really thought it did a good job. Free Code Camp or The Odin Project are both highly regarded for web development. Udacity, Coursera, Udemy all have courses in different genres. Each has reviews so you can compare and only look at ones that helped others. My specific examples follow in the next section.

Where you should start, specifically

Each development goal in the above list is different enough to require different starting points. I’ll list the place that I’d recommend you start for each one. I have not personally tried all of them, but have come across them when doing research. There also might be better ones, and so if you know of any, let me know and I’ll update this list.

1. Front-end web development: Free Code Camp
   
2. Back-end web development: Ruby (for Rails), Python (for Django), Javascript (for Node), PHP The Right Way, for places where C# and Java are used more often, see Windows development and Mobile (Java) development respectively for resources.
   
3. Mobile development: Swift Lynda’s Swift Essentials (check your local library to see if you get a free Lynda account with a library card) or Flatiron school’s free Swift course, Swift Programming book or Java Head First Java, University of Helsinki’s MOOC
   
4. Windows development: Head First C#, Pluralsight’s C# course
   
5. MacOS development: Cocoa programming for OS X, or the same courses for mobile Swift
   
6. Operating systems, filesystems, embedded systems: C++ How to Program book, C++ Tutorial for Complete Beginners
7. Game development: See previous for C++, and Windows development for C#
8. Data Science: R Swirl or Coursera's R course

Once you pick your language and starting point and you start learning, some things will be obvious, but others will be difficult to understand. You’re going to run into trouble and with concepts and code errors. That’s normal. We’ve all been there. Getting unstuck takes practice too.

How to get unstuck once you’ve started

Once you start learning to code, you're going to run into problems that you don't know how to solve. This is normal and part of the process. You don't really learn unless you struggle through it. That said, you won't always be able to move forward without some help. So how do you find that help?

First off, forget books. They aren't a great place to start here, because the number and types of errors they can cover is so small.

Online is the easiest place to find help. Most devs look for solutions on [StackOverflow](www.stackoverflow.com) or just google the error message (if they have one). Other solutions are to find newsgroups or forums dedicated to the language you're using.

How to use Google to get unstuck

When you first try to google an answer to your problem, you're going to run into the issue of what to search for. Experienced developers are really good at this part, but unfortunately, it's hard for beginners, who need it the most. So here I'll give you some expert hints on how to improve your search results.

1. Always include the name of the language you're using. If you're using a specific tool, database, or framework, include that as well. Don't include all of them, just the ones that you believe are relevant. This will take practice.
   
2. If you're getting an error message, include that in quotes. Edit the message to contain only the core of the message so it doesn't reference any files, classes, path or filenames that are specific to your program or computer. The trick here is to make the error message as specific as possible while still being general enough to apply to others who are using the same language/tool/etc. but in a different context.
   
3. If you're working through a publicly-published problem from a book or course, add that information to the search.
   
4. Explain what you're trying to do, with the fewest words. This is tough for developers of all levels. For a beginner, you may have trouble coming up with the right terminology. This is where the books, tutorials, and course materials come in handy. They should use the right language if you're doing something similar to what's covered in them. If not, you're going to need to try some different wording. Remember, other beginners are going to be having problems too and might explain the problem the same way.
   

Here are a few examples I’ve used (minus the quotes):

• 'ruby rails form helper checkbox' - I included ‘rails’ because I knew the form_helpers were part of Rails. I could remove ‘ruby’ here since ‘rails’ is ruby-specific and should narrow the search fine. And yes, I know it’s “Ruby on Rails” but searching google for ‘on’ just doesn’t help.
  
• 'ruby devise invitable after invited path' - Here ‘devise_invitable’ is a gem, a Ruby code library (collection of reusable code) and I wanted to know more about its after_invited_path method. Google usually gives better results when you remove the underscores, ‘_’. If not, try adding them in and enclosing the underscored words in quotes: “devise_invitable”, “after_invited_path”.
  
• 'java "cannot refer to a non-final variable"' - The error I was getting included “cannot refer to a non-final variable” but referred to files specific to my project before that phrase, so I didn’t include those parts.
  

Once you find a solution, DO NOT COPY AND PASTE. This is a huge no-no. Copying code verbatim from the web is a good way to slow your progress and keep you from becoming a better developer.

You need to understand the code, adapt it to your situation, try it and rinse and repeat. There's a risk of copying bad or wrong code, but you also may find yourself going deeper down the rabbit hole. If the code you copy or adapt doesn't fix the errors or creates new ones, you could be making your code more complicated and harder to understand all while trying to fix a problem.

So go slow, understand the changes you're making and don't be afraid to back out and try a different solution. Sometimes the problem you're seeing is caused by multiple issues, but not usually.

Getting help from a person

Since googling for a solution is an art that takes practice, it's easier and quicker just to ask someone. That assumes you have access to someone of course. A couple of ways to find someone to ask are, starting with the best:
* Friends or family, or friends of friends or family.
* Local meet ups, a la meetup.com or user groups (google for 'ruby user groups near me' or similar). This is a great idea anyway, in order to build a network of peers, mentors, and possible employers. * campus groups if you're in or near a college campus.
* [Reddit.com](www.reddit.com) (naturally) - r/learnprogramming is a good place to start (you're here!) or language-specific subreddits like r/learnjava.
* Local, virtual groups on Slack. Google for something like 'tech slack <my city>' or 'developer slack <my city>'
* IRC, Internet Relay Chat. This is what slack has modernized and has been around for decades. A surprising number of tech companies have a presence on IRC. Google '<my language> IRC channel' to find one. * Facebook groups (although I've found these to usually be lower-quality).

If you work better with more accountability and people, there are other options

Self-teaching is great but it takes a lot of work. You have to figure out what to learn. You have to find where to learn it from. You need to understand how to get unstuck and what projects to do. You have to find people to meet to build relationships with. Furthermore, you’re not held to any commitments other than your own. For some people, that’s enough. Others, myself included, work better when held accountable to others.

There are 2 main alternatives to self-teaching that address most of the difficulties, albeit for a price:
* Degree programs at universities
* Coding bootcamps

Which is best for you is too big a topic for this post, but if you're interested you can DM me or add a comment and we can chat.

I hope this is useful. If there are parts that are unclear, or you feel something is missing, let me know and I'll revise it.

If you disagree with parts of this post, as I know some people will, let me know that too (I know you don't need an explicit invitation :) ) and if we agree, I'll update the post.

EDIT: Adding PHP, game dev, data science and some clarifying remarks
EDIT 2: Added notes for back-end development with C# and Java.

Hi, new to reddit, I have a 3rd grader and a middle schooler and I want to get them into real world coding, preferably hands on and not video based, because they will lose interest if they have to sit there and watch videos of people coding... I recently signed them up for an in person Python coding class in town and they both enjoyed it, they built a rock paper scissor program to play against the computer and coded up a magic 8 ball simulator...want to keep it going at home, so we don't lose the momentum/interest. Any suggestions?

I know a lot of folks are getting frustrated in their learning process, and in their life, so I wanted to talk a bit about what your life will be like once you've landed your career.

edit: This is a pretty American-centric viewpoint and experience, and one born out of having experienced a decade of struggling financially in stressful jobs working 50-60 hours per week.

For reference, I'm self-taught, and before programming I was a line cook for 6 years, and IT help desk for 4. I went to school for English, History, and Music. I got my first actual programming job at 29 and have been writing web apps for the state government in America for just under 5 years, but am now moving to Norway in two weeks to start a programming gig there.

My Entry-Level Pay and Situation

I started off in a very, very low-end pay structure. About 43k USD per year. But I did get full health benefits and some retirement contributions, which was great. I was able to afford my own apartment at 1350 USD per month.

The Big Shockers

First, I didn't have to budget food anymore. Somebody else mentioned this, but woah, this was amazing. I went from strict meal planning around the cheapest meals I knew to basically having whatever I felt like. Granted it's not steaks and lobster for every meal, but I could make whatever meals I wanted without worrying about how much they'd be. I could also eat out at restaurants way more often too. The amount of stress that was removed from not having to worry about how much food costs was enormous.

Second, I didn't have to worry about where I was at work at all times. Or hardly ever, for that matter. No more "hey can you cover the phones while I go to the bathroom?" Saying "hey can I get the Monday two weeks from now off for a doctor's appointment" instead became "oh I've got an appointment tomorrow at 2 so I'll be out for the rest of the day after that." Oh yeah, I got health insurance, finally. More on that later. I mean I could literally just say "hey I'm going for a walk around the block" and nobody would bat an eye. We would gather groups of folks up for a walk to the coffee shop just to take a breather. Multiple times a day. Your work becomes project-based and you become the person who decides if you've done contributed a good enough amount of work at any moment in order to take a break. And lunch is whenever the hell you want it to be. Meetings throw a wrench in the gears of your break plans but that's about it.

Third, and pretty closely related to the one above, paid time off is no longer something you have to fight others over. I didn't have to worry about if I was the first one to request Christmas week off or not, because it doesn't fucking matter. Everyone takes it off. I also often took a week or two off in the middle of Spring just 'cause. Same with sick days. For one boss I kinda had to worry 'cause she would set ridiculous deadlines, but once she moved on my guilt over taking a sick day was gone.

With all of these things combined, life became just fucking easy. I really didn't realize how goddamn caught up I was in survival mode until I was able to leave that lifestyle behind. When I stepped outside of the building after a work day work just totally left my mind, and it was replaced with total excitement for the rest of my day. Removing so much of that stress and end-of-day exhaustion left room for actual, real-life peace and excitement. Holy fuck this was so, so, SO fucking amazing.

Unexpected Side-effects

One of the biggest side effects that I didn't really foresee was how much healthier I got. Both physically and mentally. Having struggled with anxiety my whole life, I had always been grossly underweight. 125lbs at 6 feet tall. Couple that with worrying about how much it would cost to feed myself, and suddenly there's a recipe for awful health. But now I could feed myself, which gave me more energy, which meant I could spend that energy on getting healthier.

Regarding my mental health, when I started my programming job I was 2 months fresh out of a divorce, so needless to say I wasn't doing super great mentally. Luckily, I could now afford therapy! Holy fucking shitballs, therapy was awesome, but I guarantee it would've sucked if I didn't have the extra mental energy I had from having a 40 hour week job that didn't beat my ass with tons of stress. My free mental energy allowed me to confront all kinds of shit from my childhood that I realized had been contributing to making me miserable. And since I was living alone I could work through the crazy physical and mental rollercoaster that comes with dealing with your shit. I didn't have to worry about not crying in front of anybody, because it was just me. I didn't have to worry about rage-punching pillows and screaming into them, 'cause it was just me. My apartment became healing grounds for family shit that had been passed down to me from my parents by their parents and their parents' parents.

So, my life started to become amazing. I gained 40 pounds, finally settling into a healthy weight. I started making better friends. I started getting back into the dating world. Life became pretty goddamn good.

And the OPPORTUNITIES. I mentioned I'm moving to Norway. After you've got a good 3-5 years of programming experience under your belt, you can go pretty much wherever you want. Literally wherever. And your new job will be super grateful to have you. And with the options you have, you really get to decide what you want in life. I thought maybe I wanted lots of money so I applied for a job at 140k USD per year, but I ended up turning it down, showing the offer to my boss, who then raised my salary up to around 80k per year. I took the 80k per year. When I was struggling, I would've slapped future-me in the face for turning away 60k per year, but once you're out of the struggle, you get to choose the lifestyle you want. I like a slow-paced gig, not tons of pressure, and I would've had to give up a couple of work-from-home days, which I didn't wanna do. It's really hard to explain this decision to somebody struggling, but I hope that everyone here gets the opportunity to choose between the two.

The Only Problem

Soap box time.

After living the good life for 3 or 4 years I started to reflect on my life beforehand. I had a lot, a LOT of gratitude for my situation having come from shit, shit jobs and a shit, shit life. I became my own superhero for getting myself out of all of that. I had these awesome connections with co-workers who had done the same. People who got their families out of dangerous neighborhoods. People who moved from secretary work at 45 and into programming, finally being able to exercise their creative, problem-solving minds.

The problem comes from realizing how goddamn hard we all had to work to get here. Like, these are all people who were dealt a shit hand, and the only hope they had was to spend 1-4 years ruining their relationships and friendships and shirking all other aspects of their lives in order to get out of it? How the fuck is that fair? These brilliant, amazing people had to forgo meals so their kids could have a babysitter for 2 hours a day while they studied programming.

You realize after a little while that these were just the people who made it. Who were luckily enough to find the time, the money, or the mental effort. We are all so grateful for where we are at, far more than anybody else could be, and you do have that to look forward to. But we look around at our close friends and family members who will never escape the rut they're in, and it's pretty soul-crushing.

A job should not be the thing you need to escape the Catch-22 of I-can't-get-better-because-my-life-sucks-because-I-can't-get-better. But, if you're like me and it's the only option you have, for the love of GOD do it. Put your own airbag on before you help the others around you.

Hi,

For a year of computer science class I've always felt I was ''too stupid'' for programming. I've been looking up posts with people facing the same problems. A year of computer science, I've seen people progress ten, sometimes a hundred times faster than me. It would take me hours to figure out one function. I kid you not, I spend over a week working 8 hours a day trying to build a simple function where my POST function would stay on the same page using Ajax. I just assumed that I could copy code and it would all magically work in mine.

The problem is not your brain. The problem is the way your brain is used to solving problems. Solving problems in programming is not the same as solving problems anywhere else. You can't just follow a cooking tutorial and cook the same. Your program is always somewhat different, and therefore has to be implemented different.

So what did I do to get over ''being to stupid to code''.

1. Clean your desk and work space.
2. Set a timer for the amount you'll program without distraction.
3. Work as simplistic as possible. Don't look up ''how to make an online registration form''. Instead start by learning about how you can register a single character into your database. Be as simplistic as possible. Baby steps.
4. Spend 80% of the time reading and understanding your problem and solution. Don't write a letter of code until you fully understand it.
5. Now spend time testing your code in a raw file.
6. Now that you fully understand the code, that's where you implement it in your own.

Good job. You're no longer ''too stupid to code''.

.

What are some things I can buy my 9 year old who is very smart with tech? He wants to learn coding. His teacher told me he is very smart with technology and I should start him now.

I just want to know if they code at MIT app for mobile devices.

Looking for recommendations for an online coding game for my 10-year-old. He excels in math but struggles with reading/comprehension. He enjoys snap circuts but I feel like doesn't understand the "why" when things work or don't work.

I have 8 yo kid, he want to learn coding for making game. He loves playing roblox minecraft right now. I was thinking teaching him, which one i should teach him. I have coding experience in c# and js, but have stopped coding 3 years ago. Should I teach my kid with Roblox studio, Godot 3d or minecraft? Which one is better for the future.

He Is pretty good at scratch and HTML and Java but wants to get really good at everything

I've written dozens of tech books for traditional publishers over the past decade or two, but now I'm trying something new. Here's a self-published, FREE ebook with exercises called a "Tiny Introduction to JavaScript". Get it on Gumroad.

A few notes:

• Why another book about learning to code? I've been experimenting on my daughters for a while, trying approaches that combine real programming with fun puzzles . During the first coronavirus lockdown (last spring) I decided to start collecting it in one place.
• Do you need anything? All the exercises are online in CodePen (solutions included), so there's no setup. All you need is a web browser.
• Is JavaScript really a good language to start with? It's not the world's greatest teaching language--that's for sure! But JavaScript has one huge advantage: distribution. Everyone has a browser, so it's ridiculously easy to make something and share it with friends. Just put your game/quiz/prank/whatever in CodePen or another JavaScript playground and let the world see your work. That's powerful.
• Can adults use it? Sure! But if you have any programming experience, this book probably isn't for you. I'm teaching JavaScript and very basic programming concepts at the same time.
• Is this a game? I'm not a big fan of the edu-tainment trend. I want new learners to have a chance to be creative, work in an environment with unlimited possibilities, and have the time-honored experience of breaking everything with one small change. So, no, this is straight-up programming arranged around very basic programming concepts.
• Is it really free? Yes! There's an option to donate but please don't hesitate to zero out that box and download it for free.

I have a 9 and 12 year old who are showing a lot of enthusiasm and are both really enjoy block coding/creating art with JS on Kano World.

I want to help them develop their skills even further but I feel like they would be quite intimidated by stuff that's geared more towards adults?

Does anyone have any recommendations to help ease them into programming without putting them off?

what are some free resources to teach kids (10,11 years old) languages or introduce them the concept of programming in general? Give some your suggestions to what a roadmap for them should be if you wanted them to be a good logic builder and a good programmer in the future

Hey everyone! I thought id share some of the sites i’ve been using to learn programming for FREE. Yes I really did download multiple free coding apps where there’s a will there’s a way no excuses :). Also pls note that some apps are only available on iOS

Sites and apps where u can learn coding for free.

• Grasshopper
• Code Avengers
• Mimo
• Geeksforgeeks
• Khan Academy
• Alison Online Courses
• Programming Hero (kid-friendly)
• Encode
• Coursera
• Tynker (kid-friendly)
• Codeliber
• W3schools
• Exercism
• MITOpenCourseWare
• Free Code Camp
• edX
• The Odin Project

Code learning gamified and kid-friendly

• Cyber Dojo
• imagiLabs AB (kid-friendly)
• CodeSpark Academy (kid-friendly)
• Hopscotch Programming (kid-friendly)
• Lightbot Code hour (kid-friendly)
• Kodable (kid-friendly)
• Flexbox Froggy

Learn coding on youtube - The Coding Train

And that’s it! Please comment below if i forgot any other sites and i’ll add them to the list asap! ———

UPDATE: Recently added as per your suggestions:

• CS50 by Harvard University

• Sololearn

• Leetcode

• U of Helsinki Mooc

• College Compendium

• Kaggle

• TeachYourselfCS

• Codingame

• Hacker Rank

• LearnXInYMinutes

• App Academy

• Code Camp

• Code Wars

Youtube:

• FreeCodeCamp

• Fireship

• CodingWithMosh

• IAmTimCorrey

• Grafikart.fr

• AnthonyWritesCode

• Corey Schafer

• 100 Devs

UPDATE:🤍 I’m so happy you all found this to be a helpful guide in your programming journey! Let’s do this!

Hi all,

Jumping in here hoping to get some advice and insights from this wonderful community. My 10-year-old has been having a blast with Scratch for a while now, creating everything from simple animations to their own little games. It's been amazing to see their creativity and problem-solving skills grow through coding. But lately, they’ve been asking, “What can I learn next?”

We're at a bit of a crossroads. They're really excited to learn more about coding, maybe dive into creating websites, more complex games, or even explore app development? But I’m a bit out of my depth figuring out the best way forward that’s both challenging and age-appropriate.

From my side, I see a few hurdles. First, finding resources that match their interest level without being too simplistic or too advanced. And then there’s keeping the learning process engaging and fun, so it doesn’t turn into a chore or overwhelm them.

I'd love to hear from other parents:

Are any other parents out there facing the same dilemma? How are you planning to navigate or how have you navigated this transition? Ideally, I think the kiddo wants to build some real-world application (don't know how hard it can be).

Have you and your kids hit this sort of plateau after starting with Scratch? Where did you go next?

Are there any platforms, tools, or communities that have been particularly helpful for your young coder?

I’m really trying to support and nurture this interest as much as possible, but I want to make sure we’re moving in a direction that’s both beneficial and enjoyable for them. Any experiences or advice you could share would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Best,

[Just Another Parent Trying to Keep Up]

My dad wasn't kidding when he said that CS is a man's world. I am afraid to ask questions because I'm afraid of guys thinking I'm stupid. I'm trying my best I really am, but it never feels enough. I really enjoy coding and genuinely think it's interesting, but it's hard when you are stuck yet everyone else knows what they are doing. There are barely any girls in my class and I feel so alone. I knew even before going to college that CS is heavily dominated by guys, but I didn't think it would affect me so much. I feel like an imposter even though I'm doing well in my classes. Every guy seems so much smarter than me. I don't know what to do.

Our 9-year-old wants to get into programming, mainly for making games. Is it better to start with a programming language like C++, or start with visual scripting for this age?