Codecademy has introduced Code Year which will guide people who want to learn coding in 2012. Not everyone is blessed with an overly technical aptitude to be able to pick up programming and get deep into the code. Some people get so deep into code they rarely come up for air besides a quick caffeine run just to fuel the coding marathon. I’m not an advocate for everyone to become a programmer and know the ins and outs of coding, but I am a believer in understanding the technology you’re working with on a regular basis whether you’re a marketer, sales associate, project manager and so on.
Codecademy’s Mission
“Codecademy was created out of the frustrations Zach and Ryan felt with learning how to program. Tired with less effective text and video resources, Ryan and Zach teamed up to create Codecademy, a better, more interactive way to learn programming by actually coding. This is just the beginning. Join us as we make it easy for everyone to love and learn how to code.”
While my knowledge of programming is probably more advanced than the interactive assignments provided by Codecademy I decided to give them a try to find out a little more about the company. Each interactive lesson is done in byte-sized chunks which gives a student the opportunity to learn one item at a time, and once the person completes the lesson he can move on or play in the “sandbox” to put the lesson to work. The lessons are provided in a simple manner with hints if you get stuck, and each lesson will build upon the last. As you progress you’ll gain achievements to show off to your friends that you can indeed write code. The first few lessons are done in JavaScript.
This approach is very good for those who are not programmer-oriented. Will these lessons make you a full-blown programmer? No. Will these lessons give you fundamental understandings of the programmer’s practice? Absolutely. This can give you the power to wield intelligent questions when speaking to your developer teams or web and software vendors. Another added benefit is if you’ve been on the fence about getting into a programming career you can learn a little bit about what it’s like before taking that dive.
Code Year
The new year celebration has come and gone and resolutions are abound. Code Year is an extension of Codecademy to receive the interactive lessons via email and join with others who want to learn code just like you. It’s great to see such a high number of aspiring people who want to learn code. As of completing this article there were just over 300,000 people who have decided to learn code in 2012. It’s wonderful to see such a high number, and you will not be alone in the process.
Have you heard of Code Year? Do you want to learn programming in 2012?
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Codecademy (image)
