DEV Community

Cover image for My Favorite Free Resources for New Programmers

My Favorite Free Resources for New Programmers

Ali Spittel on August 13, 2018

Last week, I shared my tips for new developers and how to start coding. I also wanted to share my favorite free resources for learning how to code....
Collapse
 
d1p profile image
Debashis Dip

Personally I felt like most of the resources we find online are great, However Harvards CS50 course teaches a student from the ground to the top. Great emphasis on algorithm, thinking and in some ways teaching how to learn and think in cs.

Collapse
 
davidchase profile image
David Chase

Thats a really good one :)

Collapse
 
cjbuckethead profile image
Charles Joseph

Could you drop a link to this? Thank you

Collapse
 
d1p profile image
Debashis Dip
Thread Thread
 
abdifatahdev profile image
Abdifatah Mo

Do know where to find this course in youtube?

Thread Thread
 
d1p profile image
Debashis Dip
Collapse
 
zarulyakuza profile image
Comment marked as low quality/non-constructive by the community. View Code of Conduct
zarulyakuza

freenode.net port 6666

Collapse
 
ssharizal profile image
ssharizal

FreeCodeCamp should be here.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I'll also toss in dev.to as a tool. Obviously I'm biased, but If you come actively seeking help, you will find it comes to you a lot of the time.

Check out @brendazam for an example of someone using the platform really well in this regard.

[deleted user] image

[Deleted User]

Collapse
 
brendalimon profile image
Brenda Limón

Been a beginner learning online is hard, too many questions and a lot of information. Having a community as Dev.to allows me to ask without been judged and get the support that I need to stay focused. Ben and Ali you both are an inspiration, thanks for all your content. Hugs & Husky love 🐶👩🏻‍💻

Collapse
 
aspittel profile image
Ali Spittel

Totally agree! Going to add in a communities section right now!

Collapse
 
jdkoeppen profile image
JustinK • Edited

I added a Google custom search for devdocs.io, it's a really handy resource full of documentation for pretty much every language or framework. Plus it works offline!

Also, dev.tube/ is basically the Netflix of dev videos, very handy.

And once you're ready to start looking for a coding job, I recommend pramp.com, which pairs you up with other students to practice interview-style coding challenges.

Collapse
 
blackmg27 profile image
Ogechi Ike

I would add Practical Javascript and MongoDB University to the list. Gordon Zhu's course is one of the best introductions to Javascript that I've ever came across and MongoDB University is great source for intro to NoSQL databases.

university.mongodb.com/courses/cat...

watchandcode.com/courses

Collapse
 
doni profile image
Doni

I love watch and code! It helped me drastically!

Collapse
 
ssharizal profile image
ssharizal

Free Programming books from StackOverflow
goalkicker.com/

Collapse
 
sereiodobrejo profile image
Sereio-do-Brejo

Wow !
I never heard about it before !
Thanks a lot!

Collapse
 
bgadrian profile image
Adrian B.G. • Edited

I have some folders of bookmarks for this purpose, as I don't have the time now to go trough them I would like to add:

Do not throw all these resources to a new starter, filter them based on on the developer experience and future, and share them when needed.

I have 2 main categories or mentees:

  • devs that have the time, resources and desire to want a career - spend at least a few months to learn CS and a strong typed language, before jumping in the web chaos ecosystem
  • devs that want to land a job and get a quick start: help them choose one language and crashcourse it, jump quickly to libraries and "real" projects.

The main idea is that, CS and other soft skills will add value on the long run, and they can build a strong foundation to build upon. The downside is that it will not bring much value at the beginning, unless you aim for a big tech company that build tools for other devs, and work at a more low level (instead of building products for end consumers).

Also some big categories are missing from here I think (not much just the big picture):

  • environment and tools (how linux and browsers works, bash, Git, linters, IDE's vs editors, etc)
  • security - unfortunately most courses and tutorials do not touch this subject so we have to supply the info as the newbie advances.
  • team work - how software teams and projects are organized
Collapse
 
dechamp profile image
DeChamp

Been coding for 24 years now, start at age 11 and now 35. Love that I still learn new things from new programmers. Really appreciate you sharing your resources!

I would love to suggest adding Udemy to the list. They always have "sales" where you can get their courses for less than $20 bucks. They are highly well done and an amazing resource.

Collapse
 
shripathy profile image
Shripathy 🚀

Awesome resources but I think this is going to be one of those article that's gonna be in my bookmarks but I rarely open it. Thanks for the list :)

Collapse
 
martouta profile image
Marta

I like and would recommend some of the already mentioned. Others I didn't know them. If you speak Spanish, I'd also recommend CodigoFacilito 😊

Collapse
 
jhossyd3v profile image
Jhossymar Contreras

Codingame.com is another site for Code Challenges

Collapse
 
lkreimann profile image
Lea Reimann 🦄

Jep, I wanted to recommend that too :D Challenging and fun at the same time! :)

Collapse
 
sir_wernich profile image
Wernich ️

i've found quite a few interesting and helpful tutorials on css-tricks.com/ ;)

Collapse
 
chiangs profile image
Stephen Chiang

I like You don't know JS . Great free reading from your phone while queuing.

Collapse
Collapse
 
thejavascriptninja profile image
The Javascript Ninja • Edited

Great list of resources; well researched. In addition, my blog, thejavascriptninja.com, has some awesome Javascript learning content that you might want to check out if you're interested. Awesome job, keep up the great work.

Collapse
 
blackmg27 profile image
Ogechi Ike • Edited

I would add Shay Howe's HTML & CSS tutorials and P1XT's Guides to the list:
learn.shayhowe.com/advanced-html-css/
github.com/P1xt/p1xt-guides

Collapse
 
flexdinesh profile image
Dinesh Pandiyan • Edited

Adding to this collection,

If someone wants to keep updated on front-end tips and news - smashingmagazine.com

Collapse
 
krishan111 profile image
Krishan111

Mam can you guide me on, which library from smtplib or send_mail should I use to send emails through a django website.
Thanks

Collapse
 
kateskips profile image
KLGF (she/her)

Thank you so much Ali! This is very helpful.

Collapse
 
marufalom profile image
Maruf Alom

You forgot "THIS IS SPARTA sorry CS50!!"

Collapse
 
lefebvre profile image
Paul Lefebvre

A free PDF for new programmers: Introduction to Programming with Xojo

Collapse
 
epogrebnyak profile image
Evgeny Pogrebnyak

Why a new programmer should learn an exotic language?

Collapse
 
lefebvre profile image
Paul Lefebvre

Learning to program does not mean "learning a language". It means learning the concepts behind programming that you can apply to any language. Starting with a language that is simpler can make it easier to learn these basic concepts and prevent frustration (and even giving up entirely on learning to program). Once you've learned the concepts it makes it much, much easier to learn other languages. In general, most programmers know several different programming languages.

Collapse
 
lorenzoblog profile image
Lorenzo

I created my list of cheat sheets too - dev.to/devlorenzo/the-ultimate-com...

Collapse
 
arvindpdmn profile image
Arvind Padmanabhan

As an introduction, developers can also check out Devopedia at devopedia.org/ . There are not many JS articles there at the moment but lot of useful CSS articles.

Collapse
 
sharozijaz profile image
Sharoz Ijaz

what is the best place to learn JavaScript

Collapse
 
sharozijaz profile image
Sharoz Ijaz

what is the best place to learn JavaScript??

Collapse
 
codeperfectplus profile image
Deepak Raj

Website to Learn Python, Machine Learning And Data Science.
bit.ly/codeperfectplus

Collapse
 
iam_timsmith profile image
Tim Smith

I LOVE listening to the Syntax podcast with Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski. They are full-stack devs who talk about all kinds of things. syntax.fm/

Collapse
 
chiangs profile image
Stephen Chiang

You don't know JS is also great to bookmark and read from phone whole queueing.

Collapse
 
johand profile image
Johan

Another ones

Collapse
 
hamihimself profile image
Hamihimself

Thanks

Collapse
 
nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor

Another one I love for JS katas is es6katas.org.

Collapse
 
tatermohit profile image
MOHIT TATER

Geeks for Geeks is another good resource for computer science puzzles and problems. Mostly useful for interview prep.

Collapse
 
abdurrahmaanj profile image
Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer
Collapse
 
maths_anderson profile image
/\/\att /\nderson

Udacity? Some excellent (free) courses there...

Collapse
 
margo_b profile image
Margo Breäs

Sometimes it's hard to discover all those possibilities to get better at Python, so thank you for this list of resources!

Collapse
 
najm profile image
Na Jm

Awesome Paaa jiiii