Sometimes the hardest thing to do as a new programmer isn't building projects. It's figuring out what projects to even build 🤔
I've created a list of great projects that you can build in any specialty. They get increasingly more complex, so you can continue improving your skills with each one.
And remember, these are just suggestions or starting points rather than strict templates. Experiment freely, add new features, and put your own twist on things.
Project #1 - Hello World
(I mean it wouldn't be a proper list if this wasn't the first one)
What You'll Learn
- Core syntax and setup of your development environment.
- Printing output and handling basic input (if applicable).
🖥️ Web: A webpage that displays “Hello World” and a simple button alert.
📱 Mobile: A single-screen mobile app that shows “Hello World” in a text label.
🤖 AI/ML: A script that loads a small dataset (like a CSV file) and prints its summary or shape.
🛠️ Backend: A server endpoint that returns “Hello World” as a response to a browser request.
🎮 Gaming: A game scene with a static sprite and a text overlay saying “Hello World.”
Project #2 - Personal Portfolio Page/App
What You'll Learn
- Structuring content, basic layout and styling (if applicable).
- Showcasing information in a user-friendly manner.
🖥️ Web: A personal web page featuring your bio, skills, and a list of links.
📱 Mobile: A simple mobile app displaying a short bio and images/icons representing your interests.
🤖 AI/ML: A Jupyter notebook presenting a small dataset you worked on and charts summarizing it.
🛠️ Backend: A simple backend service that returns a JSON with your details, ready to be consumed by a frontend.
🎮 Gaming: A "main menu" for a game, providing a future entry point to play and displaying your name as the creator.
Project #3 - Simple Calculator
What You'll Learn
- Handling user input and output.
- Implementing basic logic and arithmetic operations.
🖥️ Web: A web-based calculator with buttons for digits and operations, updating a display area dynamically.
📱 Mobile: A mobile calculator app for basic arithmetic, focusing on layout and user interaction.
🤖 AI/ML: A command-line script for performing calculations on arrays of numbers, possibly adding simple statistical functions.
🛠️ Backend: An API endpoint that takes two numbers and an operation (add, subtract) and returns the result.
🎮 Gaming: A simple “math puzzle” where the player must input the correct sum of given numbers.
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Project #4 - Random Trivia or Quiz Application
What You'll Learn
- Presenting questions or prompts.
- Handling user choices and providing feedback.
🖥️ Web: A quiz web page that fetches a few trivia questions from a file or simple JSON and displays correct/incorrect feedback.
📱 Mobile: A mobile quiz app with multiple-choice questions and a score counter.
🤖 AI/ML: A script that randomly selects a question from a dataset of Q&A and checks user input for correctness.
🛠️ Backend: An API that returns a random trivia question from a database each time it’s requested.
🎮 Gaming: A mini in-game quiz presented between levels, awarding points for correct answers.
Project #5 - API-Based Weather Application
What You’ll Learn
- Fetching and parsing data from external APIs.
- Handling asynchronous operations and error cases.
🖥️ Web: A web app that takes a city name as input and fetches the current weather, displaying it on the page.
📱 Mobile: A mobile weather app that uses a public weather API and updates the screen with temperature and conditions.
🤖 AI/ML: A script that retrieves weather data from an API and calculates averages or trends over time.
🛠️ Backend: A backend service that fetches weather data from an external API and returns a customized response, such as a simplified JSON.
🎮 Gaming: A game feature that changes in-game weather conditions based on external real-world data.
Project #6 - CRUD Notes Application (Create, Read, Update, Delete)
What You’ll Learn
- Managing data over time.
- Storing and retrieving information, handling updates and deletions.
🖥️ Web: A notes web app where users can add, edit, and delete notes saved in local storage or a simple backend.
📱 Mobile: A mobile notes app that stores notes locally on the device.
🤖 AI/ML: A script managing a dataset, allowing you to add new entries, update existing data points, or remove them.
🛠️ Backend: A RESTful API providing endpoints to manage a list of notes stored in a database.
🎮 Gaming: An inventory system where players can add/remove items, and modify their properties.
Project #7 - “Mini Portfolio” Project (Integrating Multiple Features)
What You’ll Learn
- Combining several concepts: UI design, data management, external data fetching, and user interaction.
- Structuring a multi-feature application or system.
🖥️ Web: A portfolio website that displays your projects (like your calculator, notes app, or quiz) and information fetched from a small JSON file.
📱 Mobile: A mobile app that lists all your completed exercises (quiz, calculator, etc.) as separate modules you can launch.
🤖 AI/ML: A notebook or dashboard integrating multiple datasets and visualizations, showing off different analytical techniques.
🛠️ Backend: A backend that hosts data about your completed projects and can be queried by a frontend interface.
🎮 Gaming: A small “game hub” combining mini-games or demos you’ve built, accessible from a main menu.
Happy Coding! 🙂
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Top comments (2)
Really helpful list. I have a hard time figuring out which projects to work on next, so I'll definitely save this and use it. Thanks!
Nice thanks 💐
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