What was once a tedious task has been made easy thanks to the internet. Free coding websites have made learning much more accessible. Students, professionals and freelancers know that acquiring programming skills are valued by employers everywhere.
Whether you’re going for a career in tech or want to learn something new, plenty of coding websites online contain a wealth of resources to help you get started or advance your skills.
However, you can face decision fatigue with so many options since finding the best learning platforms can be overwhelming.
In this article, I’ve curated a list of some of the best free coding websites right now.
EdX
EdX is one of the best free coding websites for anyone serious about learning, since it offers courses from leading universities like Harvard, MIT and UC Berkeley. EdX hosts high quality programming courses covering languages like Python, Java and C++.
For example, Harvard’s CS50 (which we talk more about in the article later), which can be considered one of the best courses for beginners, is available on this platform. The lessons include videos, quizzes and practical coding exercises that will definitely help you with solidifying the concepts.
If you’re looking for a more structured and academic approach to learning, EdX is ideal since it also gives you the option to earn verified certificates for a fee, which can be useful if you’re building a resume. Even without the paid option, there’s plenty of material to learn from.
CodeAcademy
Codecademy is one of most reputable free coding websites, as it is an accessible learning platform for beginners. If you’re just getting started with programming, Codecademy has interactive courses that cover the basics of popular languages like Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
This site is particularly suited for beginners and has a user friendly interface with quizzes, exercises and even provides feedback. If you’re willing to pay a bit extra, Codecademy also offers a premium version with access to more advanced courses. Regardless, there is plenty of free content to get you up and running on the essentials.
freeCodeCamp
If you are after a project based approach to coding, consider giving freeCodeCamp a shot. Covering everything from HTML, CSS to Python and data visualisation, freeCodeCamp has thousands of hours of learning material free of cost.
Each major area includes projects you can use to build a professional portfolio. FreeCodeCamp also offers certifications for completing courses. There is an eCodeCamp community element and you can interact with fellow learners in forums and study groups available for users worldwide.
Khan Academy
A non profit organisation, Khan Academy is popular for its high quality material making it ideal to learn coding for beginners and experts alike. The coding courses on Khan Academy focus on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and SQL, and the platform’s interactive lessons make it easy to follow along and practice in real time.
The courses are self paced, so feel free to complete them at your time without losing track of progress. The site has a unique style that combines lectures with exercises which can help strengthen your foundation.
CS50x By Harvard University
You can access this free introductory course through EdX. It’s led by Harvard Professor David Malan and covers computer science and programming concepts. The course also has an active community where learners can clear their doubts and get peer support.
CS50’s video lectures and structured curriculum make it accessible for beginners and advanced learners who might want a refresher. Also, do we need to mention the bragging rights about having “Harvard” on your resume? Since the course is entry level, you do not need any prior knowledge before starting.
MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT’s courseware provides free access to the university’s actual course content, including videos, assignments and exams from courses like “Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python” from the actual university.
This is an excellent resource from one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, this is an excellent resource. It may be best suited for if you already have a background in maths or science, as the courses are quite intensive.
How Can You Get Started?
Each of these platforms have their own benefits, as they offer both coding for beginners to advanced college level courses, without compromising on the quality of material.
Make sure you select the websites that suit your goal best. A platform like Codecademy is more practical and hands-on, while CS50 by Harvard is theory intense.
We recommend you start with basic courses in a language like Python or JavaScript, which are beginner friendly and are popular in web development. Joining forums or discussion boards on these sites or websites like Reddit can also help with answering your queries or receiving support.
We hope this list of free coding websites has helped you in deciding where to start your learning journey. You can use ChatGPT’s code interpreter to help you with blocks. Remember to be consistent and set a time everyday to learn, so you don’t go off track!
1 Comment
Codecademy is complete and utter garbage for being able to learn anything. it is far from easy to learn because the tutorials are written by people who know nothing about how to write instructions.
The tutorials (Aka TRACKS) are written in such an overly obnoxious cryptic manner, that you wind up spending more time trying to decrypt what you’re being asked to do that the focus of the lesson shifts from, the lesson, to trying to figure out what you’re supposed to be doing. The other part of this problem is that people actually use the excuse that, the tracks are written like that to help you learn. But then again people are idiots.
The other reason the tracks are pointless is because they have so many contradictions in their lessons it’s not even funny. For starters the lessons tell you things about what you’re doing, that even when you apply what the lesson said to a review, the review tells you that what you did is wrong.
The forum on that site is filled with way too questions that should not even be being asked. You’re also told to use other resources to help you, however that is another problem in itself.
Here is an example of why using another resource for what you’re working on is a horrible idea and should not ever be suggested unless what you’re working on is directly connected. and I don’t me connected as in it’s the same type of thing, I mean directly connected as if the lesson you’re currently doing is continued on where you’re told to go.
So here is what I ran into with outside resources.
I was working on the Ruby for beginners lessons, and I came to something that had mentioned to use an !, and it was also not the first time the Ruby tracks I was working on had had me use an ! .
Now when i had a problem with something, someone mentioned try going to (Insert source) to get some perspective. Now at first people don’t see what the problem is, however the resource I went to, while looking for the information about what I was currently working on, I came across information that said any time you see a ! in a script that means it will change the script forever and it basically said not to touch anything that had a ! in a script because it can mess up a program. So in other words it’s warning you that an ! is for that specific reason and it shouldn’t be messed with.
So now having that information, and never finding what i was looking for to help me, I go back to the ruby Tracks I’m working on, and i come to a lesson that starts telling me to use ! in the answer but it has a completely different use and doesn’t even mention the information I found in the other resources. Anf then further on in a nother track I find the lesson asking me to use an ! again but it now has an a completely different reason and use for it.
So as you can see anyone that tells you to go look up something somewhere else, to something you’re not directly working on and that isn’t directly linked, is an extremely bad idea and causes more problems than there already are.
I’ve gone through as much of the tutorials/tracks that i can but instead of learning I’m met with aggravation and incorrect grammar in tutorials that aren’t written correctly or clear, and the people are hiding behind the excuse of that’s how you learn, all to justify the poorly written tutorials that are literally way too difficult to decrypt.
Overall I give codecademy a 1 out of 10 because I’m not really learning anything and I really don’t see the point they serve. If a siete is going to say you can learn this easy, then it needs to be this way because it’s a false label.