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If you are new to the world of programming and web development, it makes sense to start by using all the free resources available online and mastering the techniques without leaving your room. The days are past us when only those who enrolled in top computer science institutes and colleges mastered the art of programming, and later got to dominate the computer world. Today everyone has the same potential, and even better chance to learn and master programming languages without spending too much and waiting in the long queues.

If you want to take the computer world by storm like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, you need to have a very strong background in computers and programming since very young age. To make things easier and help you in the pursuit of success, I will show you 10 interactive websites that will guide you through your new path into programming world!




 

1) Codecademy


Codeacademy is the place to go if you aren’t quite sure where to start. It is indisputably the most famous website to teach you to code interactively, thanks to its helpful interface and well-structured courses. Upon visiting the main page, you can already start tasting the programming right away, with its motivating on-screen console. Pick a course that Codecademy offers from Web Fundamentals, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, Python, Ruby and APIs.

Inside each lesson is a panel that explains necessary code and instruction. Another panel allows you to get your hands dirty by writing acceptable code, then checking if you are doing the right thing. Don’t worry about making mistakes, as both instruction and code panels will warn you of errors, and provide hints. It is as if there’s a kind teacher right beside you.




 

2) Code Avengers


Code Avengers is designed to make you love programming. Though it only offers HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript course for now, each of the courses is carefully designed to truly entertain you while levelling your programming skills painlessly. At the end of each lesson you also get to play a mini game to release your cumulated stress, and keep you going for longer.

Code Avengers has a gradual approach to interactive learning. It does not explain too much knowledge that isn’t essential for beginners, just a bit of code and playful instruction, making things very easy to digest. You also get to play with the code, then see the impact of the changes immediately. It is carefully crafted with the beginner’s comfort in mind.




 

3) W3Schools.com


W3Schools.com is one of the common and the world’s largest web development site. The site is best for both beginners and the experts. W3Schools.com is optimized for learning, testing and training. The site delivers 1000+ examples of different codes like JavaScript Examples, HTML DOM Examples, jQuery, jQuery Mobile Examples, AJAX Examples, PHP Examples, ASP Examples, SVG Examples, ADO Examples, XSL Examples, RSS Examples, .NET Examples and more. These examples must be solved to improve your coding knowledge and basic understanding.

Here you will get varieties of reference and tutorials too, to sharpen your knowledge and make code more familiar to you. This site is the most beloved by college students because of its chapter wise interactive learning manner which students ever like.




 

4) Code School


Code School is the next quality website you should land on. Unlike most interactive learning sites, Code School offers more in-depth courses to train and turn you into an expert with the industry’s best practices.

Almost all courses are aggressively polished with impressive design and informative screencasts, though the challenges after the screencast might bit a bit hard for amateurs. Luckily, there are hints and answers to refer to. While most of the offered courses are free, certain ones will require you to spend $25/month to access the entire course including all screencasts and challenges, and also all other courses in Code School.




 

5) Treehouse


Treehouse is a must visit site for novice programmers with a sense of purpose. It's courses are more project-oriented than language-oriented, so they are perfect for novice programmer with a planned purpose, such as building a website, or an application. For example, the Websites course is all about building a responsive website, interactive website or even WordPress theme – a very practical and efficient way to master related languages. Nonetheless, they have released a plethora of foundation courses with a video-then-quiz approach.

For Treehouse, every course is divided into different stages or modules, and beyond every first stage the learner will be invited to pay a monthly subscription fee of $25 to access all courses with 650+ videos, and an exclusive Treehouse Members Forum as a bonus. If you are serious about your programming future, you could subscribe the $49 monthly plan to obtain in-depth interviews with leading industry pros and cutting-edge workshops.

 




Before we move on take a look at Top 10 Text Editors for Developers. also known as source code editors, that are specifically designed for programmers or developers for writing  and experimenting with the source code.




 

6) LearnStreet


LearnStreet is truly friendly and enjoyable, and most importantly, free. If you are that kind of personnel who do not fancy playful design and prefer to deal with cold hard codes, LearnStreet is probably your thing. It currently offers JavaScript, Python and Ruby courses at beginner level. With a click on the ‘Start Course’ button you will start the lesson with an exercise, a code interpreter and a glossary panel (for new programming terms).

LearnStreet adopts command prompt-styled code interpreters with human language to explain function and encourage you whenever possible, the kind of command prompt you want for your own local machine. However, the code interpreter could be as rude as standard command prompt, as most of the times it requires you to type in the absolute same code and content it asks for.




 

7) Udacity


Udacity is the unification of insightful video lectures and improved quizzes to achieve the interactive feel for students, so it’s ideal for those who don’t like to read but rather get explanations from industry professionals such as Google employees. Udacity is probably not your starting point, but a virtual university to further your study.

You will be given a screencast from pros discussing the topics and instructions, then you will take either logic or programming quizzes to strengthen your understanding or forge it into a skill. The good thing about Udacity is it provides more videos than any other site, and the instructors are either real-life professors or industry veterans.




 

8) Scratch 2.0


Scratch is something even easier to understand. Previously an offline software that allow kids to create, upload and share their projects proudly, Scratch is now fully online with its 2.0 successor.

It’s not about programming though, but a combination of visual blocks of commands that tell assigned objects how to behave, such as telling the cat to move 10 steps, or yell ‘meow’ when it touches the owner’s leg. By using this visual programming method, the young programmers will form a habit of breaking a problem into smaller blocks, and solve them one by one logically.




 

9) CodeHS


At this point all websites you read here are mainly dedicated to web development and computer science, but CodeHS is one with simple and fun game programming lessons that involve problem solving, JavaScript, animation, data structures, game design and puzzle challenges.

The advantage of CodeHS is it teaches you to think, and solve a problem like a programmer with its first course, Programming with Karel. The lessons are fun as you will learn how to use the code to move the dog, Karel to complete given tasks and puzzles like picking up ball and building a towel. It plants a solid concept of programming and the way it solves the problem systematically in your mind.




 

10) Khan Academy


Although Khan Academy’s courses are not as structured as CodeHS, it serves as an open playground for both novice and amateurs particularly interested in learning drawing, animation and user interaction with code. It does not preach any specific programming language, but the code pattern it adopts can be applied anywhere, as a majority of languages share the similar programming pattern.




 

Conclusion


As we all know that the world is changing and utilizing the new technologies. Taking advantage of all the free resources listed above is definitely the way to go and develop a skill set to dominate in the computer world. These websites are the best options to learn programming by saving your time as well as money.

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