Best online programming courses

[mlinko11]

Hi,

I would like to ask you for tips on which online programming courses go to. I havent programm in years so I need to start almost from scratch. I've been searching for quite some time now and can't tell which are good and which are bad. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Aytex]

what language

[monsieurgoat]

There really is no best solution online. What language do you want to learn. Just buy a book of amazon, read every single word and do every single exercise. 

[SSL]

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist is very good.

[mlinko11]

Well I Forgot to mention the most important information. I want to learn Java. Was thinking whit book but thought that online courses are now better.

Thanks SSL will look into that.

[MaxTheMonster]

Tree house is great. Bit pricy but worth every penny. http://teamtreehouse.com

[Equilibrium_FOOL]

codecademy.com?

[monsieurgoat]

Murach's Java Programming. Buy that book. Either do that or take an online course from a local community college or something. 

[mlinko11]

codecademy.com?

Been looking into this. Do you have any experience with this site? I've been reading reviews. But mainly I trust forums

[mlinko11]

Murach's Java Programming. Buy that book. Either do that or take an online course from a local community college or something.

Thanks will look into it [emoji2].

[madknight3]

codecademy.com?

 

CodeAcademy doesn't teach Java. Please make sure the site you recommend teaches the language being asked about.

[madknight3]

Well I Forgot to mention the most important information. I want to learn Java. Was thinking whit book but thought that online courses are now better.

 

Good books are still excellent resources. For Java, a commonly recommended beginner book is Head First Java. Also, here is a nice collection of books on Java and other topics that are ranked based on experience.

[SSL]

Well I Forgot to mention the most important information. I want to learn Java. Was thinking whit book but thought that online courses are now better.

Thanks SSL will look into that.

 

Codeacademy and other online sources are barely half the equivalent of Programming 101 at a decent university. If you really want to learn how to use a language you need a series of good books, such as madknight linked above. There are a lot of good resources online as well, of course, but codeacademy-type sites aren't really among them.

[Equilibrium_FOOL]

CodeAcademy doesn't teach Java. Please make sure the site you recommend teaches the language being asked about.

I didn't see his post, as he didn't edit the op.

[madknight3]

I didn't see his post, as he didn't edit the op.

 

That's fair

[Art Vandelay]

This page is pretty good for C. The infrequently asked questions and review of Herbert Schildt's book are pretty funny.

http://www.seebs.net/c/

 

also from seebs:

 

 

K&R, a.k.a. The C Programming Language is, so far as I can tell, the best book ever written about C. It is well written, and almost invariably correct.

 

 

Codeacademy and other online sources are barely half the equivalent of Programming 101 at a decent university. If you really want to learn how to use a language you need a series of good books, such as madknight linked above. There are a lot of good resources online as well, of course, but codeacademy-type sites aren't really among them.

IMO, you don't necessarily need to read a book on how to program. I found it most useful to just try and write programs and learn from the problems I ran into.

You need some documentation to get started, but not necessarily an entire book.

[SSL]

IMO, you don't necessarily need to read a book on how to program. I found it most useful to just try and write programs and learn from the problems I ran into.

You need some documentation to get started, but not necessarily an entire book.

 

Maybe you're very smart or I'm very dumb, but I wouldn't have been able to learn to program without external resources. Sure it's possible to pick up syntax with nothing but documentation, but that isn't what good programming is about, is it?

[Art Vandelay]

Maybe you're very smart or I'm very dumb, but I wouldn't have been able to learn to program without external resources. Sure it's possible to pick up syntax with nothing but documentation, but that isn't what good programming is about, is it?

I think it's largely because I find it easiest to learn new skills by just playing around with them until I figure out what works and what doesn't. I find it really hard to learn a new skill from just reading about it.

 

When I was learning C# at first, I just looked at a few examples of how the syntax worked and then just played around with the code and looked up compiler errors on google until it worked. The university course I was taking didn't actually cover the basics of how to program in class, and I didn't read the textbook they recommended for the course until much later. I somehow passed and then got a co-op job as a web developer off of that.

[SSL]

I think it's largely because I find it easiest to learn new skills by just playing around with them until I figure out what works and what doesn't. I find it really hard to learn a new skill from just reading about it.

 

When I was learning C# at first, I just looked at a few examples of how the syntax worked and then just played around with the code and looked up compiler errors on google until it worked. The university course I was taking didn't actually cover the basics of how to program in class, and I didn't read the textbook they recommended for the course until much later. I somehow passed and then got a co-op job as a web developer off of that.

 

Perhaps you misapprehend me.

 

I'm not talking about learning only through theory. I'm talking about learning concepts, many of which may not be intuitive or possible to stumble over while experimenting.

[Art Vandelay]

Perhaps you misapprehend me.

 

I'm not talking about learning only through theory. I'm talking about learning concepts, many of which may not be intuitive or possible to stumble over while experimenting.

What do you mean by concepts, specifically? Things like object lifetime and polymorphism?

[madknight3]

IMO, you don't necessarily need to read a book on how to program. I found it most useful to just try and write programs and learn from the problems I ran into.

You need some documentation to get started, but not necessarily an entire book.

 

I think it's largely because I find it easiest to learn new skills by just playing around with them until I figure out what works and what doesn't. I find it really hard to learn a new skill from just reading about it.

 

When I was learning C# at first, I just looked at a few examples of how the syntax worked and then just played around with the code and looked up compiler errors on google until it worked. The university course I was taking didn't actually cover the basics of how to program in class, and I didn't read the textbook they recommended for the course until much later. I somehow passed and then got a co-op job as a web developer off of that.

 

No, you certainly don't need a book and there are a lot of bad books out there that are best avoided. Not everyone will find the same book useful either, even if it's widely considered "one of the good ones". Sometimes one persons way of explaining things clicks with you in ways others don't. I personally find a quality book to be a great resource to learn from, but I don't limit myself to just books either.

 

Use what is out there in whatever way works best for you. And of course, you need to actually code a lot no matter how you're learning.

 

For you a large part of your learning is just diving in head first and learning as you go. If that's what works for you, great. I don't think that's the best course of action for most beginners though.

[evilarceus]

Codecademy is a great place to start for some pretty basic languages.

[robeng]

Hi! I'm learning coding on a website called codecademy

 

Try it out!

 

www.codecademy.com

[mlinko11]

As far as I know myself I don't work the best with books because I usually get to results on very weird way. It just clicks . So I thought that online courses will be good for me because I mostly get stuff if someone gives it to me. If I have to read book I'm much slower . Does anyone know any book that have only examples in it?

[DotoreN]

Codeacademy and other online sources are barely half the equivalent of Programming 101 at a decent university. If you really want to learn how to use a language you need a series of good books, such as madknight linked above. There are a lot of good resources online as well, of course, but codeacademy-type sites aren't really among them.

 

The only downside to books is, that they're mostly outdated (2008/2010). The principal stays the same though, but it can be confusing at times, especially if you're learning.