Why Codecademy and similar websites SUCK

[Gachr]

Hello everyone. I've seen a lot of people recommending Codecademy and similar websites to learn programming/coding. I find those harmful to beginners for quite a few reasons.

1. Most of those sites run in isolated environments, so you don't get to use real-life technologies, you don't learn how an interpreter or a compiler works and such.
2. You can't experiment; you only have the closed environment and tasks. You can't just play around with those technologies (because of reason number 1), and playing around is perfect learning experience.
3. You won't learn everything on such site, it's good to get used to reading official guides, APIs and use all "scrap" you find on the internet from day 1, since it is going to be what you'll need to be doing after completing such course.
4. Because those courses are like a path, you can't really skip some things that will be useless to you. For example you don't need to learn about making JS libraries if you're just going to do simple website scripting with JQuery.

There probably are few more reasons, but those are off the top of my head.

 

I personally used Codecademy (which sucks for the reasons above) like a year or two ago and Codeschool quite recently. I found Codeschool to be much better than Codecademy, since it provides way more practical tasks, emulates file systems etc. However, Codeschool is very expensive. I thought Codecademy was free, but it turned out that it's not for most things, which I explained below.

Since I tried Codecademy a long time ago, I decided to give it a try again with its Java course. This is my "notepad" from that journey:

Quote

I criticised Codecademy and such sites a lot on the LTT forum. I've used CodeSchool quite recently but I didn't use codecademy since quite some time, so I decided to reactivate my old account and give it a try with the Java tutorial.
There are reasons why I was against such sites listed somewhere in this topic or this post. It's very likely that those still apply, but there might be some improvement.
I might be way too advanced to understand it, but everything goes really slow... Too slow for my taste. I'm sure it's fine for people who learn a language as their first, but if every language treats you as a total newb, you will spend a lot of time learning concepts you already know if you had previous experience in any other language.
I must say, that at least in this case, the tutorial is very well structued, not overwhelming and very well explained.
However, I encountered a bug right on the 9th excercise on Java tutorial that stopped me from progressing, until I could use the "get code" option... Which didn't actually show me the code.
I was glad to see that Codecademy offered quizes and projects to within each course. That sounded great for people to figure stuff out, some more practical programming. However, what I saw was a lock and an option to upgrade to "codecademy pro" for 20$. I really think that paying for such poor courses really misses a point for a potential customer of theirs. The website claims that we can learn to "code" for free... It isn't completely false, but it does make people have a wrong impression of the website in a contrast with ones like Khan Academy, which actually are completely free.
A summary of my adventure would be that those cons still apply. The courses improved from the last time I looked at them, but it's not great. Also, paying for skills that are available higher quality some place else for free isn't a good deal.

It's worth to add that performance of Codeschool and Codecademy sites isn't very good, especially the latter. It was the reason I requested a refund from Codeschool.

 

Please feel free to share your experiences with such websites and help me extend this topic

[Kingler]

I personally would be a lot more intimidated/frustrated if I had to scrounge around the internet to learn how to do something which would be otherwise be considered simple. Codecademy is fine to get your feet wet, learn the basic syntax etc... but shouldn't be used for a extended period of time.

[Gachr]

2 minutes ago, Kingler said:

I personally would be a lot more intimidated/frustrated if I had to scrounge around the internet to do something simple. Codecademy is fine to get your feet wet, learn the basic syntax etc... but shouldn't be used for a extended period of time.

I agree, but the thing is, that you don't really need to "scrounge around the internet", for most languages and technologies, there are great guides and references on official websites. If there isn't one, there still are great 3rd party guides and even a website with a huge collection of tutorials; http://www.tutorialspoint.com (some of their guides are pretty low quality tho)

[juretrn]

While I don't personally use Codeacademy, nor did I ever program much, I never got the feeling Codeacademy was ever marketed as your be-all-end-all resource to learning programming, but more like a tool to help you get started. You can't seriously expect people that have no experience to do anything more. So it's good for what it is, but the website should not be though of as anything more.

[LionWaffles]

I used to do Codecademy and thought it was very beneficial to myself but soon after I had completed almost all of the courses, I realized that it was not at all helpful. So, I headed over to w3layouts.com and downloaded a layout to code from. I then coded my website, and know a lot more than Codecademy taught me.

[Linaran]

To make it simple, Codeacademy will teach you what you need to google in order to learn whatever you want to learn.

[Nineshadow]

Codecademy is for the real real beginner who doesn't know almost anything.

 

I'm still amazed by the number of Python tutorials out there in the web for beginners but the lack of a really rigorous one for people with programming experience. More than anything else , I found the official documentation to be the best way to learn stuff.

[Linaran]

14 minutes ago, Nineshadow said:

Codecademy is for the real real beginner who doesn't know almost anything.

 

I'm still amazed by the number of Python tutorials out there in the web for beginners but the lack of a really rigorous one for people with programming experience. More than anything else , I found the official documentation to be the best way to learn stuff.

Python is always portrayed as an "EZ language" so most tutorials follow that notion. Regarding official documentation, I use it only and only when I need to read something very specific about a function or a class. My opinion on learning a language (presuming we're not talking about a first one) is to pick a project you'd like to make, get yourself a complete guide book, a lot of internet tutorials (stackoverflow is a must) and keep typing until you're stuck (when stuck refer to the materials).

[trag1c]

The only thing I would recommend codecademy for is for HTML/CSS. I personally like grabbing a book from a respected author and then just grinding through that for a start in something new. 

[PlutoNZL]

I believe that Codecademy is a great resource for someone who wants to get introduced to programming or is looking to learn a new language or technology.

 

In the past I have recommended Codecademy to people with no programming experience so they can get their feet wet in a very structured and limited environment. Programming can be quite intimidating to beginners, so programming in a limited environment makes programming seem a lot more approachable. If someone wanted to learn about programming and you told them to go read about interpreters, compilers, linkers, etc, there's a good chance you would scare them off. Everyone I have recommended Codecademy to has finished the course thinking programming was a lot easier and more enjoyable than expected.

 

I feel Codecademy is also great for more experienced programmers. I have a little experience with front end programming, and a few months ago I wanted to learn AngularJS. I finished the AngularJS course in two to three hours and at the end of it I felt comfortable creating a website based on the framework. All I really needed to know was how an AngularJS project was structured, and Codecademy gave me that.

 

Now, I definitely don't think Codecademy should be used by itself to learn programming, and I doubt Codecademy wants people to only use their website and nothing else. There are some things that Codecademy doesn't teach, like data structures, algorithms, program design, etc. But that doesn't mean Codecademy should be avoided. What Codecademy teaches - basic syntax, variables, math operations - it teaches very well. After someone has finished a Codecademy course in some language, they can always pick up an introductory book on the same language if they want to learn more. If someone picked up a introductory book on Java, I think they would be far more likely to finish it if they had a little bit of experience beforehand.

 

Want to get a feel for what programming is like or learn the syntax of a language? Codecademy is great.
Want to do programming as a hobby and create small to medium size applications? Codecademy followed by books.

Want to be a professional Software Engineer? Go to University and read books... so, so many books...

Edited March 20, 2016 by Blade of Grass
Night theme compatibility

[KuroSetsuna29]

@PlutoNZL +1

 

As the OP mentioned in their "notepad", I think Codecademy (and others like it) is a great starting point for those that are interested in programming with little/no experience, eg. Kids!

They don't want to hassle with setting up an environment, configurating it, and learn how to use it, just to write a small Hello World program. That is just making them climb a very steep hill only to find shallow end on the other side, and a reason why I think so many get deterred at the beginning unless you were truly passionate about it.

 

Of course its not meant to replace education, books, or even the official documentation, just a small stepping stone. And you don't need to stay with Codecademy, once you start feeling more confident you can start reading other resources like docs, books and youtubers, or ask programmers you know since its now easier to follow along now that you know the basic syntax.

 

TL;DR:

It was never meant for a moderate to skilled programmer, which I think a lot of members here are not.