Code Academy

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CodeAcademy.com is a new obsession of mine. The idea is to learn to code Javascript in an interactive way. There are lessons and projects, as well as badges you can earn for completing sections. You can get help from others by asking questions in the Q&A area, or give help by answering questions posted by others.

Let me be clear - I am a complete newbie to this. I learned HTML in grad school, but that is it. I remember how much fun I thought that was, though, and how I really got sucked into those lessons. That's what enticed me to try Code Academy. I can do this! It's fun!

I've finished the first eight sections. Three times. I've taken notes and really tried to commit some of it to memory. I have found a few gaps in the lessons where suddenly a term or a symbol appears and is not explained. (For example, did I miss the part where { } were introduced? They just showed up part-way through!). I also found that when I went back through the second and third time, I had to manually reset the editor so that my original answers were erased. Also, my second and third times through, when I would click on "continue to the next section" it would pop me all the way to the bottom of that section instead of the top of that section.

Glitches aside, I have learned a lot already. I have a LONG way to go before I can claim that I "know" Javascript (if I ever actually get that far!), but I do intend to keep picking at Code Academy and working through it. I don't have a lot of time to devote to it, though, so every time I start I feel like I have some reviewing to do first.

If you're interested in learning to code, or just curious about what Javascript looks like, give Code Academy a try.! It's free!