Studying programming these days requires no monetary influence. Gone are the days when mastering this knowledge required huge sums of money and many hours of cramming. Now everyone can turn to free educational sites and take courses in the area of interest. Of course, no one canceled paid training. But there are many free courses that give valuable knowledge absolutely free.
Our article will be useful for those who are going to start a programming career, want to create a site or are just interested in software development. We have collected sites that include both theoretical and practical assignments to study different areas of programming. We suggest you look through them and choose what suits you best.
- Free Code Camp
- Codecademy
- Coursera
- edX
- Stepik
1. Free Code Camp
This online portal offers a huge number of free programming courses which are available online. The lessons are divided into two parts: theoretical and practical. That is, right after the theory is studied there are some tasks to be performed. The tasks are automatically checked by the system.
A key feature of this training site is that students are taught in groups. And if they have any difficulties, they can always discuss it on the forum and ask for help.
The students then publish their projects on the resource that other users have given their feedback on. In addition to a general appreciation for their project, at the end of the course the student receives a certificate that confirms the knowledge and skills they have acquired.
Also, on FreeCodeCamp, students often create their own teams to work together on non-commercial projects. This is an additional opportunity to test the knowledge gained, to reinforce it, to gain valuable experience in teamwork and, in addition, to make a portfolio for employment.
2. Codecademy
Codecademy, like the previous platform, has at its core the teaching of web programming. Lessons include a theoretical component and an interactive code editor for doing the practical part of the lesson.
The website offers training in a variety of technologies. You just need to select the course you are interested in. The theoretical part of the lesson is available for free, but the practical part is only available by subscription.
For the students’ convenience, there are complex programs, which combine materials from different courses. For example, a set of programs that teaches how to create a simple site from scratch with a variety of techniques called Build Websites from Scratch. But such complexes have to be paid for.
3. Coursera
The Coursera platform brings together a variety of courses from leading universities around the world. On this platform you will find not only web programming, but also many other courses teaching various programming languages, including mobile development. Training is offered in several languages: English, Russian and many more.
Most of the courses are grouped by specialization, which includes related disciplines. However, there are also independent courses. The theoretical part, like on other platforms, is freely available. It is available both in text and video format. And the practical assignments mostly require a subscription on the platform.
4. edX
EdX has collected a huge number of courses from leading companies and universities on its platform. Have you heard about the legendary Harvard course for aspiring programmers called “Introduction to Computer Science”? EdX has it! But it’s not the juiciest of what’s available there either.
The training is mostly presented in video lecture format, although there are also text materials. Of course, the courses also have tests and practical exercises to practice skills.
There is great news for all prospective students: most of the materials on the platform are free. But there is a minus. In order to get a certificate, which will confirm the completion of a particular course, a payment is required.
5. Stepik
Another successful, in our opinion, noncommercial platform is Stepik. Training material for this site is developed by Russian companies and universities. But you should keep in mind that this platform does not offer such a large amount of material on specific programming languages as the ones listed above. In turn, this web portal provides for the study of the fundamental knowledge of mathematics and algorithm theory, which is so necessary for every developer.
This platform was primarily created for Russian students and organizations. But over time a translation appeared, and now all the materials can also be accessed in English.
Conclusion
We are used to the idea that learning is expensive and time-consuming. But fortunately, that pattern is changing these days. Now it is possible to learn and practice skills from home and absolutely free. And our article illustrates this as well as possible. We have collected only a small part of the resources that will help you learn a new profession in a short time and without exhausting visits to courses.
The sites we offer will help you to start training easily and lay the foundation for further learning and development in the field of programming.