The way to learn programming has changed over the years from a simple hobby to a career. Today it is possible to learn to program completely free online. Gone are the days when learning to program was reserved for a few or cost a considerable amount of money.
Even if you don't intend to get involved in the development field, learning a programming language can be very beneficial:
- It will help you better manage websites;
- It will reduce the dependency on an external developer for your own projects;
- It will give you the freedom to create applications, websites and other projects with ease.
Whether you want to start your own career as a programmer, learn how to create websites or create projects just for fun, this article is for you. We will then dive into the best websites where you can learn how to program for free.
In large part, the current popularity of websites and apps is due to the possibilities that new web development technologies have opened up. Thanks to it, current web pages are more interactive than ever and allow much more than just showing static information as it was some years ago.
The world of programming is highly changeable and the technologies used can change almost overnight. Despite this, there are some that remain for a long time and there are also some that are basic in web development.
Every programmer must have advanced knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3. Thanks to these languages you will be able to layout your website, give it a structured and clear design, and in short, make your website look the way you want it to.
With these technologies you could already make your first web from scratch, but only a simple site with static content. If you want to go further, you need to learn other languages that allow you to perform more complex tasks, both at the frontend level (the part of the web you see) and at the backend level (the processes that run in the background and that make a web do what it has to do).
Some of the most popular languages at the moment and that seem to dominate the market in the next few years are
JavaScript: is one of the most popular programming languages at present and among its main advantages is that it does not need a compiler, since browsers can interpret it directly along with HTML. In addition, it is an easy language to learn.
PHP: it is a very complete programming language that can be used both in object-oriented programming and in programming by procedures or as a combination of both. Some of the world's largest websites such as Facebook are programmed largely in PHP.
Java: not to be confused with JavaScript, as they are two totally different things. It is a language that is a little more complicated to learn than the others, but it is very old and doesn't seem to show symptoms of exhaustion.
React: this is an open source JavaScript framework developed by Facebook and the community that is intended to create user interfaces in a much faster and more agile way.
Angular: another very popular JavaScript framework nowadays. In this case developed by Google with contributions from the whole community, since it is an open source project.
VueJS: another JavaScript framework that is growing at a very fast pace lately. Evan You (ex-Googler) is its creator and among the main reasons why it is growing so fast is that he has managed to take the best of React and the best of AngularJS to make a developer-friendly tool.
Of course, you don't have to learn all these technologies at once to make your first website. These are examples of the languages that are most popular at the moment and with which you could get started in web development. Besides, as you get into the programming world, it will be easier for you to move from one language to another.
Here are the top resources to learn how to develop:
- CareerFoundry
- Coursera
- FreeCodeCamp
- Codecademy
- Web Dev Simplified
- LearnCode.academy
- Codepip
- Web Documentation
- Google Chrome DevTools
- Web Design with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery Set
- Mozilla Developer Network
- GitHub for Beginners
- Non-Programmer’s Tutorial for Python 3
- Curriculum for N00bs
- Coding Pitfalls for Beginners
- Complete Web Developer Course 2.0
- Web Developer Bootcamp
- Become a Web Developer from Scratch
- Complete Fullstack Web Developer Course
- Ultimate Web Designer & Developer Course: Build 23 Projects!
- Python and Django Full Stack Web Developer Bootcamp!
- Advanced Web Developer Bootcamp
- Full Stack Web Development