Programming Fundamentals

Videos
- Introduction to Key Skills and Concepts
Courses
- Free Courses
- Lynda Courses
Practice
- Practice Exercises
- Project Ideas

Introduction

Programming involves mixing and matching a limited set of syntax and concepts. See some real life code examples and learn the key skills that you need to develop to be a successful programmer.

Free Courses

Learn to Program: The Fundamentals – Coursera

You can audit this Python course for free on Coursera. Using Python, it introduces you to the concepts behind the code and *how* it works.

There’s also a section on how to design your functions, so you can practice how to break coding problems down and translate it into code.

Lynda Courses

These Lynda courses offer a great mix of theory and practical knowledge. Not only will you learn how to do things but also why they work. Lynda offers a free 1-month trial, and many libraries also offer free access, so check your local library website!

Explore the core concepts and structure of programming languages and helps you grasp what’s going on under the hood.

The course compares how code is written in several different languages and provides guidance on the criteria to use when choosing a programming language.

Next Steps

Hone in on a specific programming language to learn!
Practice your skills – search for “exercises for {insert programming language}”. You’ll find hundreds of exercises to start practicing!
For JavaScript, check out our Recommended Resources here.
Try more difficult problems in Edabit or CodeWars.

Edabit

Edabit has hundreds of programming challenges ranked by difficulty. The exercises tend to be easier than CodeWars, so start here if you’re just getting started!

CodeWars

Ninja-themed website with thousands of challenges (katas) to go through. This is more challenging than Edabit.

The challenges often has sneaky edge cases that they test for, so makes it more fun / frustrating, depending on your view.