The Best Websites to Learn Coding Online

The Learn to Code movement has picked up momentum worldwide and that is actually a good thing as even basic programming skills can have a major impact. If you can teach yourself how to write code, you gain a competitive edge over your peers, you can think more algorithmically and thus can tackle problems more efficiently.

Learn Programming

Don’t just download the latest app, help redesign it. Don’t just play on your phone, program it. — Obama.

There’s no reason why shouldn’t know the basics of coding. You can automate tasks, you can program your Excel sheets, improve workflows, you can extract data from websites and accomplish so much more with code. You may not be in the business of writing software programs but knowing the basics of coding will help you communicate more effectively with developers.

Gone are the days when you had to enroll in expensive computer training classes as now exist a plethora of web-based courses that will help you learn programming at your own pace in the comfort of your web browser.

The Best Sites to Learn Programming

If you are ready to take the plunge, here are some of the best websites that offer courses in a variety of programming languages for free. I have also added a list of companion ebooks that will give you a more in-depth understanding of the language and they don’t cost anything either.

Programming LanguageOnline Courses and Video ScreencastsDownload PDF Books (Read online for free)
JavaScriptCode Academy, Learn Street, Code Combat, Code AvengersEloquent JavaScript, JavaScript Guide, Speaking JS, JS The Right Way, Oh My JS, Canvassing
HTML & CSSCode Academy, Don’t Fear The Internet, Tutsplus, Learn Layout, A to Z CSS, Dash, Web Accessibility, The Hello World, Khan Academy, HTML5 from ScratchMozilla, Dive into HTML5, 20 Things I Learned, HTML Dog, HTML & CSS, HTML5 for Designers, DOM Enlightenment, HTML Canvas
jQueryCode Academy, Tutsplus, Code SchooljQuery Fundamentals, Learn jQuery
PythonCode Academy, Google, Learn Street, Python Tutor, IHeartPYPython for You and Me,  Dive into Python, Learn Python the Hard Way, Think Python, Python for Fun, Tango with Django, Django
Ruby & Ruby on RailsCode Academy, TryRubyCode Learn, Railscasts, Rubymonk, Learn StreetWhy’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby, Learn Ruby the Hard Way, Learn to Program, Learn Rails by Example
PHPCode AcademyPHP Programming, Practical PHP
Also see: How to Learn Regular Expressions (RegEx)
Google Apps ScriptGetting Started, Office Hours, Google Scripts Examples, Learning Apps Script
WordPressTreehouse, WordPress TV
Linux & Shell ScriptingStanford.edu, Explain ShellConquer the Command Line
Node.jsNodetuts, Node SchoolThe Node Beginner Book, Mixu’s Node book, Node Up and Running, Mastering Node.js
Angular JSCode School, Egg Head, Learn AngularAngular JS Tutorial, Thinking Angular, Angular Tutorial, Getting Started (Adobe)
Also see:Learn Touch Typing & Code Faster
Git (version control)Code School, Git Immersion, GitHub Training, UdacityPro Git, Learn Git, Gists in Github
Objective-C (iOS & Mac)Code School, Stanford, iTunesU
Chrome Dev ToolsCode School, Dev Tools Secret, Chrome Dev Tools Tutorial, Udacity, Building Browser Apps
Go LanguageGolang.org, GopherCastsProgramming in Go, Go by Example, Learning Go, Building Web Apps with Go, Learning Go
JavaLearn Java, Coding Bat, Java Udemy, LearnerooProgramming in Java, Thinking in Java, O’Reilly Learning Java, Think Java, Java & CS, Java for Python Devs
Android App DevelopmentUdacity (Google Developers), Coursera, The New Boston, Google University, App Development Essentials, Code Learn, App Inventor (Visual)
D3 (data visualization)Data Visualization for the Web, Dashing D3, D3 Tips & Tricks
Also see:Learn VIM, the text editor for programmers
SQL (Databases)SQL Zoo, SQL @Stanford, Essential SQL, SQL for Nerds, Intro to SQL, SQL Bolt, PHP & MySQL
Everything ElseUdacity, edX.org, Coursera, Udemy$, Lynda$, Pluralsight$, Treehouse$, Open Consortium, One Month Rails$

Teaching Kids to Code

If there are kids in the family, you should download either Tynker (Android/iOS) or the Hopscotch app for iPad and they can learn the basics of programming through games and puzzles.

There’s also Scratch, an MIT project that allows kids to program their own stories and games visually. Scratch is available as a web app or you can download it on your Mac/Windows/Linux computer for offline use. Microsoft TouchDevelop, Blockly and Alice are some other web apps that will introduce the concepts of computer progamming to your children.

On a related note, the following chart from Google Trends shows the relative search popularity of various programming languages over the last 5 years. The interest in PHP has dipped over the years, JavaScript has more or less maintained its position while the popularity of Python & Node.js is on the rise.

Popularity of Programming Languages

Amit Agarwal

Amit Agarwal

Google Developer Expert, Google Cloud Champion

Amit Agarwal is a Google Developer Expert in Google Workspace and Google Apps Script. He holds an engineering degree in Computer Science (I.I.T.) and is the first professional blogger in India.

Amit has developed several popular Google add-ons including Mail Merge for Gmail and Document Studio. Read more on Lifehacker and YourStory

0

Awards & Titles

Digital Inspiration has won several awards since it's launch in 2004.

Google Developer Expert

Google Developer Expert

Google awarded us the Google Developer Expert award recogizing our work in Google Workspace.

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

ProductHunt Golden Kitty

Our Gmail tool won the Lifehack of the Year award at ProductHunt Golden Kitty Awards in 2017.

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft MVP Alumni

Microsoft awarded us the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) title for 5 years in a row.

Google Cloud Champion

Google Cloud Champion

Google awarded us the Champion Innovator title recognizing our technical skill and expertise.

Email Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter to stay up to date.

We will never send any spam emails. Promise.