My Favorite Free Resources for New Programmers
Tags: beginners, learntocode, javascript, python
Published: 2018-08-13 02:06:01

---
title: My Favorite Free Resources for New Programmers
published: true
description: A list of my favorite free resources for people learning how to write code.
tags: beginners, learntocode, javascript, python
canonical_url: https://zen-of-programming.com/favorite-free-resources
cover_image: https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/nzb3buqig3rse5kq92ud.png
---

Last week, I shared [my tips](https://zen-of-programming.com/start-programming) for new developers and how to start coding. I also wanted to share my favorite free resources for learning how to code. I have used or gone through each of these personally, so I can vouch for them being good quality and beginner friendly!

### For HTML and CSS

* A game for learning CSS selectors: [CSS Diner](https://flukeout.github.io/) 
* A game for learning CSS Flexbox: [Flexbox Froggy](https://flexboxfroggy.com/)
* A game for learning CSS Grid: [CSS Grid Garden](https://cssgridgarden.com/)
* A video I made for learning CSS from zero: [Learning CSS Through Creating Art](https://dev.to/aspittel/learning-css-through-creating-art-54c0)
* An awesome CSS Grid series by Jen Simmons: [Layout Land](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7TizprGknbDalbHplROtag)

### For JavaScript

* [FreeCodeCamp](https://learn.freecodecamp.org/)
* A video series introducing JavaScript: [Khan Academy Computer Programming](https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming)
* An awesome more advanced written introduction to JavaScript: [A re-introduction to JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript)
* 30 days of JavaScript challenges with corresponding videos by Wes Bos: [JS 30](https://javascript30.com/)

### For other Programming Languages and Concepts

* This site has it all -- from HTML, CSS, and JS through frameworks and other programming languages. It has a unique REPL tutorial format: [Code Academy](https://www.codecademy.com/)  - this would be my top recommendation for where to start.
* Learn a web framework -- from the command line through Python and Django and through HTML and CSS -- all in roughly a day: [Django Girls](https://tutorial.djangogirls.org/en/) - their online tutorial was where web development clicked for me -- it was very pivotal in my career!
* Try Ruby code directly in your browser: [Try Ruby](https://ruby.github.io/TryRuby/)
* Github has a series of tutorials for learning both Git and GitHub directly in the browser: [Try Git](http://try.github.io/)
* [A full list of resources for learning Python](https://dev.to/jessicagarson/resources-for-learning-python-hd6)

### For Computer Science

* A series of illustrated guides to computer science fundamentals: [BaseCS](https://medium.com/basecs) - there are also [podcast](https://www.codenewbie.org/basecs) and [video](https://dev.to/vaidehijoshi) versions of some of these articles!
* A bunch of cheat sheets I wrote when studying for interviews: [Coding Cheat Sheets](https://github.com/aspittel/coding-cheat-sheets)
* Video versions of a lot of classes including computer science classes: [MIT on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/MIT)

### For Code Challenges

* Tons of challenges with difficulties attached: [CodeWars](https://www.codewars.com/)
* Another code challenge site with more consistency: [HackerRank](https://www.hackerrank.com/)
* Mathematical coding problems: [Project Euler](https://projecteuler.net/)

### Awesome beginner Libraries

* Build art with JavaScript: [P5 JS](https://p5js.org/)
* Build a customized map with JavaScript: [Leaflet](https://leafletjs.com/)
* Build virtual reality applications with HTML: [A-Frame](https://aframe.io/)
* Build a JavaScript game: [Phaser](https://phaser.io/)

### Communities

* Ask questions with the #explainlikeimfive, #help, and #meta tags [dev.to](https://dev.to)
* Participate in Twitter chats, listen to awesome motivational podcasts, and read helpful blog posts: [CodeNewbies](https://twitter.com/CodeNewbies) - they also have a Slack group!

## Your Favorites

Again, these are the resources that I have used myself or gone at least gone through, so I can definitely recommend them. Since I do mostly Python and JavaScript development, these lean pretty heavily in that direction! [Tweet me](https://twitter.com/ASpittel) your favorite resources! If you liked this article, [subscribe](https://mailchi.mp/b4216331e284/zen-of-programming) to my weekly mailing list with my favorite links from the week and all of my writing from that week!