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Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

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Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#121

Post by mhh__ »

mcguire wrote: post #27
songzme wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our decision behind JavaScript: We want our students to understand technology at a conceptual level first, end to end: 1. Client side - Mobile, web, terminal 2. Server side - Database interactions, system design and optimization 3. Batch - ML models and scripting AFAIK, JavaScript is the only language that is able to cover everything end to end (front end to backend to scripting to even ML) so I'm able to come up wit…

" I think it may be too overwhelming for students to learn different languages and learn the high level concepts at the same time. " That would take literally years.

I'm currently teaching a friend of mine "Computer Science" (he means programming primarily, but a bit of theory). He showed me his spreadsheet where he laid out his grand plan for the summer, in which he plans on basically covering the whole of CLRS in a week.

I explain things and help him write better code when he sends me stuff he's written but it's difficult to best explain that I've spent years getting to the point where I can write good, efficient, code - let alone starting almost genuinely from scratch ("What's a terminal"), and with an all too common disease that I'm going to call "Let you google that for me"

There's probably a joke in that he goes to Harvard and I go to a university you've probably never heard of but hey ho

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#124

Post by terrycody »

z3t4 wrote: post #85

shameless plug: If you want an editor/IDE for JS without installation and with Linux shell, try https://webide.se/ you get access to a dedicated server where you can run Docker, Android emulator, etc. Useful when you are on a Chromebook that don't have Linux support, or want to code on a mobile phone or tablet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

thank you! very useful site, bookmarked!

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#125

Post by songzme »

z3t4 wrote: post #85

shameless plug: If you want an editor/IDE for JS without installation and with Linux shell, try https://webide.se/ you get access to a dedicated server where you can run Docker, Android emulator, etc. Useful when you are on a Chromebook that don't have Linux support, or want to code on a mobile phone or tablet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

really cool. Did you build the whole thing yourself? it has so many functionalities I can get lost digging and playing into this.

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#126

Post by booleandilemma »

zero_shift wrote: post #90
thomspoon wrote: post #36

Software engineering is more than just software development. Writing requirements, drafting documentation, testing, verification, maintenance. I hate to be hypercritical, but five weeks of javascript doesn’t make you a software engineer.

I'm struggling to add this all up. On the one hand, I have some evidence that my job is hard: I have spent ten years learning to be proficient at it, still know only a narrow slice of it, and find it challenging every day. I have a solid degree from a world-renowned university, so I know I am not stupid. I also interview candidates, and know that many applicants simply cannot do the job. But on the other hand, there…

Programming is hard, and it’s only getting harder.

Managers don’t like this. They want to be able to hire programmers off the street with no experience and pay them a cheap salary. They want programmers to be plentiful and interchangeable. That is the dream.

But that’s all it is, just a dream that will never be realized no matter how many bootcamps and websites like this one come about.

The reason for this is there is no substitute for experience. Real experience. There are no shortcuts to becoming a developer. So don’t undersell yourself, your knowledge, or your experience.

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#127

Post by songzme »

lerie1982 wrote: post #123

I was under the impression that the website was interactive, but it's asking me to install a node module. Is that how you submit the challenges?

yes. Interactive in the sense that there is a chatroom and you can interact with other student mentors / engineers on there.

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#128

Post by abraxas »

songzme wrote: post #108
lquist wrote: post #104

# Why Learn JS? JavaScript is the only language that lets you do every aspect of technology. This is misleading at best.

I agree, I haven't had time to revisit it to improve the wording, will do it tonight. This is really what I meant: Our decision behind JavaScript: We want our students to understand technology at a conceptual level first, end to end: 1. Client side - Mobile, web, terminal 2. Server side - Database interactions, system design and optimization 3. Batch - ML models and scripting AFAIK, JavaScript is the only language th…

I think you are right and I'm annoyed that you are. Because I think JavaScript is a really hard language to master. Ubiquitous yes, versatile yes but so full of cruft and bad design decisions that it really can put many people off programming.

Re: Show HN: C0D3 – A free, interactive site to learn coding

#130

Post by snowwrestler »

zero_shift wrote: post #93
snowwrestler wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's great that so many software engineers and developers share their energy and expertise. I think your perception of what other professions do might be limited by your own experience, though. Just to go in order: Legal: My aunt is a lawyer and volunteered her time in a legal "clinic" where people with landlord/tenant issues could come in and get advice for free. She also worked some of her professional time…

I am aware of legal clinics and pro bono work, but this is very different from legal training. Even here in the UK, taking a GDL and LPC/BCPL is a very expensive proposition. There are no real free resources, if you want even a sniff of it you are putting down serious cash. I know because I looked very hard at doing it, and opted out partly because of the perilous costs involved. The engineering example is very diffe…

I think it's really hard to compare because of credentialing.

In the legal space there is a ton of free information and resources out there, and plenty of ways to work personally or professionally with the law that don't require a JD. For example part of my job is to advise colleagues on contracts and IP issues. I have no formal legal training; I learned on my own and have built up trust in my ability based on demonstrated competency. Not that I'm some special flower; I know other people with similar responsibilities.

Of course we also have actual lawyers on staff, and I'll never be able transfer to that role without shelling out some $$ because it is a formally defined credential. By definition there's only one way to become a lawyer.

Conversely, the lack of formal credentialing in software development makes it hard to evaluate the quality of the "professional training" that is available for free. If I go through the COD3 curriculum linked up top, what job can I reasonably expect to get? I don't think COD3 is comparable to a 3-year post-graduate degree in law.

The free-for-all that allows for open-ended innovation also allows a lot of open-ended promises about the value of free things. And because they're free, there's not really any accountability if the promises fall short. I don't think this is a bad thing; but it does make it hard to cleanly compare it to more formally credentialed industries.

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