6
14 Comments

Best way to practice coding?

Hi all. Coding noob here.

I've familiarized myself with tons of resources to learn to code. But I'd love to know if there's a place where I can practice what I've learned in a structured way?

I've tried Mimo, the Duolingo of coding...but got bored pretty quickly. I'd love a place that gave you exercises or problems to solve on your own—things as simple as using HTML and CSS.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

  1. 6

    Build something, honestly. It doesn't have to be anything special, but once you start building something, you're going to hit all kinds of roadblocks, and that's when you're going to learn something. One of the biggest problems people run into with learning how to code in isolation through exercises is not integrating the lessons and frameworks into a larger whole. If you have a piece of data that's just floating off by itself in your brain, it's very hard to hang onto. If you learn a technology or a skill in relation to doing something it'll be a much stronger memory.

    So yeah, final answer. Build something. Maybe even a product, haha. ;)

  2. 2

    Build something. Here's what worked for me

    • Find an idea I'd like to build
    • Find a tutorial for my language/framework of choice to cover at least half of the features I'd like my app to have. ToDo App Tutorial as an example
    • Follow the tutorial. Instead of building said ToDo App, I will build my idea. This allows me to figure out how to apply the same principles from the ToDo app example to my own idea while learning the concept of the framework/language.
    • Continue adding more features to your idea based on on what you learned and continue searching for the best way to implement them.

    That works for me. Not sure if it will work most people.

    Hope that helps

  3. 2

    The best way to practice coding is to get some programming goal, a project, and build it. For example, you want to learn web programming. Start from simple websites. You know nothing at the beginning, but continuously, step-by-step, you will know everything, and your experience will be much better than those who learning by watching video, taking online courses, or bootcamps.

  4. 2

    Code Academy is a good tool to get acquainted with specific languages and frameworks. Leetcode and HackerRank are good places to practice problem solving with programs.

    Truth be told, coding is a means to an end. It's a tradecraft, like carpentry. I've tried to pick up lots of software tools and the only ones that stuck were ones where I had a problem to solve.

    If you have a problem to solve (eg a business idea), start by subdividing that problem into it's component problems (and so on and so on). Then you can build a piece of software to solve it.

  5. 1

    Here's my method to learn a new programming language:

    1. I take a book and I copy the code in it. Why a book? Because you'll find many reviews for them, and the different communities can help you choose one. It increase the chances to find something of quality. Good luck doing that with Udemy courses or Youtube videos.

    Why copying the code? To learn the syntax.

    1. Very quickly, as many said, I try to build something very simple. If it's too hard, I continue my book. If it's not, I build and I read the book in parallel.

    2. When my very simple first project is done (did I say it has to be simple?), I go for something I really want to build to keep the motivation flowing.

    Building a software is not only coding. It's way more than that: it's solving problems, going around roadblocks, using different technologies altogether.

    If you don't have any good learning material, you won't learn (or worst, you'll learn BS. It's better to be ignorant, because unlearning is hard). If you don't practice, you won't learn. The best is to do both.

  6. 1

    Since you already have access to coding resources, I'd recommend a place where you can learn by working on real projects. One example of regular practice in a structured environment is by joining a coding platform like Code Unicorn. The platform is now open source and free, with projects from beginner level to advanced level. There's a list of prerequisite on each task -- for instance, beginner projects that require a basic knowledge of HTML. You'll build simple tasks like a task list web app. There are also open tutorials to help you with aspects you might need help.
    https://codeunicorn.io/

  7. 1

    best way to is download adobe xd (it's free) download free premade designs and try your best to code up that exact design

  8. 1

    Have you tried codewars, hackerrank, or kaggle?

  9. 1

    It probably sounds like a silly question, but what are you working towards?

    Are you trying to build something, because if you are I would start with trying to build an MVP, and use that as your practice.

    Or are you trying to get hired for a development job, in which case I would probably do a mix of things like LeetCode and also trying to build something that you can show as an example.

    Or are you just doing it for fun? etc.

    1. 1

      Great question! For now, just for fun and to build my skills.

      Learning to code has been advice I've heard too many times to ignore. I'm seeing it more as an investment: Something I don't have a clear plan for now, but know I'll use to build something down the line.

      1. 2

        Personally, my route was finding things that I wanted to build (starting simple) or automate, and then just having a go, anything else I really struggled to find the motivation for - However, everyone is different in how they like to learn.

        The other things I've personally played around with are following a pluralsight or udemy course, and also LeetCode style.

        As a very shameless plug, I am actually trying to create something at the moment as my side project, to make learning and playing around with code a bit more fun - https://www.indiehackers.com/post/botwars-coder-beta-testers-e74799b913

  10. 0

    hey ,i would love to mentor you in this aspect....let's connect

    1. 1

      Is this mentoring offer still open?

Trending on Indie Hackers
How I grew a side project to 100k Unique Visitors in 7 days with 0 audience 47 comments Competing with Product Hunt: a month later 33 comments Why do you hate marketing? 27 comments $15k revenues in <4 months as a solopreneur 14 comments Use Your Product 13 comments How I Launched FrontendEase 13 comments