Thinking about this coding course - 98% off normal price

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eracode

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#281553 25-Feb-2021 08:18

I learnt a little basic programming as part of an Economics paper at Uni in the early 70’s. Mark-sense IBM punch cards input, FORTRAN, mainframe computer with overnight processing, line-flow printer output, etc. We were doing stuff like simulating physical queuing situations using a Monte Carlo approach I loved it but have never done anything similar since then - work or hobby-wise.

I just saw this course and, given the price, I’m thinking of giving it a go. I won’t use it for anything practical and I’m retired, so it’s in no way work-related. Will just do it because I’m interested for the mental exercise and to get a feel for how these languages work.

I may fall flat on my face - it’s meant to be suitable for beginners but maybe I’ll find it unintelligible or too difficult or it may move too fast - but at about $50 I feel I haven’t got a lot to lose. I would never have considered paying the full US$2600 for it.

Keen to see comments etc.

https://www.cultofmac.com/735657/master-learn-to-code-2021-certification-bundle/#more-735657

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#2662496 25-Feb-2021 08:32

Assuming you use a Windows computer, then why don't you simply start using something like PowerShell?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerShell

It's free to use, it's free to learn and you'll discover ways to automate processes and learn about the computer you use everyday.

sidefx

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#2662551 25-Feb-2021 09:21

Another option is to choose a cloud provider\platform of choice (Azure, Amazon, Google or something like Heroku, etc) then a lot of them offer both free tiers on the platform and good free training material (including coding, but also setup etc) to get you started - (I know you say it's in no way work related, but also then sets you up for easy certification if you wanted)

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davidcole

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#2662555 25-Feb-2021 09:34

I'm not sure I'm push anyone at powershell, certainly not as a "first language". Its very different from most languages (return values etc don't match any other language Ive dealt with).

Visual Studio is free now (community edition) if you wanted to try C Sharp (is java like) or VB.Net.

Or looking at python.

That course seemed to look like it was heading towards c++ - which might be ok, again is quite a hard language to start with....oh I read futher, it seems to cover all sorts....maybe it takes you through a couple of them so you get a taster and decide which one fits your brain.

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#2662557 25-Feb-2021 09:39

I think of Powershell as more along lines of being for those that liked to script things.

Coding is for those that want to create from scratch.

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#2662558 25-Feb-2021 09:44

davidcole:

Visual Studio is free now (community edition) if you wanted to try C Sharp (is java like) or VB.Net.

Also still fairly bloated (though definitely getting better!) I'm moving away from it to vscode these days. With dotnet core you can pretty much use commandline and any editor of choice. Plenty of free training material on it too:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/get-started

similar for many javascript platforms:

https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/getting-started-guide/

(If you want to go the javascript route there are also plenty of in browser options too, including introductory ones for kids that are a decent start)

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#2662565 25-Feb-2021 09:55

Learning coding sounds like it could be interesting. That specific course, who knows if it'll be any good. If you just want to learn for the fun of it I'd suggest a Python course or tutorial. A video course can make it easier to get started. Visual Studio code is a good free IDE used by many, many people, I think it's the most popular IDE now.

You could also learn AWS Cloud if you wanted to, their free tier means it's free unless you make a mistake or use resources outside the free tier. You could learn Python then deploy something to AWS. Just beware AWS is a massive enterprise environment, it's super complex, I've been working with it for years, had plenty of training, I'm highly certified I'm still learning every day. But the basics of spinning up a server is pretty easy.

I wouldn't go with the PowerShell, it's a bit odd.

turtleattacks

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#2662569 25-Feb-2021 10:08

timmmay:

Learning coding sounds like it could be interesting. That specific course, who knows if it'll be any good. If you just want to learn for the fun of it I'd suggest a Python course or tutorial. A video course can make it easier to get started. Visual Studio code is a good free IDE used by many, many people, I think it's the most popular IDE now.

You could also learn AWS Cloud if you wanted to, their free tier means it's free unless you make a mistake or use resources outside the free tier. You could learn Python then deploy something to AWS. Just beware AWS is a massive enterprise environment, it's super complex, I've been working with it for years, had plenty of training, I'm highly certified I'm still learning every day. But the basics of spinning up a server is pretty easy.

I wouldn't go with the PowerShell, it's a bit odd.

I would agree to this also - look at cloud computing using AWS services such as Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway.

You can code in Javascript (Node) or Python.

Furthermore, with Javascript or Pythonm, you can start with libraries that others have created such as NPM.

AWS have really generous free tiers and you can do A LOT for free without paying a cent.

If you really want to start with JS, also look into Google Scripts.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2662570 25-Feb-2021 10:19

The course sounds interesting and without wanting to sound like I'm making any sort of recommendation, is probably a good starting point. It covers a lot of topics, not programming per se, and would possibly give you ideas for topics to investigate further that aren't necessarily coding related.

For understanding the fundamental concepts present in all languages, C is an excellent starting point IMO. You won't be able to do as much 'out of the box' as you can using Python, .NET etc., but you'll learn the basics and the sky is the limit.

turtleattacks

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#2662573 25-Feb-2021 10:29

Also it's worth doing Havard's CS50 for free.

https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-to-computer-science

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MurrayM

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#2662645 25-Feb-2021 13:36

turtleattacks:

Also it's worth doing Havard's CS50 for free.

https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-to-computer-science

I did this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

There's a few good free programming courses around where you do things at your own pace, eg CodeCademy. These are mainly introductions to various languages, but you do all the programming on via the CodeCademy website, so you don't have to set up any programming environment on your local PC.

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#2662709 25-Feb-2021 16:35

98% off the normal price. Yeah right. Sign up and I guarantee your email address will go onto their spamalot list.

Whilst any one of those 10-hour courses *might* be worth $200, no-one would ever want to do them all. They're just too diverse... 90% of them would be irrelevant to you.

Think of programming languages like tools... for most people a set of sockets and a Crescent will be more than they will ever need. A professional mechanic *might* also buy the deep sockets (in 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 drive) and the ring spanners and the open-end spanners and the offset spanners and the ratchet spanners and all the rest. But he probably wouldn't. So you will be able to do everything you'll probably ever want in C, or C#, or C++, or Python, or Java. By the time you *need* C++ instead of any of the others, you'll know why you need it.

There are more than enough free teach-yourself-programming sites on the Net. e.g. w3schools.com

Choose any one, and go for it.

richms

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#2662775 25-Feb-2021 20:19

Also check out humble bundle all the time for this sort of thing, its not rare, its not limited time, just they will be advertising with that site at the moment. I mean at the price its not exactly expensive at about the same as a cheap meal for 2, but you might get zero use out of it vs some other tools etc.

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mkissin

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#2662811 25-Feb-2021 21:40

One thing that not many people are aware of is the amazing free resources that are available from your local library (really).

For example, Auckland libraries offer completely free access to LinkedIn Learning for anybody with a library card. You can even access it from home, you don't need to be at the library. If you're in Auckland, give that a whirl, they have some good stuff in there.

kickintheeye

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#2662829 25-Feb-2021 22:58

I'm not here to tell anyone how to spend their money but before investing in a paid coding course I would suggest trying great free options out there such as:

https://www.freecodecamp.org - just like its name suggests

https://codepen.io/ - Online code editor for front-end designers, building and testing stuff, getting inspired by projects and challenges posted by the CodePen community

Stu

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#2662832 25-Feb-2021 23:39

Some interesting info here. Think I'll take a look at the community edition of Visual Studio myself. Thanks @davidcole

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