136 Places to Learn to Code for Free

Lists from the Past

The first list I compiled was a list of online sources for parts for a Honda CB750 motorcycle. My first motorcycle was a 1975 CB750 and quickly realized it was the Volkswagen Bug of motorcycles: they were imported, a lot were sold in the United States, and a huge aftermarket sprouted around them that stuck around for decades.

This was before the days of Google. So I wrote a scraper that went through the varous results of Excite, Altavista and half a dozen other search engines and gave me all the unique urls. Then I went through them one at a time manually, checking the results.

I realized nobody else would be that OCD about data. I had spent a lot of hours on the project. I had over a hundred links to everything you could think of for the motorcycle. So I sold the list on eBay for $10 a pop and made $100-$200 a week for a couple of years. It funded all my motorcycle trips in Arizona and all the states surrounding it, at least once a month.

When this blog was more about SEO and online marketing, I compiled a lot of lists that used to be here when any link was a good link and it would increase your rank in Google. Those lists were at one time responsible for 1500 visitors a day, because I kept them current and updated.

A New List for Learning How to Program

This is the first list I have compiled that has to do with programming. I learned to code online with the help of a few physical books. Now that I have a few languages under my belt, I know the territory enough to do most of my learning in bite-sized chunks from Google search results.

But I figured if you are just starting out, you may not know an array from an object. When I started, I tried Python. People said it was easy. I tried Python for a while but I couldn’t figure out where the windows were. Up to that point, I had only used a Windows machine and to me, all software had a GUI, though I didn’t know that term yet. So I went to Visual Basic and stayed there until I learned web development. It helps to have a place to start rather than stumbling around for a few years like I did

Today there are a lot more resources that will start you off on a more solid path. A few will take you from beginner to a job interview in a year or less.

They were hard to categorize. The way I see it, is if you are a complete beginner, chose from either Online University, Online Learning Platform, or maybe Web Development, because there are usually a lot of entry-level jobs for web developers. If you already know the basics of one technology, then chose a specific language to learn about. If you already know JavaScript, HTML and CSS, maybe learn some Python or SQL. And if you just want to stay up to date, checkout the News, Blogs, Podcasts and YouTube Channel categories.

Blogs

A List Apart

This site began as a mailing list in 1997 and the website has been around since 1998. I don't know how many times a Google search on a programming topic sent me to this site.

Tuts+

Thousands of free tutorials and videos that will help you learn the basics of various programming languages.

Sitepoint

Frequent blog posts from top programmers.

David Walsh

A blog by the Mozilla senior software engineer.

CSS Tricks

A well-known blog on web development technologies.

C#

Codeasy

Learn to write C# code by playing an adventure game that requires you to write code to finish.

Coding Challenges

Hacker Rank

A coding platform designed to improve your coding skills and help you find a job.

Project Euler

A series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve.

Coderbyte

Improve your programming skills with a library of over 300 challenges. Also prepare for interviews.

CodingGame

Learn to code, practice your programming skills and compete against other developers in the language of your choice.

Code Chef

Practice the coding challenges to become a better developer, compete with others to see how you rank or finish quizzes that could land you a job.

Codility

A software platform designed to test coding skills for tech recruiters and hiring managers, but open to the public so you can test your own skills.

Command Line

Command Line Power User

A video series for web developers on learning a modern command line workflow with ZSH, Z and related tools.

Conquering the Command Line

Free online version of the book "Conquering the Command Line".

Learn Enough Command Line

Full online book that will teach you how to use the command line.

Learn Command Line Basics

Get started using the command line with this course.

Cybersecurity

O'Reilly Security Books

Free ebooks on cybersecurity from O'Reilly.

Cybrary

Free courses in cybersecurity, with the option to pay for certificate based courses.

Data Science

Elite Data Science

EliteDataScience.com helps busy people streamline the path to becoming a data scientist.

Springboard

Learn data analysis with this free curriculum covering statistics, data wrangling, and visualization by an Airbnb/MIT alum.

Dataquest

Dataquest will teach you data skills. Learn Python, R, SQL, data visualization, data analysis, and machine learning. Try any of their 60 free missions to start your data science journey.

Free Ebooks

Free Ebook Foundation

There are over 3000 links to free programming ebooks in this list. You should be able to find out about any topic you can think of.

Launch School Open Book Shelf

A dozen free books on programming.

Git

Git Immersion

A guided tour that walks through the fundamentals of Git, inspired by the premise that to know a thing is to do it.

Try Git

Multiple resources that will teach you Git, hosted with Github.

Learn Enough Git

Complete online book that will show you how to use Git.

JavaScript

Sololearn JavaScript Fundamentals

Learn the fundamentals of JavaScript online or from your phone.

JavaScript Essentials

A free course from Udemy on the basics of JavaScript.

VueJs.org

Learn VueJs at this site.

Microsoft Channel 9 JavaScript Fundamentals

21 episodes from Microsoft Channel 9 that will teach you JavaScript.

Learn ReactJS

A 7 hour long beginner course on React.

A Better Way to Learn Angular

Angular is not AngularJS. Learn the new Angular.

React Armory

Learn React without everything else that makes it confusing.

Eloquent JavaScript

This is an online book. I love this book. It really was a turning point in my knowledge of JavaScript.

Watch and Code JavaScript

A free online course that will teach you JavaScript.

Node School

Open source workshops that teach web software skills. Do them on your own or at a workshop nearby.

Jquery Learning Center

Jquery may not be used as much now when there are JavaScript frameworks, but sometimes you only need a little JavaScript, so it is good to know some Jquery.

JavaScript for Cats

A simple tutorial you can complete in an hour or two using the console of your browser.

W3Schools JavaScript Tutorial

Learn JavaScript from the site I tend to land on pretty frequently when I have coding questions.

Learn JS

Learn JavaScript with an interactive online tutorial.

Learn React for Free

Learn React with 57 online screencasts.

Watch and Code

A JavaScript course that promises to take out all the fluff and teach you exactly what you need to know for real life projects.

JavaScript.com

A basic intro to coding JavaScript brought to you by Pluralsight.

Kids

CodeHS

CodeHS is used as part of the curriculm in high schools across the country. Home learners can also sign up.

Crunchzilla

Interactive tutorials that will teach you the basics of programming.

Code.org

I put this under the kids category, but they actually have free course up to university level, organized by grade level. It's goal is to make programming a part of the regular educational curriculm.

Code Avengers

This site, based out of New Zealand is designed to make learning to code fun.

Machine Learning

Machine Learning Mastery

A site dedicated to simplifying and teaching machine learning to developers.

Google AI

Learn machine learning from the experts on the subject at Google.

Mentors

Hack.pledge()

This is a community of developers who have signed a pledge to mentor new developers.

Mobile Development

Android Developers

The official docs for Android.

Swift Playgrounds

A gamified app-based way to learn about iOS app development.

Google Android Training

Learn to develop Android phone apps from the company that created the platform, Google.

Start Developing iOS Apps

Learn to develop iPhone Apps from Apple.

Design and Code a Cool iPhone App

A tutorial on the easy way to create an iPhone app with just HTML5.

Google Developer's Training

Learn how to develop Android apps even if you are new to programmings.

News

Medium Programming Category

I wasn't sure about the News category and how to seperate that from Blogs. This is here because I am considering any site that aggregates a bunch of blogs as a news source, a place to find something new you might want to explore. You an usually find high quality content on Medium.

Dev.to

A site like Medium with just articles on development.

Lobsters

A site similar to Hacker News, where users vote on popular programming stories.

Hacker News

Online Learning Platform

Bento.io

This site curates online learning courses from across the web and combines them into full curriculms.

Course City

An aggregator for courses hosted on other platforms.

Sololearn

Millions of users are active on SoloLearn. Each course is geared toward a specific language or technology with complete lesson plans and frequent quizzes.

Simpliv

A paid online learning platform that offers some free courses.

After Hours Programming

Basic site to learn about various programming languages.

Scotch.io

Build real world projects by following these online video tutorials.

W3Schools

I often end up here when I search for a programming related issue on Google. The site has been around for a long time an houses a wealth of programming information.

Hackr.io

This is actually a searchable, votable list of coding tutorials submitted by users that are hosted elsewhere. So if my list is not enough for you, go there to find more.

Udacity

You can access all courses for free or pay to earn a nanodegree.

Upskill

Upskill is a free online code boot camp that is project-based which means you will be building a portfolio as you learn.

Code Conquest

A great site to learn the basics of programming.

The Odin Project

Learn coding and get hired while interacting with fellow students.

BitDegree

At BitDegree you can take courses of JavaScript, HTML, CSS, PHP, SQL. And they have free certifications.

Khan Academy

Learn to code at one of the original and most well known learning platforms.

Agupieware

Agupieware is a suite of courses created by an independent software developer who surveyed the courses of some of the top universities in the United States and created a similar curriculm

freeCodeCamp

I think freeCodeCamp is one of the best programs I have seen. I wish it was around when I was getting started. I think I would have made a big difference in my career. It is 100% free. There are a lot of technologies covered. You can follow a frontend developer roadmap, backend developer roadmap, or a devops roadmap. You can even get a certificate. They have coding interview prep. They will even help you get a job. You can even work on projects for non-profit organizations to build a portfolio. Currently over 40,000 people have gotten jobs after freeCodeCamp.

Skillcrush's Free Coding Camp

A course for the total beginner that can be completed in 5 minute increments. Great for getting for feet wet and deciding if development is for you.

Code Academy

At Code Academy you can learn basic programming skills for free. They also have pro courses available for a monthly fee.

Udemy

Udemy is one of the largest online learning platform with some free courses. Note that they have frequent sales on paid courses with really deep discounts, sometimes over 50% off.

Code Wars

Kata style learning platform for a bunch of technologies.

Microsoft Learn

Learn about Microsoft technologies and prepare yourself to pass Microsoft certifications online.

Free Pluralsight Courses

Pluralsight is a staple of on the job learning for tech companies. I have worked at two companies so far that bought licenses for all the developers. The whole Pluralsight platform is top notched. Most of the courses cost money, but there are a few free ones.

Edabit

Learn to code with interactive code challenges.

Online University

edX

edX is an online university similar to Coursera with some free courses. You can also earn a degree or certificate.

Coursera

At Coursera, you can take courses from universities around the country and some of them are free. You can even earn a degree or certificate.

MIT Open Courseware

You can audit the MIT courses online for free.

PHP

Learn-PHP.org

Whether you are an experienced programmer or not, this website is intended for everyone who wishes to learn the PHP programming language. Learn online in the browser.

PHP Buddy

This site is designed to help you learn PHP programming here you will find high quality PHP articles, Quick Start PHP tutorials and scripts that will help to you learn PHP quickly.

Develop PHP

Learn not only PHP here, but JavaScript, CSS, HTML and Flash.

PHP the Right Way

An online course that will teach you PHP.

Killer PHP

‘Killer’ PHP Lessons for Non-Nerds!

Learn PHP

Learn the fundamentals of PHP, one of the most popular languages of modern web development.

W3Schools PHP Tutorial

Learn PHP at W3Schools.

Podcasts

Developer Tea

Learn to Code in One Month

Each week Chris Castiglione interviews successful business founders, startups and programmers and asks them how they learned to code.

Learn to Code with Me

A podcast by Laurence Bradford, who taught herself to code and you can too.

ShopTalkShow

A podcast about building websites, covering development, design, performance, accessibility and more.

Python

LearnPython.org

Learn Python with an interactive online tutorial.

Learn Python Programming by Example

Learn Python by working with real-world examples.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python

The full book online along with links to other Python books and courses online.

Learn Python

A free 25 hour course that will teach you Python.

The Python Foundation's Beginner's Guide

A list of links to Python courses and tutorials.

A Byte of Python

A free online book on programming using the Python language.

Learn Python the Hard Way

This is the complete book on published online for free.

Google's Python Class

Learn how to write Python from Google.

W3Schools Python Tutorial

Learn Python at W3Schools

Ruby

Learn Ruby On Rails

Learn the basics of building applications with this convenient and powerful web development framework.

Ruby Monk

Free, interactive tutorials to help you discover Ruby idioms, in your browser.

Rails Tutorial

A complete online book that will teach you Ruby on Rails.

Ruby in 20 Minutes

A free, quick course from the official Ruby site.

Ruby Koans

Learn Ruby with interactive tutorials.

Learning Ruby the Hard Way

This is the complete book on published online for free.

Learn Ruby Online

This website is intended for everyone who wishes to learn the Ruby programming language.

Rails Girls

These guides are built to provide tools and a community for women to understand technology and how to build their ideas.

Ruby On Rails Tutorial

This tutorial has been designed for beginners who would like to use the Ruby framework for developing database-backed web applications.

W3Resource Ruby Tutorial

A course on Ruby.

SQL

MySql Tutorial

Learn basic MySql, advanced MySql, even learn how to interact with MySql using Python, Perl, PHP or JavaScript.

UI/UX

UXPin

Free ebooks on UX design.

The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction

Full book online. There are also a few other good books available for free.

UX Beginner

Learn how to get started in UX design.

Web Development

Mozilla Developer Network

Learn Web Development from a company that helped to set some of the standards.

HTML Dog

Free HTML tutorial. If you plan on doing web development, HTML is where you start.

Learn HTML & CSS for Free

Learn HTML and CSS, neither of which are actual programming lanuages, but we're not counting.

Dash General Assembly

Learn the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

The Code Player

Learn to code by going through real-life case studies of projects.

Web Fundamentals

Learn the basics of web development from Google

Learn HTML for Free

If you know you are going into web technologies or you are unsure of what type of programing you might like, chances are that you will have to know some HTML. And if you know HTML, you will need to know some CSS to layout and style that HTML. This is the perfect place to get your feet wet.

Written by Stephan Miller

Kansas City Software Engineer and Author

Twitter | Github | LinkedIn

Updated February 21, 2020