With Codecademy, you can just begin lessons. My experience with edX, Udacity, and Coursera is that the class is structured, so you can't work at your own pace.
Harvard's CS50x has a very loose structure. It's open until April 23 and one can complete the exercises, problem sets, lectures on his own time.
MIT's 6.00x has a strict weekly structure.
Udacity's courses have all eliminated the schedule and are now always-open, self-paced.
Most of Coursera's courses are structured.
If you want your friends to actually become programmers I'd recommend that you push both an Intro course as well as codeacademy for language practice. Codeacademy by itself isn't going to get you anywhere. The tutorials don't provide a solid enough foundation to actually implement anything meaningful. As a beginner programmer I went through every Python tutorial in < 30 hours. I used them as Python language practice, which worked well as a supplement to the core Intro courses. Both Udacity and 6.00x use python so they work well with codeacademy's python tutorials.
Udacity's courses have all eliminated the schedule and are now always-open, self-paced.
I didn't know that. Thanks. I'll mention it to them.
If you want your friends to actually become programmers I'd recommend that you push both an Intro course as well as codeacademy for language practice.
That's great advice. I can't teach my friends because I'm not really a programmer -- I was a business major turned cloud engineer who's still teaching himself.
Codeacademy by itself isn't going to get you anywhere.
I gained a great amount from finishing about 1/4 of code year. I feel like I grasp the fundamentals of programming and could soon become an intern at a startup. I wish my friends could learn as easily as I do...
Unfortunately that is not true for every Coursera course.
Most of them I've seen run by schedule, with weekly assignments. Classes that aren't open yet are closed for access, even if they have already run.
Comments
With Codecademy, you can just begin lessons. My experience with edX, Udacity, and Coursera is that the class is structured, so you can't work at your own pace.
Harvard's CS50x has a very loose structure. It's open until April 23 and one can complete the exercises, problem sets, lectures on his own time.
MIT's 6.00x has a strict weekly structure.
Udacity's courses have all eliminated the schedule and are now always-open, self-paced.
Most of Coursera's courses are structured.
If you want your friends to actually become programmers I'd recommend that you push both an Intro course as well as codeacademy for language practice. Codeacademy by itself isn't going to get you anywhere. The tutorials don't provide a solid enough foundation to actually implement anything meaningful. As a beginner programmer I went through every Python tutorial in < 30 hours. I used them as Python language practice, which worked well as a supplement to the core Intro courses. Both Udacity and 6.00x use python so they work well with codeacademy's python tutorials.
Udacity's courses have all eliminated the schedule and are now always-open, self-paced.
I didn't know that. Thanks. I'll mention it to them.
If you want your friends to actually become programmers I'd recommend that you push both an Intro course as well as codeacademy for language practice.
That's great advice. I can't teach my friends because I'm not really a programmer -- I was a business major turned cloud engineer who's still teaching himself.
Codeacademy by itself isn't going to get you anywhere.
I gained a great amount from finishing about 1/4 of code year. I feel like I grasp the fundamentals of programming and could soon become an intern at a startup. I wish my friends could learn as easily as I do...
I bet you'll learn a lot trying to teach your friends - it's a great way to solidify concepts in your own mind.
I've learned that I'm bad at teaching my friends.
Actually you can view Coursera's courses whenever you want and do it at your own peace.
Unfortunately that is not true for every Coursera course. Most of them I've seen run by schedule, with weekly assignments. Classes that aren't open yet are closed for access, even if they have already run.