Some people say the best way to teach a child to swim is to throw them in the pool. While this approach to teaching swimming is up for debate, its equivalent in the coding world – project-based learning – is a tried-and-true method of learning. Learning by doing is the best approach to starting to code. Coding small projects is a great way to start experiencing the power of coding.
Here is a list of beginner-friendly programming projects that you can try right now.
Create a webpage
It’s easier than you think to say “Hello World” and get your very own webpage live on the Internet. To start, all you need is a text editor on your computer and a web browser.
This popular Codecademy course teaches you how to write HTML and CSS, which allow you to create the structure of a webpage and style it, respectively.
Use your HTML and CSS skills to create your webpage in the text editor on your computer, and view it by opening the file in your web browser.
Once you’re happy with how your webpage looks, you can use GitHub Pages to host your webpage quickly and for free.
Automate the mundane
Computers, as their name suggests, are really good at computing. Even as a beginner coder, you can leverage this computing power by using code to speed up a mundane task.
This Youtube channel teaches you how to automate mundane tasks.
Slowly, you can learn the fundamentals of software development from coding simple tools that you can use. From initial design to user testing to maintenance, creating useful software will give you hands-on experience with each stage of software development. The possibilities are endless!
Make a Game
Why play games when you can build them? Creating a game is a creative and fun way to start programming. It can be simple or complicated, long or short; you can make it however you want it to be!
Here are a few possibilities:
- Use Scratch to invent your first game.
- Try coding a quiz! These are fairly simple and a good way to learn basic programming logic.
- Minecraft fan? Why not try your hand at creating 3D objects for Minecraft using Tinkercad.
Overall, it doesn’t matter what you make, as long as you’re making something! Creating is one of the best ways to learn how to code and independent projects make a great addition to your CV.