OK, so this is not following the string of posts that I started, but I have to say that I just started Codecademy yesterday and I’m hooked. It’s pitched at just the right level that it keeps me anticipating the next exercise and able to do most everything as it comes along with just enough problems to keep me interested and learning. The big question I have is will this wind up helping? Is there enough here to actually get me started coding or is it just going to leave me hanging knowing only a fraction more that I did going in, but definitely not enough to move forward and truly expand my coding ability?
(I’m reminded of Bobby Fisher’s teaching chess book. It was a great book and I felt like I was learning something, but itreally could only address endgame scenarios that are fine when you’re at endgame, but how do you get there in the first place?)
DownHouseSoftware 
downhousesoftware
June 18, 2012 at 12:33 am
The more I play with codecademy, the more I realize that there are good teachers in the world and not-so good teachers in the world. It really makes a difference. – Now I know how my own students feel when they think that they’ve been left in the dust and are trying to decide whether they should keep pushing for clarification or just roll with it.
(Here I’d like to say that the best thing to do – at least in my class- is keep pushing. If I don’t explain something well, stop me. If I don’t make it better, stop me again. If you feel alone in your confusion, know that there are probably five other people with the same questions that just won’t ask them. And if it still keeps being a problem, talk to me outside of class. Because sometimes it’s just that some people need to approach a problem from a different angle.
Wow – long aside there.
So, what I was saying was that there really are great teachers at codecademy, who make the projects clearly comprehendible, but still leave the work up to the student. These are the best exercises. Others fall into categories where the project is not well defined (I have no Idea what endpoint I’m trying to reach) or the project is too easy because it’s all been done for me.
If you’re working through codecademy, I highly recommend the Q&A board. A lot of people tend to have the same problems and if you leave a question, I’ve gotten results in no time.
E-skills4Future
June 29, 2012 at 11:27 am
There are so many other websites similar to Codecademy where you can learn and practice your newly acquired skills. Personally, I always prefer to have several “sources of knowledge” when learning something new.
downhousesoftware
June 29, 2012 at 2:38 pm
I agree. I’m starting to branch out and explore other sources of information, but slowly. I even posted my first stackoverflow question last night and was amazed to have my question answered in a way that completely explained and solved my problem within a couple minutes. Kudos to that amazing resource.
And to think – I was extremely nervous about posting there because of the tendency of experienced programmers to flame noobs like me who don’t seem to know anything.