Code Year encourages coding newcomers to hack away in 2012

Long lines for the elliptical machine at a jam-packed gym have you rethinking that New Years resolution already? Well, the team at Codeacademy has an alternative idea. Codeacademy, a startup that provides free …

The team at Codeacademy is encouraging people to learn coding as part of their New Year’s resolution.

Long lines for the elliptical machine at a jam-packed gym have you rethinking that New Years resolution already? Well, the team at Codeacademy has an alternative idea.

Codeacademy, a startup that provides free, interactive, online tutorials to help people learn to code, is touting 2012 as Code Year and encouraging people to make their New Year’s resolution learning to code. Says the Code Year website: “Sign up on Code Year to get a new interactive programming lesson sent to you each week, and you’ll be building apps and web sites before you know it.”

By signing up for Code Year, you’ll receive a weekly email prescribing the next course you should begin on the Codecademy website. Codeacademy’s curriculum starts with javascript, and its website tells prospective users that, “after one month, you will be well on your way to building the first part of a well-known game.”

You don’t have to create a Codeacademy account to participate in Code Year, but an account is necessary for users to keep track of progress. Perhaps best of all, it’s free.

Codeacademy isn’t based in the Silicon Prairie, but it certainly could be helpful to people who are.* Take it from me: about the only code I know is Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. I couldn’t, as the kids say, code my way out of a paper bag — or any paper product, for that matter. But as someone who covers programmers and developers on a regular basis and wants to have a better appreciation of the folks I write about, I’ve resolved to give Code Year a try. And, as of this afternoon, more than 312,000 other people had, too.

Thinking of participating in Code Year or already using Codeacademy yourself? We want to hear about it. Chime in with your stories in the comment section below or email us at editor@siliconprairienews.com with stories of why you’re trying it or what your experiences so far have been.

Image credits: Screenshot from codeyear.com.


*Update Jan. 11, 7:15 p.m. – The story was updated to eliminate two incorrect references to “Code Academy.” A previous version of the story twice referred to Codeacademy as “Code Academy,” which is a Chicago-based program that teaches beginners how to code.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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