Activities

External Sites

There are plenty of places to go on the Internet to learn, practice, share and discover more about code, and quite often we get people attending who are working their way through resources they've found elsewhere on the web. The following are just a few of the ones we see people on, along with some we recommend you try.

#100DaysOfCode

Alexander Kallaway spent a year and a half learning to code and had many ups and downs along the way. He felt his experience would be useful to people and so set up #100DaysOfCode, challenging people to code for an hour a day. The challenge now has a small army of committed subscribers who share their projects, experiences and progress daily.

Box-256

Are you interested in what life was like when computers were programmed using 4-letter code words and hexadecimal numbers? Well, wonder no more. Box-256 is a computer game that challenges you to draw shapes using the kind of limited instruction set last seen in the 1960s. Challenging and interesting, even for the most prolific coder.

Codecademy

Whether you're writing your first line of code or transforming your career, Codecademy is a great place to start and get the technical skills you need to skill up and stand out.

Courses range from individual languages to so-called 'Intensive Programs' that teach specific software development techniques and tasks, from building web sites and APIs from scratch right through to data visualisation.

Code Combat

Code Combat was designed for use in schools but is a great place to start if you're looking to jump straight in. You are guided through steps such that you end up designing and implementing the artificial intelligence for a character in a computer game. All the graphics are done for you, so you just have to write a few lines of object-oriented Python code to get going.

Code Wars

The principle behind Code Wars is that you achieve mastery through challenge, and you can improve your skills by training with others. The exercises are real code challenges and can be done in any of 20 different languages. Users are encouraged to share and discuss their answers, meaning there's always someone to ask and always some way to learn.

CodinGame

A site where you can practice coding in almost any language you can think of. It has a beautiful interface, solo and user-versus-user challenges, competitions, badges, a rating system and lots more besides. Challenges range in difficulty from relatively simple to PhD-level, so there's something for everyone.

FreeCodeCamp

A popular online learning tool for beginners to get to grips with new langauges and concepts. It offers training in different aspects of software and has challenges of varying difficulty once you're feeling confident.

iDEA

iDEA is the digital and enterprise equivalent of The Duke of Edinburgh Award. Bronze is beginner, Silver intermediate and Gold advanced. Through our series of online challenges, you develop digital and enterprise skills for free. If you wish to become part of the Greater Manchester group you can enter the code GMDIGI161 at registration.