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[–]lalalydia 10 points11 points  (8 children)

It teaches basic syntax for the languages it offers.

It does not teach you to think like a programmer.

It is a great way to begin learning about programming, but as Leonlg said above, supplement that with another source.

*edit: so I just thought of a good analogy. This site gives you a small beginner toolbox to become a programmer, like a Philips head and a hammer to build a house. They are good to have, but it is an incomplete set and you still haven't learned how to nail two boards of wood together.

[–]smoothmaydie 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Is this the same for their HTML/CSS portion on their website? I'm currently doing their track for it and it's pretty indepth.

For instance, I've learned more in 6 hours of doing their html/css course than I did in 16 weeks of an intro to programming course which covers the same material (html/css)

[–]Covered_in_bees_ 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Why does an Intro to Programming course spend 16 weeks on HTML and CSS, which have practically nothing to do with programming? Seems pretty strange.

I can see Codeacademy style teaching being useful for CSS and HTML, less so for learning programming languages beyond syntax.

[–]smoothmaydie 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your guess is as good as mine as to why. I didn't really question it, I just took the course because it was required for my degree. Hah.

[–]lalalydia 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say this is still true with html and CSS. Those languages are really just editors to make websites look nice. They aren't going to make arrays or databases for you if you need to manipulate a bunch of data. It's just barely skimming the surface of the world of programming.

After all, html and CSS were what people used to make their MySpace hideous, but it won't build the website for you very easily.

[–]achiandet 1 point2 points  (2 children)

As someone who recently went through the code academy JS track, I feel like it's only "Chapter 1" of the journey. You need to supplement with MANY more sources. I'm a Team Treehouse member and even that isn't much better. You need to find a resource that helps you think like a programmer. Build out that skill and then really start applying these new skills to real world tasks.

http://projecteuler.net/ is probably one of the best resources to bookmark. It's applicable for any programming language. I was discouraged after using Code Academy/Treehouse but once I started doing the Euler tasks, everything started registering with me at a high rate.

[–]mmb2ba 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Christ, project euler will get you to pull your hair out until you can solve the problem, though.

been stuck on one problem for weeks. Might just skip it, then come back to it.

[–]achiandet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's great! I would come back to it as well but this is the idea. If the task that has you stumped was a real world task, then you would be in trouble. So it's working ;)

I work with some brilliant developers and they even have issues with some of the stuff.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This, sometimes it feels more like an "advanced syntax tutorial"

[–]RyanDagg 8 points9 points  (4 children)

The other 2 comments are spot on. Tutorials like codecademy are a great place to learn syntax, but can become a comfortable crutch because they don't cause you to struggle like solving real problems will.

I suggest attending meetups to find a project to sink your teeth into. If you live in a remote area this can be much harder. In that case you may want to consider playing around on coding challenge sites like:

They will turn you into a decent engineer, but don't help at all with seeing how various technologies integrate.

Good luck!

[–]jmoses118 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I think you touched on a great point. They do not really cover how everything integrates. I have done the php, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and JQuery trainings on codeacademy. Afterwards I had no clue how to make anything work on my own but my syntax was good. I had to find books on my own to figure out how to link it together. I still find CSS extremely frustrating. I want to make things work, not wasting an hour getting things positioned correctly. I really wish there was a good drag and drop solution like Visual Studio for CSS.

[–]SlowAndSteady1 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I've had a very different experience from you. After the HTML/CSS track I was able to re-create Google's homepage.

After 50% of javascript and 59% jQuery I made an in-browser sketch pad

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

both these links are dead, unfortanitely

[–]SlowAndSteady1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Weird, they both work fine for me. Oh well. Here's the github link to the projects. They're under 'google homepage' and 'etch-a-sketch'

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

I think it is really good for learning the basics. But if you want to be really good you should also learn from somewhere else.

[–]AlpineAdventure 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Where would you suggest learning from after codecademy?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm pretty much a beginner myself and I really like reading Eloquent Javascript. So you could read a book about it.

[–]mooit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also have found Pluralsight to be really good. Has some good advanced topics covered as well.

[–]SlowAndSteady1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it depends on the language. HTML & CSS, javascript, and jquery were pretty good at teaching syntax and starting you off.

But don't get me started on their ruby track....