Eloquent JavaScript Teaches You JavaScript for Free

These days, there’s no dearth of great resources for learning to code. Here’s another great one, a 21-chapter book posted online and chock full of JavaScript training.

Eloquent JavaScript is written by Marijn Haverbeke, builder of CodeMirror, an in-browser code editing tool. In the book, you’ll not only learn about objects and arrays and debugging, but also walk through several projects, such as building a platform game in your browser. There’s even a code sandbox so you can download source code from the chapters or edit and run your own code.

It looks like a very thorough book, generously made possible by donations from 454 backers. Print and eBook versions are in the works, but you can get started right now reading from the Eloquent JavaScript website.

Learn Beginner and Advanced HTML/CSS Skills for Free

When you want to make something awesome on the web, you have to start with HTML and CSS. With plenty of options, picking a good tutorial isn't always easy. Here are beginner and advanced lessons that'll teach you the basics and beyond.

Designer/developer Shay Howe put together a set of free lessons to help youlearn the basics of HTML and CSS as well as more advanced techniques to improve your abilities. Each lesson walks you through various concepts, providing code-based and visual examples to help you understand. When you finish each, Shay offers additional resources so you can keep learning more about HTML and CSS beyond his guides. Whether you're looking to get started or improve your skills, check them out. His guides are very organized, detailed, and helpful.

Scratch for Arduino Makes Programing the Arduino More Visual

Windows/Mac/Linux: Programming an Arduino isn't especially difficult, but if you're looking for a more visual method, Scratch for Arduino (S4A) uses MIT's Scratch as a groundwork for teaching kids (or beginners) how to program an Arduino.

S4A works just like Scratch where you drag and place actions to create programs. The idea is to provide you with a more visual language to program in so you can understand how things work better. Even if you're experienced with Arduino programming, it's fun to play around with. Otherwise, it's a good place to start learning about how the Arduino works.

Atom, the Text Editor from GitHub, Is Available for Windows

Windows: Atom, the free text editor from the folks at Github (and one of our favorite text editors), now has an official Windows version. It's an alpha release, but it brings all of Atom's features to Windows, including support for the packages that make the tool so extendable.

To use Atom on Windows, you can either download a zip directly (linked below) or install chocolatey (a utility for Windows that's a lot like Homebrew for OS X or apt-get for Ubuntu) and install it from the command line. The latter approach also makes it easy to install packages and third-party utilities (and Atom updates) as they become available, so it's the Atom's team preferred solution. They have instructions on how to do it below.

Beyond that, once installed Atom works like a native Windows application, so it should act like any other program on your system. Hit the link below to grab it and give it a whirl, or head to the main project page to read more about the project.

Bing Can Now Show You Code Snippets and Run Code in Search Results

Every programmer and person who’s tried learning to code looks up code snippets to find the best way to develop their programs. Bing’s there to help now, with over 80 common code examples that can be edited and executed in your search results.

When you search for a common programming term, such as “bubble sort Python” or “Python array,” the new widget should appear. You can also switch the programming language to C, C++, C#, PHP, or Java to compare. Click the Run button, and you’ll see the code executed.

Not every programming example or term will be presented here; we still needStack Overflow! But Bing (with assist from HackerRank) has just become a more useful tool for developers and those learning to code.

HackerRank Partners with Bing to Help You Find Solutions Faster | HackerRank 

Learn to Code for Free While Building Apps for Nonprofits

Learn a highly valuable tech skill and build a portfolio of apps while helping a nonprofit? There’s a lot to like about Free Code Camp.

The online camp offers free, self-paced coding challenges online that will help you learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript (and jQuery), Node.js, database usage, and more—hundreds of hours of practice and learning projects that by the end should have you not only ready for a coding job but also have a portfolio of projects that have helped actual nonprofits. Free Code Camp also offers a freefront-end development certificate after you finish the course.

The only downside is you have to put the time in. You have to complete the challenges— which include acquiring basic coding skills and practice with algorithms, front end development, and full stack development—before you can work on building nonprofit projects. It takes (more or less) 1,600 hours to get through the course, but it’s something you can do at your own pace.

There’s a great community of fellow learners and Free Code Camp volunteers (with real-time chat) to help you along your way as well.

Go get coding and hopefully see you there!

Free Code Camp

Swifty Teaches You to Code in Swift on Your iPhone or iPad

iOS: If you want to create an iOS app or a Mac app, Apple would like you to use their new programming language, Swift. For those new to coding, Swifty is one of the easiest and simplest way to get started learning.

Swifty walks you through the basics of coding, starting with running your first program (printing your name) and learning about variables and functions. The tutorials are optimized for the iPhone's and iPad's touch interface, so instead of typing in tons of code, you'll be shown an explanation of new programming concepts then some lines of code with some options missing. Tap or type to choose an option, then run the code to reveal the result.

This format makes it ideal for learning on the go and in short sprints. To access all 200+ interactive lessons, you'll need to buy the in-app upgrade ($2.99), but the first chapter with 13 lessons covering Swift basics is free to try.

Swifty (Free; $2.99)

An Ex-Microsoft Engineer's Advice to Programmers: Learn How to Write

Finding success in any field is rarely confined to a singular skill, even one like programming. That’s why Mike Borozdin, the now senior director of engineering at DocuSign, suggests all programmers sharpen their grammar skills in addition to their coding skills.

You might be a fantastic programmer, but knowing how to write clearly can help you better explain your work to managers or potential clients. Borozdin, a former Microsoft engineer for several years, explains to Business Insider:

I would advise folks in software to do one thing, and that’s write. Learn how to write ... It’s actually useful. You need to know how to express yourself. And it’s really tough for a lot of engineers to step up and do public speaking... Once you create a successful piece of software, you’re probably going to be writing English as much as you’re going to be writing Java or Objective C. I’ve created multiple pieces of software at DocuSign that went viral, and people liked them and wanted to use more of them. And I probably wrote 10 times the documentation and explanation, and answered questions in paragraph form.

Furthermore, knowing how to write makes it easier for you to claim proper credit for your work. Borozdin recollects times he’d handed off work to manager and wasn’t acknowledged for his work because it wasn’t clear that it was his idea being utilized. If you only know how to write in code, it might be a good idea to spend some more time with one of your first written languages.

Microsoft's Free Visual Studio Program Gives You Free Software and Online Training

With Visual Studio you can develop apps for Windows as well as Android, iOS, and the web. Microsoft has released a Visual Studio Dev Essentials program to give you the tools you need to start coding—including Parallels for Mac and Pluralsight training.

In addition to the code editor and IDE tools, Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio Community, joining the free program with your Microsoft account gets you access to things like:

• A 6-month subscription to Pluralsight online training
• $25 credit at HackHands Live Programming Help
• 3-month subscription to Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition and Parallels Access
• $25/month Azure credit for 12 months

and more.

Some of these are only available through the Visual Studio Dev Essentials program and for a limited time only (e.g., before the end of the year) and while supplies last, so head over to the Visual Studio site to sign up.

Learn How to Port Your iOS App to Windows 10

It’s no surprise that Microsoft wants us to create apps that can run on Windows 10. To that end, the company has posted a tutorial for everyone who’s made an iOS app to easily bring it over to Windows 10.

The tutorial includes the code for a simple to-do list in Xcode, which you can them turn into a Visual Studio solution. From there, Microsoft’s Windows Bridge for iOS ports your app to Windows 10. The tutorial also includes advice on making sure your app will scale properly on different sized screens and troubleshooting bugs.

Cross-platform apps are the best kind of apps, so hopefully this will catch on and the Windows 10 Store will have many more apps to choose from.