freeCodeCamp/awesome-quincy-larson-emails

Awesome Quincy Larson Email Archive

This repository is an archive of Quincy Larson's weekly email newsletter.

If you find these learning resources to be worth your time, consider supporting the nonprofit with a tax-deductible donation: https://donate.freecodecamp.org or with a monthly donation via their Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/m/4797564/

A big thanks to Sourabh Joshi for creating this repo and helping maintain it. He's a software engineer from Bengaluru who works at https://quso.ai.

August 1, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you how to build your own super duper reliable APIs using TypeScript and Express. TypeScript is just JavaScript with static types, so if you know some basic JS you're all set to crush this course. You'll learn how to structure your server, define routes, validate incoming data, handle errors, and catch common data type faux pas before they rear their ugly heads in production. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-bulletproof-apis-using-typescript-in-express/

2. We also dropped a comprehensive new course on Additive Manufacturing. Building things with atoms instead of just bits is all the rage in the 2020s. You'll learn how 3D printers work, and how your choice of resin or metal will affect the finished part. You don't need to buy hardware to learn. Just dive in, draft some designs, then take them to your local library or hackerspace for printing. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-3d-printing-additive-manufacturing/

3. Oh and we just published a full-length book on DevSecOps. Just for you. (And the other two million people I send this to. But don't worry you're my favorite.) It'll walk you through designing infrastructure, automating deployments, and securing your delivery pipeline from day one. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-ready-devsecops-platform-from-homelab-to-aws-full-book/

4. I also recommend learning about Kubernetes Operators, which can trick your cluster into sorta managing your apps for you. This handbook will give you the skinny on controllers, reconciliation loops, and other key Kubernetes concepts. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-kubernetes-operators-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. Finally, take a tour through one of the internet's oldest traditions: publishing joke Request for Comments documents on April Fools' Day. Learn about proposed standards for transmitting data via carrier pigeon, controlling coffee pots over the web, and flagging malicious network packets with an “evil bit”. This is my culture. These are my people. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-internet-s-longest-running-joke-a-field-guide-to-the-april-fools-rfcs/

Quote of the Week: “The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.” — Computer scientist Andrew Tanenbaum in his 1981 book “Computer Networks”. We've gotten a few new standards since then ;)

July 24, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course to help you prepare for Anthropic's new Claude Certified Architect Foundations exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who's passed almost every developer certification exam under the sun. He'll teach you how to design agentic systems, use Claude Code workflows, manage context, structure outputs, and more. Even if you're not taking the exam, this is a good way to get up to speed on agents. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-certified-architect-foundations-prep-for-anthropic-s-new-certification-exam

2. If you like software gore, freeCodeCamp just published an article written by a CTO that explains why even the most expensively-trained LLMs still make up random crap. You'll read horror stories about support bots who invented company policies, lawyers filing court briefs with fake citations, and AI agents deleting production data. You'll also learn about the field of interpretability research and how scientists are working to understand this phenomenon so they can dial the nonsense back a bit. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/that-s-embarrassing-why-frontier-ai-still-makes-things-up-and-what-to-do-about-it/

3. freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubów created this short history of the 1980s trademark fight between Apple Computer and the Beatles' record label Apple Records. It resulted in a pretty absurd arrangement where Apple couldn't use musical names for alert sounds in the Macintosh operating system. But one rogue Apple sound designer quietly revolted against this judgement, producing such easter eggs as “Sosumi.” When you read it out loud, it's: “so sue me.” (7 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-an-apple-engineer-pranked-billion-dollar-lawyers-and-won

4. Ania also created this tutorial for developers who want to experiment with multi-agent coding. You'll build and deploy your own full-stack habit tracker app. Instead of relying on one agent to do everything, you'll use a tool called TRAE IDE to break your spec down and delegate tasks across multiple specialized agents. (20 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/multi-agent-coding-deployment-with-trae-ide

5. Finally, if you love building mobile apps in Flutter as much as we do, you're going to love this new freeCodeCamp handbook. You'll learn how to wield the mighty blade that is the Observer Design Pattern. It allows for one event to trigger several independent reactions without tightly coupling all of your components together. The wisdom in this handbook is a great first step into the realm of Event-Driven Architecture. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-observer-design-pattern-handbook-event-driven-architecture-domain-driven-design-in-dart/

Quote of the Week: “The models are astonishing, honestly more capable than I predicted they’d be by now. And they still make things up, confidently, in production, in ways that range from funny to business-ending.” — CTO and software engineer Omer Rosenbaum in his “That's Embarrassing” freeCodeCamp article

July 17, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Python course for absolute beginners. First you'll learn key concepts like variables, data types, string manipulation, operators, conditionals, and loops. Then you'll apply these skills by building six projects from scratch. If you're new to programming, this is an excellent place to start. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-beginner-s-guide-to-python-hands-on-projects-to-get-you-coding/

2. And if you already know some JavaScript, freeCodeCamp just published a course on building full-stack mobile apps using React Native. You can code along at home and build your own grocery list app that runs on both Android and iPhone. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-full-stack-mobile-development-with-react-native/

3. In 1956, Edsger Dijkstra was sitting in an Amsterdam coffee shop with his future wife, thinking about efficient routes for taking her shopping. In just 20 minutes, he came up with his now-famous shortest-path algorithm. This new freeCodeCamp video will teach you how Dijkstra's algorithm works and why it now powers technologies like GPS navigation, network routing, supply chains, and robotics. (22 minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understanding-dijkstra-s-algorithm/

4. Learn how to containerize a Node.js app with Docker, then automate its build and deployment using GitHub Actions. You'll build a task management API using Express and PostgreSQL, package it with a multi-stage Dockerfile, and use Docker Compose to run everything locally. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/containerize-a-node-js-app-with-docker-and-deploy-with-github-actions/

5. And finally, if you want to understand the research behind modern image generation tools like Stable Diffusion, read this review of the landmark 2015 paper “Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics.” You'll learn how diffusion models gradually turn structured data into noise, then reverse that process to generate plausible output. We'll also dive into Markov chains, noise schedules, image denoising, and inpainting. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-deep-unsupervised-learning-using-nonequilibrium-thermodynamics/

Quote of the Week: “The existence of React Native makes React.js one of the most useful skills to learn. It's crazy that 70% of your knowledge from learning how to make websites can carry over to building iOS AND Android apps.” — Ben Awad, Software Engineer and past freeCodeCamp podcast guest

July 10, 2026

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published a new intermediate TypeScript and React course. You can code along at home as we take a JavaScript project and refactor it to be fully type-safe. You'll also get some reps with useState, custom prop types, and passing function props between components. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/level-up-your-react-skills-with-typescript/

2. We also answer the question of why so much of the internet breaks when Amazon's US-East-1 region goes down. freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes traces the history of 6 AWS outages and their causes. A network upgrade typo, a single missing DNS record, and other seemingly no-big-deal's that suddenly go catastrophic. (16 minute YouTube video): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-does-the-internet-keep-breaking-a-deep-dive-into-aws-us-east-1/

3. freeCodeCamp just dropped a beginner-friendly crash course on agent workflows. You'll learn about structured JSON outputs, guardrails, human approval loops, and secure sandboxing. This course also includes a case study in using OpenClaw as a personal assistant. After all, who doesn't want to live dangerously? (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-agents-for-beginners/

4. I've professed my love for Flutter many times. We use this open source framework to build all of freeCodeCamp's mobile apps. So I'm hyped about this new tutorial that shows you how to profile Flutter codebases with DevTools and find all the janky bits. You'll catch expensive paint operations, unnecessary widget rebuilds, and synchronous work on the main isolate. You'll also learn how to read the DevTools frame timeline, use the CPU profiler, inspect rebuilds, catch memory issues, and verify that your fixes actually worked. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-fix-app-jank-profiling-flutter-apps-with-devtools/

5. This new tutorial will show you all the hidden engineering work that goes into making AI projects that don't fall over at the first puff of a stiff breeze. You'll learn about auth, retrieval, prompt versioning, guardrails, evaluation, logging, cost controls, fallbacks, deployment discipline, and more. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-hidden-engineering-behind-ai-products-what-devs-should-know/

Quote of the Week: “AI disincentivizes you from learning about the pieces. Feeling dumb hurts. When you're trying a thing and it doesn't make sense, you feel pain. When you try a thing and it just goes as expected, you feel good. AI has made it easier to avoid that pain and feel that reward. And what used to be an up-front cost you would pay to learn the pieces so you could get the reward of solving the puzzle – now that's a slot machine. And your choices are go learn the pieces so that you can actually solve the puzzle correctly or keep pulling the slot machine until hopefully the correct answer comes out. I'll be real. I kind of miss feeling dumb.” — Theo Browne, software engineer

July 3, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner-friendly course on the command line. If you've ever admired a developer blazing through their terminal, this course is for you. You'll learn key commands for navigating through file systems and writing data. This skill will pay off whether you go into security, DevOps, or data science. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/command-line-basics-for-beginners/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a short video that shows why computers have such a hard time reliably counting money. Machines store numbers in binary rather than base 10, which means simple decimals like 0.1 and 0.2 often get stored as approximations. Tiny rounding errors may seem harmless, but at scale they can cause serious problems like in the 1999 classic movie Office Space. As a result, financial systems no longer use floating-point math for currency and now use integers instead. (6 minute YouTube video): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-computers-can-t-count-money/

3. Learn how to write your first quantum circuit in Python. You don't need a physics degree to understand this. You don't need access to a quantum computer to test your code. Instead you'll use the powerful Qiskit library running on a regular laptop. First you'll learn how qubits and quantum gates work. Then you'll build one of the most famous experiments in quantum computing: the Bell State. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-your-first-quantum-circuit-in-python-a-beginner-s-step-by-step-guide/

4. If you want to understand one of the most useful probabilistic data structures in computer science, read this Bloom filter Python tutorial. A Bloom filter can tell you whether something is definitely not in a set, or possibly in it, using only a bit array and a few hash functions. This makes it extremely memory efficient, even for very large datasets. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-bloom-filters-work-build-one-from-scratch-python/

5. And finally, if you've ever had an API return messy data that quietly broke your app, this TypeScript guide is worth reading. It focuses on a practical problem: TypeScript helps at compile time, but external data can still come in as null, undefined, or the wrong shape at runtime. You'll harden your codebase against this using framework-agnostic guard utilities like safeArray, safeString, safeNumber, and safeObject. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/defend-your-js-app-against-unsafe-data-with-typescript-guard-utilities/

Quote of the Week: “The tools we use will change, but the fundamentals of every engineering discipline will remain.” - Grady Booch, software engineer and creator of Unified Modeling Language, speaking on his excitement about AI-assisted coding tools

June 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on Distributed Data Parallelism, a key technique for training large language models across multiple GPUs. You'll use Python and PyTorch to get hands-on with all-reduce, broadcast, and other primitives that make DDP work. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/scaling-your-ai-models-with-micro-ddp/

2. Learn how to build your own OpenClaw-like agent from scratch. You'll start with a chatbot template, give it persistent personality, and schedule its tasks with cron jobs. Along the way you'll get exposure to tool calling, context engineering, deployment, and other building blocks of production AI agents. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-ai-agent-in-telegram-with-vercel-cursor-composio/

3. Automate complex workflows in Notion. You'll learn a ton of tricks for fully leveraging this productivity tool and launching your first worker. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-notion-workers/

4. We also dropped a new mobile app development tutorial. As you may know, freeCodeCamp uses Flutter for building our iPhone and Android apps. You'll learn Flutter tips for separating data, presentation, and domain layers, along with managing state boundaries. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-structure-large-flutter-applications-for-scalable-and-maintainable-growth/

5. This is an inspiring read from the first visually impaired person in Brazil to earn a degree in Cyber Defense and Information Security. He's also the first blind researcher to publish a vulnerability in the U.S. National Vulnerability Database. He shares how he learned and the accessibility barriers he's had to push through. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-i-became-brazils-first-visually-impaired-cybersecurity-graduate/

Quote of the Week: "Many people told me this would be impossible. But I learned early that the biggest limitations are not in the body. They are in the mind." — Blind software engineer and security researcher Juan Mathews Rebello Santos in his freeCodeCamp article about how he became the first blind researcher to publish a vulnerability in the U.S. National Vulnerability Database

June 19, 2026

1. Learn the architectural patterns that apps use when a single server and database are no longer enough. This tutorial teaches you about splitting monoliths into services, load balancers, database bottlenecks, caching, asynchronous background work, idempotency, monitoring, autoscaling, and designing for failure. This is a practical overview of the tradeoffs involved in keeping large systems both fast and reliable. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-large-scale-platforms-handle-millions-of-daily-transactions/

2. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on building your own self-healing CI/CD pipeline. First you'll build a Node.js and Express app with webhooks. Then you'll learn how to wire in GitHub, OpenAI, and n8n. Your pipeline will be able to detect failures, analyze logs, generate patches, and even open pull requests on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-self-healing-ci-cd-pipeline-with-ai/

3. The Saga Pattern helps microservices roll back distributed transactions when part of a workflow fails. This guide walks you through an orchestrated saga built with NestJS, gRPC, PostgreSQL, and Sequelize. You'll learn the difference between choreography and orchestration, how compensation-based rollbacks work, and why observability matters so much in production systems. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-saga-pattern-in-node-js-roll-back-distributed-transactions-across-microservices/

4. If you keep hearing about chain-of-thought prompting and want to understand why it matters so much, this paper review is a good place to start. It explains the core idea in plain English: instead of asking a model to jump straight to an answer, you prompt it to reason through the intermediate steps first. The article walks through the 2022 paper's experiments and shows how this approach improved arithmetic, common sense, and symbolic reasoning benchmarks, especially for larger models. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-chain-of-thought-prompting-elicits-reasoning-in-large-language-models/

5. As a dev, you should know about the operational side of managing a fleet of domain-specific models in production. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to avoid model rot by setting up a model registry, routing requests through a version-aware gateway, and using a manifest-based delivery system so that edge devices only sync the weight deltas they actually need. This is a thoughtful guide for anyone moving from model experimentation into real-world AI systems engineering. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-architecture-for-small-language-model-fleets/

Quote of the Week: “People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world. But the real problem is that they're too stupid and they've already taken over the world.” — Pedro Domingos, computer science professor and machine learning researcher

June 12, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner's guide to building your own dataset by gathering data from the web. In this course, freeCodeCamp software engineer Ania Kubów will teach you how to use web scraping APIs and computer vision to extract structured JSON from images and text. By the end of the course, you'll have built your own app that searches the web for data and stores it locally for future use. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/web-scraping-for-beginners-2026/

2. If you're interested in data science and healthcare, this tutorial should be right up your alley. You'll validate a chest X-ray dataset to catch corrupted files, mislabeled attributes, and data leakage. You'll work through six core preprocessing steps, including scaling, normalizing, and denoising. Then you'll build a full pipeline using Python and OpenCV. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-preprocess-medical-images-for-machine-learning/

3. freeCodeCamp also published this in-depth guide to information security that will teach you about Attribute-Based Access Control. You'll learn how to write logic that evaluates users, resources, actions, and the environment at request time. You'll see how this approach is superior to older Access Control List approaches, and why the extra flexibility is often worth the added complexity. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-attribute-based-access-control-helps-you-write-better-authorization-rules/

4. Send this list of open source tools to the university students in your life. It will introduce them to Jupyter Notebook, GeoGebra, Blender, and other useful sanity-saving software libraries. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/open-source-tools-every-stem-student-should-know-about/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a talk on how to start a career in tech using open source learning resources. Estefania Cassingena Navone, who runs our Spanish YouTube channel, walks through freeCodeCamp's certifications, daily coding challenges, and other resources. She explains why contributing to open source is the best way to build developer skills, strengthen your portfolio, and improve your odds of landing that first tech job. (1 hour YouTube talk): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-start-your-career-in-tech-with-freecodecamp-full-talk-in-spanish/

Quote of the Week: “I often compare open source to science. To where science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas and making it into what science is today, and the incredible advances that we've had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do.” — Linus Torvalds, software engineer and creator of Linux and Git

June 5, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Docker course that will teach you DevOps concepts and production app containerization. First you'll learn how Docker's container architecture works, and how it's different from traditional virtual machines. Then you'll get hands-on practice with common Docker commands, networking modes, volumes, bind mounts, image layers, and custom Dockerfiles. At the end of the course, you'll containerize a website and deploy it to the cloud. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/docker-full-course/

2. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on building your own specialized agent. Prolific teacher Ania Kubów will show you how to deploy a production-ready Slack chatbot using Node.js, Express, Slack Bolt, PostgreSQL, and Infrastructure-as-Code using Render blueprints. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-ai-agent/

3. Learn how to spot problems in LLM-generated code like bloated components, messy state, weak data fetching patterns, and missing types. This tutorial will show you how to refactor the code into structures that are way easier to maintain. Remember, kids: despite the AI hype, your actual skills still matter. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/stop-trusting-ai-code-blindly-a-react-code-refactoring-case-study/

4. A lot of apps work great on your own machine, then fall apart the second you put them in the hands of real-world users. This Flutter tutorial will show you how mobile apps handle spotty networks, offline states, widget rebuilds, async pitfalls, memory leaks, and other rubber-meets-the-road problems. If you build mobile apps, this is well worth bookmarking. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-production-ready-actually-means-in-flutter/

5. And finally, if you're interested in embedded systems, freeCodeCamp just published a full-length handbook on building Bluetooth apps using Zephyr OS. You'll start with BLE fundamentals like GAP, GATT, services, and characteristics. Then you'll write real firmware for handling connections, reading sensor data, and building BLE peripherals that a phone can talk to. It also touches on security, debugging, power optimization, firmware updates, Bluetooth Mesh, and LE Audio. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-bluetooth-applications-with-zephyr-os-a-handbook-for-devs/

Joke of the Week: “Why is it so hard to find DevOps professionals on Mars? Because there's no Terraform there yet.” — Dangertwin88 on Reddit

May 29, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Figma course that will teach you how to design your own apps and websites. You'll learn about wireframes, color palettes, reusable components, layout grids, and more. Then you'll practice those skills by designing your own food delivery app, fitness tracker app, and donut shop website. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-figma-for-ui-ux-design

2. The freeCodeCamp community focuses on teaching core programming skills, but we also teach a lot of advanced AI and machine learning. This new course on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) goes way beyond simple chatbot stuff to cover challenges you'll face when deploying real AI systems to production. You'll learn about vector databases, chunking, similarity search, observability, security layers, and more. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/production-rag-with-langchain-vector-databases/

3. LaTeX is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife for formatting text and equations in academic papers. Pretty much every PhD student I know uses LaTeX. And now you can harness this open source tool through freeCodeCamp's new 41-hour course. You'll practice formatting mathematical proofs, code blocks, and vector graphics. You'll even write your own custom LaTeX package. (41-hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-latex-in-41-hours/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a full length handbook on DevOps automation with Bash and Python. You'll work through five production-style scenarios: detecting abnormal AWS spend, correlating logs with trace IDs, spotting infrastructure drift outside Terraform, validating secret rotation, and automatically rolling back slow deployments. This is a practical guide for people who want to automate the work that ops teams actually do. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-bash-python-for-real-devops-automation-handbook-with-production-use-cases/

5. We're big fans of Flutter at freeCodeCamp, and use it for building our open source iPhone and Android apps. We just published a new tutorial that will teach you Flutter error handling concepts like result types, monads, typed exceptions, and more. You can use these tools to catch failures before they cascade, and to harden your mobile app codebase. (21 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/advanced-error-handling-in-dart-records-result-types-monads-and-freezed-exceptions/

Quote of the Week: “The details are not the details. They make the design.” — Charles Eames, designer, architect and filmmaker

May 22, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to think in code. You'll learn a variety of key scripting language concepts: scope, closures, hoisting, execution context, prototypes, propagation, memoization, multithreading, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a new mental framework for understanding how JavaScript and other programming languages work under the hood. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/think-like-the-javascript-engine/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on Manus, a new workflow automation tool that runs inside of a sandboxed cloud computer. This beginner's course will walk you through using an agent to run deep research, gather data, and take actions on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-build-automated-workflows-with-manus-ai/

3. Learn emerging best practices for staying private online. This tutorial will explain key concepts like browser fingerprinting, first-party tracking, metadata, and device telemetry. You'll see how privacy is more about separating your identities and reducing data exposure than it is about any one magic tool. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-protect-your-privacy-online-in-2026/

4. Learn how to build your own Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) agent with Python and Claude's Tool Use API. This tutorial will show you how to replace a fragmented manual workflow with an AI agent that can chain tools together and save a structured report. You can follow along at home and set up OpenOSINT, run investigations, and expose the tools to Claude Code through an MCP server. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-autonomous-agent-in-python-using-claude/

5. If you're interested in machine learning, freeCodeCamp just published an analysis of the now-famous “Language Models are Few-Shot Learners” academic paper. We explain few-shot learning and in-context learning in plain English. Then we walk through the paper's methodology, model architecture, experiments, and long-term impact. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-paper-review-language-models-are-few-shot-learners-gpt-3/

Quote of the Week: “Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true, and the tendency to miss lunch.” — Tim Berners-Lee, creator of HTML and inventor of the World Wide Web

May 15, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner-friendly course on Claude Code. You can use this command-line tool to inspect your local codebase, run terminal commands, execute tests, and handle a ton of your boilerplate code. This course starts with setup, then moves into practical workflows like project scaffolding, autonomous debugging, multi-file navigation, and architectural audits. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-code-for-beginners/

2. If you're looking for a beginner-friendly path into DevOps, earning an AWS certification may be the way to go. freeCodeCamp just published a course to help you prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. This course is newly updated for 2026. You'll learn cloud computing concepts, architecture, deployment models, and more. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-study-course-pass-the-exam-with-this-free-13-hour-course/

3. My Stanford hackathon documentary is live. 15,000 students from around the world applied. Of these, only 1,000 were admitted. These elite few competed for more than 500k in prizes. Stanford flew me out to film all three days of the event and interview more than 100 devs. You'll see robot boxing, llamas, and tons of project demos. One dev got attacked out of nowhere by a bipedal robot right in the middle of my interview. (100 minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-stanford-elite-student-hackathon-full-documentary

4. Learn how to build production-ready AI features into your mobile apps using Flutter. This full-length handbook will teach you how to implement streaming responses, safety filters, and prompt injection protection. You'll also learn about graceful degradation, cost management, and app store policy gotchas. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-production-ready-ai-features-with-flutter-handbook-for-devs/

5. Learn how to make your interfaces more intuitive through Human-Centered Design principles. You'll get exposure to academic theories like Fitts's Law, Hick's Law, Jakob's Law, the Goal-Gradient Hypothesis, the Doherty Threshold, Postel's Law, Occam's Razor, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-apply-academic-theories-to-human-centered-web-design-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.” — Alan Turing

May 8, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on how the JavaScript Event Loop works. JS is famously single-threaded. Yet it can still power apps without freezing up. This course will show you how. You'll learn about the Call Stack, Web APIs, Task Queues, Microtask Queues, and the Event Loop itself. The instructor uses clear animations and step-by-step diagrams throughout. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-the-javascript-event-loop/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full length handbook on embedded memory architecture. If you've ever wondered why the same code can run fast in one scenario and slow in another, memory is often the reason. First you'll learn the differences between ITCM, DTCM, and DDR memory. You'll also learn about linker scripts, firmware memory profiling, and more. If you're interested in embedded systems, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/itcm-vs-dtcm-vs-ddr-embedded-memory-types-explained-handbook/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Rachel Fernandez. She's a computer science student and Stanford's youngest instructor. We talk about the state of computer science education in 2026, why C++ is still an important language, and how developers can use AI tools without “deskilling” themselves. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/stanford-s-youngest-instructor-talks-infosec-ai-and-catching-cheaters-rachel-fernandez-interview-podcast-217/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that explores how one team built a codebase-aware AI reviewer. They moved their architectural rules and team memory out of Slack threads and into files the agent can actually read, like AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md. The handbook also gets into guardrails, like keeping the reviewer read-only by default. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-unblock-ai-pr-review-bottleneck-handbook/

5. And finally, if you're a front end engineer working with microservices, this article should help. You'll learn how to deal with multiple service contracts, partial failures, and distributed state. This guide also explains the Backend-for-Frontend pattern. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-navigate-microservices-as-a-frontend-engineer/

Quote of the Week: “I feel very lucky that I had to learn from the textbook, that I had to write the papers, and that I had to learn how to communicate on my own. I feel very lucky that I didn’t have AI tools when I was in high school.” — Stanford Computer Science instructor Rachel Fernandez on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 1, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you Information Technology fundamentals. You'll learn about hardware, networking, security, databases, DNS, Cloud, Git, and even some Linux basics. This is a good starting point for a career in IT, systems administration, network engineering, and it doesn't hurt for developers in general to understand these concepts. Dig in. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-hardware-cloud-devops-networking-security-databases-dns-git-and-linux/

2. I filmed a new full-length documentary! Stanford invited me to cover their hackathon, TreeHacks 2026. In total, 15,000 students from around the world applied. Of these only 1,000 were admitted. These elite few competed for more than 500k in prizes. I filmed all 3 days of the event and interviewed more than 100 devs. You'll see robot boxing, llamas, and tons of project demos. One dev got attacked out of nowhere by a bipedal robot right in the middle of my interview. You can watch the documentary in full right now. (100 minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-stanford-elite-student-hackathon-full-documentary

3. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on 3D web development with Blender and Three.js. You'll build an interactive "cozy cafe" portfolio from scratch while learning how 3D art and web development fit together. The course covers subdivision modeling, texture painting, lighting, and performance optimization. You'll make your scene interactive so people can click around and explore it. By the end of the course, you'll have built two complete 3D scenes and learned how to deploy them to the web. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/3d-web-development-with-blender-and-three-js/

4. Learn how to dockerize your own Go project. First this beginner-friendly tutorial explains containerization in plain English. Then it walks you through building a Dockerfile for a Go app. You'll learn about images, containers, volumes, and Docker Compose. If Docker still feels a bit abstract to you, code along at home and you'll feel the concrete start to set. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-dockerize-a-go-application-full-step-by-step-walkthrough/

5. Learn how to use Toyota's “5 Whys” technique to get past surface-level fixes and diagnose the real cause of a problem. This tutorial shows how you can move from symptoms to system-level causes by repeatedly asking why, then checking each answer against your evidence. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-symptoms-to-root-cause-how-to-use-the-5-whys-technique/

Quote of the Week: “A computer once beat me at chess. But it was no match for me at kickboxing.” — Emo Philips

April 23, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published an automation for beginners course. You'll learn how to automate your routine daily tasks by piping together triggers and actions. By the end of the course, you'll have your own Model Context Protocol server that can share info between your productivity apps and your agents. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/reclaim-your-time-master-automation-with-zapier/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook on data quality. You'll learn the most common ways that bad data enters a system, and how to prevent it. You'll get exposure to the different layers where data validation needs to happen: front end, back end, database, business logic, and data ingestion. The handbook will also walk you through testing strategies to keep bad data out of your projects. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-quality-handbook-data-errors-the-developer-s-role-validation-layers/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Jessica Rose. She's a developer and teacher who's worked on open data projects at Mozilla and on lots of open source projects. We talk about how the whole world is hard right now, and how embracing that difficulty instead of avoiding it can make you a better thinker. She also shares why building “silly little things” is one of the best things you can do as a learner. Her online bootcamp is called the Bad Website Club and is based on the freeCodeCamp front-end development curriculum. It starts on April 24. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-friction-max-your-learning-with-software-engineer-jessica-rose-podcast-216/

4. AI Governance may sound like something only managers need to worry about. But in practice, it's us developers who have to actually build the responsible AI systems. You can bookmark this new freeCodeCamp handbook and code along with four hands-on Python projects: a model card generator, a bias detection pipeline, an audit trail logger, and a human-in-the-loop escalation system. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ai-governance-handbook-build-responsible-ai-systems/

5. There are so many conflicting takes on AI and how it's changing the field of software engineering. This new essay by a CTO and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor will help you find the signal in the noise. He lays out a practical roadmap for strengthening your fundamentals, getting better at debugging, and building a stronger proof of work. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-new-definition-of-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai/

Quote of the Week: “Folks who are overly-focused on AI tools may tell you: ‘Don’t bother building expertise.’ I say: what a deeply suspect piece of advice.” — Developer Jessica Rose, who runs the Bad Website Club, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 17, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on software system design fundamentals. You'll learn about databases, scaling, load balancing, and designing APIs with both REST and GraphQL. Once you grasp all these concepts, you'll be able to build better apps, websites, and back-end tools. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-software-system-design/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook on data quality. It'll introduce you to the types of data errors that silently break systems. Learn how to avoid missing fields, bad formats, logical inconsistencies, duplicate records, and more. You'll also learn how validation works across your front-end, back-end, database, service layer, and test suite. This is well worth bookmarking. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-quality-handbook-data-errors-the-developer-s-role-validation-layers/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Mark Mahoney. He worked as a dev then spent 23 years as a computer science professor. He also teaches thousands of devs through his programming courses he built on top of his own open source platform. We talk about why learning programming the hard way is still the right way, how to avoid deskilling yourself with LLM tools, and why now is a great time to study computer science. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-learn-programming-and-cs-in-the-ai-hype-era-interview-with-dev-and-prof-mark-mahoney-podcast-215/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a course on using OpenAI's new Codex tool. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has decades of experience writing code manually. So it's fun to watch him put coding agents through their paces. You'll learn how to manage big context windows, work with sessions, sculpt your project guidance files, and use sandboxing to minimize the ever-present risk that your agents are going to go WarGames on you. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openai-codex-essentials-ai-assisted-agentic-development-course/

5. And if you're wanting to get started with Infrastructure as Code, this Terraform tutorial is good eats. You'll learn Terraform's core workflows, then use them to manage applications, databases, networking, secrets, scaling, and deployment pipelines in a massively repeatable way. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-started-with-terraform/

Quote of the Week: “The best way to learn is just build, build, build, get stuck, get yourself unstuck, and try to take away new lessons every time you do that.” — Computer Science professor Mark Mahoney on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 10, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python course that will teach you how to program your own aerial drone. You don't need to own a drone. You'll use the PySimverse simulator to practice autonomous flight. First you'll learn the basics of drone components, 3D movement, and common computer vision tasks. Then you'll learn about navigation, image capture, hand gesture control, autonomous following, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-ai-drone-programming/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a massive course that will teach you how to program NVIDIA's H100 GPUs using CUDA. You'll learn about CUTLASS optimizations, multi-GPU scaling, and the primitives developers use to train large models. (24 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cuda-programming-for-nvidia-h100s

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Chris Griffing, a software engineer who has spent 15,031 hours coding live on Twitch. After high school he spent 10 years doing odd jobs at ski resorts so he could focus on snowboarding. He taught himself programming at age 28 by building websites for his friends. We talk about how learning Go made him a better Rust developer, why he thinks it's good to become a polyglot, and how he uses LLM tools while still building most codebases manually. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lessons-from-15-031-hours-of-coding-live-on-twitch-with-chris-griffing-podcast-214/

4. If you've ever wanted to build a video editor or live streaming tool that runs entirely in a browser, this handbook is worth bookmarking. You'll see how the WebCodecs API can give you low-level, hardware-accelerated control over video processing. You'll learn key concepts like video frames, codecs, containers, and muxing. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-webcodecs-handbook-native-video-processing-in-the-browser/

5. Kubernetes doesn't have a built-in user database. Instead it relies on a chain of authenticators. This course will teach you how x509 client certificates work, why they're not ideal for human users in production, and how to instead deploy your own self-hosted browser-based OpenID Connect login. (29 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-authenticate-users-in-kubernetes-x509-certificates-oidc-and-cloud-identity/

Quote of the Week: “There will be room for experts, despite AI tool improvements. The way that we get things done may change. But that was always going to happen.” — Software Engineer Chris Griffing on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

April 3, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course on AI-assisted software development. You'll learn common terminal workflows and tips for “pair programming” alongside LLM tools. You'll also get exposure to tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw. At the end of the day, the entire goal of using these tools is to build more features without compromising the maintainability of your codebase. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-tools-for-developers/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a beginner level course on AI literacy for everybody that you can also share with your family. First you'll learn about the two traits that define artificial intelligence: autonomy and adaptivity. Then you'll build your own image classifier right on your own phone or laptop. This course also delves into considerations like algorithmic bias and the environmental costs of training LLMs. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-literacy-for-everybody/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Landon Gray. He's a software engineer who spent years working at agencies, then taught himself AI-assisted software development. We talk about why Large Language Models are just raw fuel, and why the harness code around them matters so much more. We also talk about his contributions to the Ruby Machine Learning ecosystem. Even at his level of experience, Landon still firmly encourages devs to build their professional network through conferences and talks. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-happens-when-the-model-can-t-fix-it-interview-with-software-engineer-landon-gray-podcast-213/

4. Learn how to build your own QR code generator using JavaScript. This tutorial will walk you through generating QR codes entirely in a browser without the need for a backend. You'll learn how to validate input, clear previous output, and use a JavaScript library to render the code instantly on the client side. Then you'll see how to extend the project with downloads, custom styling, WiFi support, and more. (7 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-qr-code-generator-using-javascript/

5. I'm thrilled to announce that the Bad Website Club is back for another Responsive Web Design bootcamp based on freeCodeCamp's curriculum. It starts April 24 and runs for 10 weeks. You can join our Discord community and tune in for live streams. It's led by volunteer devs who are passionate about helping folks learn CSS and JavaScript fundamentals. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/bad-website-club-bootcamp-based-on-freecodecamp-rwd-cert/

Quote of the Week: “LLM tools accelerate everything. But if you’re doing the wrong thing, they just accelerate that and proliferate that everywhere. So you still have to have the fundamentals and know how to design software and think about software.” — Software Engineer Landon Gray on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will walk you through using the popular AI-assisted development tool Claude Code. You'll learn about Code Harnesses, Agentic Loops, Sandboxing, and other key concepts. By the end of the course you'll be able to spin up an entire fleet of agents to help you fix bugs and build out new features. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/claude-code-essentials-exampro/

2. We also published a course on the Hugging Face tool ecosystem. You'll learn how to connect your models, datasets, and deployment tools into a single unified build pipeline. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/deploying-ai-models-with-hugging-face/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Chris Coyier. He's a front-end dev who built CodePen and the influential CSS Tricks blog. He shares his thoughts on front-end development tools and how he thinks they're 90% of the way to where he ideally wants them. He also explains why highly skilled devs who are working on novel problems don't need to worry about AI disrupting their careers. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-world-still-needs-people-who-care-codepen-founder-chris-coyier-interview-podcast-212/

4. Learn how to secure your Kubernetes Cluster. This in-depth tutorial starts by exploring real-world security breaches at big companies like Tesla, Shopify, and Capital One. Then it walks you through how to prevent each of these types of attacks by hardening your setup. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-secure-a-kubernetes-cluster-handbook/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a new Spanish-language course on SQL and relational databases. It covers tables, foreign keys, queries, data manipulation, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sql-course-for-beginners-in-spanish/

Quote of the Week: “I’ll probably be explaining CSS border-radius tricks into the dirt with a stick after the apocalypse.” — Software Engineer and prolific teacher Chris Coyier on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 20, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new YouTube course that will teach you beginner Front-end Development skills like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can code along at home and build a variety of projects: your own interactive quiz game, a currency converter app, and even a Trello-style kanban board. Along the way you'll learn how to use APIs and local storage to extend the functionality of these bite-sized apps. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-19-web-dev-projects-using-html-css-javascript/

2. Learn how to properly test your software and ensure it doesn't break when you add new features. Prolific freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes teaches this course. He'll introduce you to the Testing Pyramid and show you how to balance fast unit tests against complex end-to-end user journeys. You'll also learn how to automate some of this testing using an open source library called Playwright and an LLM testing tool. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/software-testing-with-playwright/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Luke Ciciliano, a software engineer who has hundreds of freelance clients. He shares tips for building your own software consultancy in your city and winning clients. He's confident that AI tools are actually creating MORE potential small business customers, not fewer. He walks through how he engages clients and closes deals, and why he thinks building long-term relationships is the key. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-land-freelance-clients-with-small-business-whisperer-luke-ciciliano-developer-interview-podcast-211/

4. More and more apps are relying on probabilistic LLM output alongside deterministic API calls. This makes life harder for devs who now need to ensure that hallucinations don't escape to end users. freeCodeCamp just published this advanced observability tutorial that will teach you emerging best practices and architectural patterns for dealing with this. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-end-to-end-llm-observability-in-fastapi-with-opentelemetry/

5. Learn how to containerize your MLOps pipelines. This tutorial is the result of hard-won deployment wisdom. The author spent three weeks debugging a Python library error due to dependency conflicts. His eventual answer: containerize entire project with Docker. This tutorial will show you how to structure your containers with multi-stage builds. You'll also learn how to set up experiment tracking with MLflow, versioning with DVC, GPU passthrough, and other advanced techniques. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/containerize-mlops-pipeline-from-training-to-serving/

Quote of the Week: “We don’t always appreciate how technologically illiterate a lot of society still is. No matter how low-code, no-code, or simple these tools become, there’s always going to be a large group of people who either can’t do it themselves or just won’t. They may be intimidated by it, or they may not want to risk doing it badly. I’ve come to appreciate that no matter how simple the tools get, there’s always going to be work there for somebody to do.” — Software Engineer and prolific freelance dev Luke Ciciliano on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 13, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive DevOps course that will teach you how to deploy your apps to production safely. You'll build your own CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery) pipeline. Along the way you'll learn about branching strategies, Jenkins Freestyle Jobs, GitFlow, Maven, and more. This is a perfect way to build your skills over spring break. (17 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ci-cd-in-production-with-jenkins/

2. Learn how to fine-tune an LLM to incorporate your own proprietary data. This is super useful if you need off-the-shelf LLMs to do novel tasks that they weren't originally optimized for. This course will teach you all about Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning, and how to use techniques like LoRA and QLoRA to train models on consumer-grade hardware. No data center needed. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-fine-tune-llms-in-12-hours/

3. On this week's podcast I interview software engineer Justin Searls who ran his own software development agency for 15 years. At age 38, he retired and moved to Japan. He has some controversial takes on AI-assisted development. He talks about how he thinks software development is ceasing to be a team sport and his vision of a future where individual devs just work directly for the clients who are paying them to build projects. Justin also shares tips for how folks entering the field can use emerging tools to get an edge over more experienced devs. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/there-are-2-kinds-of-devs-one-of-them-is-screwed-justin-searls-interview-podcast-210/

4. Learn how to protect your sensitive data by running your LLMs locally. This quick tutorial will show you how to get up and running with Ollama, Python, LangChain, and LangGraph. It will also walk you through the various trade-offs you face when you avoid sharing your data with big tech companies. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/protect-sensitive-data-with-local-llms/

5. Learn how agents are changing the field of software development. This in-depth tutorial will get you hands-on experience with building your own Flutter mobile app using Antigravity and Stitch. You don't even need to know Flutter. You just need to understand the core concepts and make the architectural decisions. You'll quickly see how sophisticated these tools have gotten over the past few months. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-ai-agents-are-changing-development-by-building-a-flutter-app/

Quote of the Week: “If you're out there learning programming right now, build your new project, build it to be valuable, and see it through to completion.” — Software Engineer Justin Searls on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

March 6, 2026

1. If you're interested in learning about AI infrastructure, freeCodeCamp just published this new course that will help you pass the NVIDIA Infrastructure and Operations Certification Exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll introduce you to key concepts like GPU architecture, CUDA, and use cases for Accelerated Computing. Even if you decide not to pursue the certification, you'll still learn a lot from this course. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-nvidia-certified-associate-ai-infrastructure-and-operations-certification-exam/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course that will teach you full-stack JavaScript development by building your own professional-grade Loom-style screen-sharing platform. You can code along at home as you watch instructor Beau Carnes create a Next.js app, then add screen and mic capturing using standard media APIs. Then you'll learn how to store video data in the cloud, and automatically transcribe it. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/loom-clone-next-javascript-mux/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview Carl Brown who runs the Internet of Bugs YouTube channel and has worked as a dev at Amazon, IBM, and startups for over 37 years. He's extremely opinionated on the state of software development, and I'm here for it with popcorn in hand. He argues that many devs should target roles at smaller companies instead of in “big tech”. He also talks about how everyone will face ageism eventually, and he recommends a consulting career as an escape hatch. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ultimate-dev-skill-is-integration-testing-podcast-interview-with-internet-of-bugs-podcast-209/

4. You may have heard the term DevOps, or Development and Operations. Well now there's another emerging field, MLOps, or Machine Learning and Operations. freeCodeCamp just published an MLOps for beginners Python course that will teach you how to take your models beyond Jupyter Notebook and into production environments. Along the way, you'll learn tools like Hugging Face, MLflow, and Databricks. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mlops-with-mlflow-and-databricks/

5. Learn how to enjoy the code review process with what Abbey Perini calls “pull request therapy.” She explains her own struggles with perfectionism, her anxiety from hostile reviewers she's encountered in the past, and how she's overcome these hurdles to become a prolific contributor. Abbey also shares tips to help you identify friendly open source projects. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learning-to-enjoy-code-reviews-with-npmx/

Quote of the Week: “When an engineer fixes a bug, they can often think back to the exact trade-off they made when programming. And they can understand why that trade-off ultimately caused that bug.” — Software Engineer Carl Brown on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 27, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will take you deep into the modern Kubernetes ecosystem. You'll implement advanced industry standards such as Gateway API for traffic management, CloudNativePG for managing PostgreSQL databases, and cert-manager for automated HTTPS security. By the end of the course, you'll have the confidence to manage production-grade environments. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-kubernetes-through-production-ready-practice/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Notion course. It's not just a fancy notebook – you can use it as a full-blown operating system. You can code along at home and build your own task manager using Notion's “Software Legos” philosophy. Then you'll integrate your project with mail and calendar functionality, dashboards, and other advanced features. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lean-notion-in-12-hours/

3. On this week's podcast I interview software engineer Shawn “Swyx” Wang, who runs the AI Engineer conference. We talk about three areas of research to further improve model performance: world models, multi-modality, and models that learn. Shawn also shares which skills he thinks are the most important for developers going forward, and why you should switch your own self-teaching from “just-in-case learning” to “just-in-time learning”. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-three-paths-ai-could-take-from-here-shawn-wang-swyx-interview-podcast-208/

4. Learn how to guide agents to write secure code using a robust framework of rules and tests. Software engineer and recent podcast guest Sumit Saha shares his step-by-step process by building a Node.js shopping cart app using an agent. Instead of just using naive “one-shot” prompts, he leverages server-side validation and test-driven development. Well worth reading. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-guide-ai-with-rules-and-tests/

5. Learn the Python you need to know to build your own agents. This course starts by teaching you core Python syntax and best practices before moving on to NumPy, Pandas, and SQL. With these tools in your toolbelt, you can manage the data that fuels modern AI tools. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-and-build-autonomous-agents/

Quote of the Week: “However uncertain the developer job market may be right now, let me assure you: high-agency junior devs will always find a way.” — Software Engineer Shawn “Swyx” Wang on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 20, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you the fundamental concepts, protocols, and architectures of computer networking. You'll learn key network engineering topics like topology, subnetting, flow control, routing, IPv4 addressing, DNS, and more. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/computer-networking-fundamentals/

2. And we just published our second-ever chess course. This time you'll learn the Italian Game, one of the most common chess openings. This handbook and accompanying video course are taught by freeCodeCamp engineer Ihechikara Abba, who has a chess Elo rating of 2285. He will lay out the many traps that white can set for black, and how to not fall for them. (full-length handbook and 1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-chess-italian-game-handbook-traps-for-white/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Robby Russell, creator of the OhMyZSH command line tool and host of a popular podcast about software maintainability. We talk about how a “Don't let that happen again” culture often leads to precautions that stifle codebase momentum, and how to reverse this. Robby also shares tips for reducing your team's dependency on that one developer who's been there for years but could die at any time. Finally, he shares his nuanced perspective on LLM tools and how he uses them to speed up his workflows. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-maintaining-a-codebase-is-so-damn-hard-with-ohmyzsh-creator-robby-russell-podcast-207/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length book on Product-Led Research. This is a must-read for any manager within a tech company. It's written by a CTO and security researcher named Omer Rosenbaum, who says: “if you manage Research like it's Development, things aren't going to go well for you.” He breaks down the most common research frameworks and methodologies, and contextualizes them through a series of case studies. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/product-led-research-a-practical-guide-for-randd-leaders-full-book/

5. If you're a Python developer and use the Django web development framework, this tutorial will help you optimize the heck out of your APIs. Mari will teach you how to use profiling and logging to find bottlenecks in your codebase. Then she'll show you how to get extra performance through caching, so you can serve users at scale. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-django-rest-apis-for-performance/

Quote of the Week: “There's this tendency for developers to think: we could just rip this code out and rewrite it to be simpler or faster. But we underestimate just how much complexity and time and energy went into building a piece of software that has actually been running in production.” — Software Engineer and codebase maintainability expert Robby Russell on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 13, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you how to use the security-focused Kali Linux operating system. You’ll learn how to identify, exploit, and defend against real-world vulnerabilities. You'll also build a solid foundation in penetration testing, network security, and vulnerability assessment. Most importantly, you'll learn how to think like a security engineer and leverage tools of the trade like Nmap and Wireshark. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cybersecurity-and-ethical-hacking-using-kali-linux/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a guide to passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam. Beau Carnes teaches this course, which will walk you through key DevOps concepts. You'll start by setting up your K8s practice environment. Then you'll bootstrap a multi-node cluster and your control plane. You'll learn about Helm, High Availability Autoscaling, CoreDNS, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-kubernetes-administrator-certification-and-pass/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Tapas Adhikary. He's a software engineer who runs a firm of 20 developers who build projects for companies around the world. He's also a prolific teacher, having written more than 300 programming tutorials. We talk about the changing nature of software engineering, tips for building your own fully-remote software development firm with clients abroad, and lessons he's learned from mentoring more than 500 developers. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tips-from-a-20-year-developer-veteran-turned-consultancy-founder-tapas-adhikary-interview-podcast-206/

4. And Tapas also just published a full-length handbook on freeCodeCamp Press that you can read right in your browser. It will teach you modern React data fetching best practices. You'll learn how to leverage Suspense, ErrorBoundary, and the new Use API. If you're interested in web development, this is well worth bookmarking. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-modern-react-data-fetching-handbook-suspense-use-and-errorboundary-explained/

5. Finally, I'm proud to share this new DevOps course that freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon just published. You'll learn how to take a full stack app on your local machine and ship it to a fully containerized production environment. Along the way, you'll learn about CI/CD pipelines, Docker images, launching containers, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have a professional-grade pipeline that automatically builds and deploys updates with every push. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-production-ready-pipeline-with-docker-cicd-and-hostinger/

Quote of the Week: "The biggest change in software engineering today is the expectations. Clients are looking for speed of execution, and that is changing everything. The old hierarchy is getting merged, and even a junior dev is expected to bring a solution mindset." – Software engineer and agency owner Tapas Adhikary on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

February 6, 2026

1. Learn to code in Python from one of the greatest living Computer Science professors, Harvard's David J. Malan. This is the 2026 version of the famous CS50 course. It will teach you Python programming fundamentals like functions, conditionals, loops, libraries, file I/O, and more. If you're new to Python, or to coding in general, this is an excellent place to start. (25 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-2026-free-computer-science-university-course

2. And a few weeks ago I had the honor of interviewing Harvard CS50 professor David J. Malan on the freeCodeCamp podcast. I was hyped to ask him how he uses emerging LLM tools, and where he thinks the software engineering field is heading. I had a LOT of questions for him and he answered all of them. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-prof-david-j-malan-on-why-you-should-learn-programming-slowly-podcast-197/

3. That Harvard computer science course will get you started with programming. But where do you go from there? freeCodeCamp just published a helpful tutorial that will help you bridge from beginner projects to building real-world applications that solve real-world problems. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-go-from-hello-world-to-building-real-world-applications/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a comprehensive intro to OpenClaw. If you've heard of Clawd Bot or Moltbot, this is the same tool, which they renamed to avoid confusion with the Claude LLM tool. OpenClaw is an agent and messaging gateway that lets you automate digital tasks through platforms like Discord. First you'll learn how to set it up. Then you'll learn security practices like implementing Docker-based sandboxing to protect your host system while your agent executes complicated workflows on your behalf. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openclaw-full-tutorial-for-beginners

5. You may be using Bluetooth as you read this. It's been a key networking tool since 1999, and now it's getting 3 major upgrades: Passive Scanning, Bond Loss Reasons, and propagation of Service UUIDs. If you're interested in network engineering or IoT–style devices, this tutorial is well worth your read. (90 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-aosp-16-bluetooth-scanner-works-the-ultimate-guide/

Quote of the Week: "There’s something liberating about realizing that at the end of the day everything reduces to zeros and ones. It’s not magic. And once students see that, they think: OK, I got this." — Harvard computer science professor David Malan on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 30, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on relational database design for beginners. You'll learn SQL fundamentals, entity-relationship modeling, normal forms, data types, indexing strategies, query optimization, and more. Database design is a key developer skill that isn't going away. This course will help you build a strong foundation in it. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-relational-database-design/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a Python machine learning course that will teach you how to train large neural networks using several Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in parallel. You'll learn pipeline parallelism from scratch by applying three different approaches: naïve stop-and-wait, GPipe with micro-batching, and the interleaved 1F1B algorithm. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-pipeline-parallelism-from-scratch/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Sumit Saha, a software engineer who runs a developer agency with clients throughout Asia. We talk about his observation that “the hunger for learning is dying.” He says people are increasingly drawn to shortcuts over taking the time to truly understand concepts. He shares his information diet, and his tips for expanding your skills. We also have a lightning round where he explains 5 key developer concepts through helpful analogies. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-stay-curious-as-a-dev-in-the-ai-hype-era-with-sumit-saha-podcast-205/

4. Learn how to build your own Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)-powered search engine. You can code along at home and build the app using TypeScript, Next.js, and PostgreSQL. Your users will be able to upload documents, then search through them using LLM-powered semantic search. This is a great hands-on tutorial with tons of code examples and emerging best practices. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-an-ai-powered-rag-search-application-with-nextjs-supabase-and-openai/

5. Learn how to use the Builder pattern in Python. This software design pattern simplifies constructing complicated objects by separating their construction from their representation. The author of this tutorial, Bala Pria C., has now written 37 Python tutorials with the freeCodeCamp community. I love her clear style and her clear code examples. And I think you will, too. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-the-builder-pattern-in-python-a-practical-guide-for-devs/

Quote of the Week: "In software engineering, we live and die by stability and security. The entire industry is run on maintainability. If you write code using AI codegen or some vibe coding tool, it will be a mess. You’ll lose control. You can use LLM help at the function or class level, but you have to carefully instruct it for anything bigger than that." - Software engineer and agency founder Sumit Saha on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 23, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python Data Structures & Algorithms course that will help you understand key Dynamic Programming patterns. These approaches come up all the time in technical interviews. You'll learn Constant Transition, the Grid Pattern, Two Sequences, Interval DP, Non-Constant Transition, Knapsack-like problems, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-dynamic-programming-through-dynamic-visuals/

2. If you're interested in building projects on top of Large Language Models, freeCodeCamp just published a Python course on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). You'll learn how to turn documents into embeddings then store them in vector databases. The course will also walk you through building your own Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-rag-and-mcp-fundamentals/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Mike McQuaid. He's a software engineer who maintains Homebrew, an open source package manager used by tens of millions of developers. We talk about how big open source infrastructure gets maintained and what a career in open source really looks like. Mike also shares how he uses LLM code generation tools, and which developer skills he thinks will be the most important going forward. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-most-important-skills-going-forward-with-cto-homebrew-maintainer-mike-mcquaid-podcast-204/

4. And next week I'm interviewing the author of this new handbook that freeCodeCamp just published: How Execution Context Works in JavaScript. If you're a JS dev, this is essential reading. You'll learn about interpretation vs compilation. Then you'll see how Node.js and the V8 engine load and execute code. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-execution-context-works-in-javascript-handbook/

5. Finally, this weekend you can build your own fully-playable horror game based on the legendary “The Backrooms” liminal space. For some reason my kids are terrified of this weirdly normal-looking office setting. You'll build your own environment using Unreal Engine 5 and the Blueprints visual scripting tool that abstracts away all the C++ code for you. Throw in a body-cam style camera perspective and some creepy monsters and you'll have the perfect way to scare friends and family alike. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-the-backrooms-game-in-unreal-engine-5/

Quote of the Week: "Past You and Future You are almost like two different people. If you design your tools and your systems well, Future You will constantly be thanking Past You." — Homebrew Lead Maintainer Mike McQuaid on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 16, 2026

1. I spent three days at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts recording a documentary about the world's largest collegiate hackathon. More than 3,000 student developers participated in this year's UC Berkeley Cal Hacks hackathon. Over the course of 36 hours, they built a broad array of projects, then demo'd them to judges from industry. I now present to you the finished documentary. I hope you find it both enjoyable and inspiring. (80-minute documentary): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/inside-cal-hacks-2025-36-hours-at-the-worlds-largest-collegiate-hackathon/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a new course on building your own custom Kubernetes operators and controllers from scratch. You'll learn everything from the internal architecture of Informers and Caches to advanced concepts like Finalizers and Idempotency. If you're interested in DevOps, this is the course for you. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-kubernetes-operators-with-go-and-kubebuilder/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview a corporate lawyer who learned programming at age 37 then ultimately got a job as a software engineer at Google. He talks about his journey and how he leveraged freeCodeCamp's coursework. He also talks about how the coding part of the job is getting easier with LLM tools, which makes other aspects like critical thinking all the more important. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/first-developer-job-at-age-38-with-lawyer-turned-software-engineer-zubin-pratap-podcast-203/

4. Learn how to select the best GPU for economically training your models and running inference workloads. This no-nonsense guide will help you understand why certain specs matter more than others. It will also help you navigate around common pitfalls when buying or renting GPUs. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-choose-the-best-gpu-for-your-ai-workloads/

5. Learn how to benchmark embedding models using your own custom data. This course will walk you through leveraging Vision Language Models for precise text extraction. You'll also learn how to use LLMs to generate synthetic evaluation data. Finally, you'll get exposure to the rigorous statistical tests that can help you find the best models for whatever hardware you have on hand. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-benchmark-embedding-models-on-your-own-data/

Quote of the Week: "When LLMs can do a lot of the autocomplete and the code generation for you, it comes down to your design work, your judgment, your taste, your analysis, your code review. You're going to be managing an LLM for at least 10% of your work. And that comes down to communication. What is a spec? What is a good prompt? It's communication. It is helping the LLM understand your goals." — lawyer-turned-software engineer Zubin Pratap on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

January 9, 2026

1. freeCodeCamp just published a book that will teach you the math that powers most AI systems. Even if you haven't studied math since high school, you may find this book helpful in expanding your understanding of the layers of abstraction underpinning these emerging tools. You'll learn key concepts in statistics, linear algebra, calculus, and optimization theory. You'll also get a healthy dose of mathematical history. (free full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-math-behind-artificial-intelligence-book/

2. And if you're finding the sudden surge in AI tools to be overwhelming, freeCodeCamp just published this practical guide to using them effectively. This tutorial will separate the utility from the hype. You'll learn how to minimize hallucinations with Context Management. You'll also learn about agentic tools and in-editor assistants. It even has tips for how to prevent your own developer skills from atrophying, so you can adopt these tools without becoming overly dependent on them. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-not-be-overwhelmed-by-ai/

3. freeCodeCamp also published a course on React Optimization. You'll learn key React design patterns to achieve a screaming-fast front end. This course covers memoization, derived states, throttling, debouncing, concurrency, virtualization, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-optimize-react/

4. Learn modern music production using the popular FruityLoops Studio Digital Audio Workstation tool. This FL Studio course will teach you sound design fundamentals, mixing, filters, drum sequencing, basslines, synth melodies, and even advanced concepts like kick drum ducking. You can play along at home and by the end of the course you'll have your own bass house track you can share with your friends. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-music-production-with-fl-studio/

5. And in case you missed my year-end announcement, we just launched Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification, along with updated Python, SQL, and Responsive Web Design certifications that you can earn. We even launched our beta Spanish and Mandarin Chinese curricula. (10 minute announcement article with tons of data): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-gifts-freecodecamp-community-2025/

Quote of the Week: "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." — John von Neumann, mathematician and creator of von Neumann computer architecture, which is almost certainly used in the device that you're reading this on

December 24, 2025

1. 2025 has been an amazing year for the global freeCodeCamp community. And we’re thrilled to cap it off with the launch of several Christmas gifts for you. We just launched Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's JavaScript certification, along with updated Python, SQL, and Responsive Web Design certifications that you can earn. We even launched our beta Spanish and Mandarin Chinese curricula. (10 minute announcement article with tons of data): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-gifts-freecodecamp-community-2025

2. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview the son of an Indian textile worker who's now been working as a dev for 16 years. Santosh Yadav has managed to climb the ladder at Indian and European tech companies without needing to become a manager himself. He shares practical tips for devs who don't want to become managers, but do want to continue to ascend. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-promoted-as-a-dev-without-becoming-a-manager-staff-engineer-santosh-yadav-interview-podcast-202/

3. And now for some advanced learning resources to tide you over the holiday break. First, learn eBPF Tracing for when you're debugging Kubernetes apps, but your logs are failing you. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-debug-kubernetes-apps-when-logs-fail-you-an-ebpf-tracing-handbook/

4. Second, learn how to perform secure hashing using Python's hashlib module. This is helpful for storing sensitive information, verifying file integrity, and other cybersecurity purposes. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-perform-secure-hashing-using-pythons-hashlib-module/

5. Third, learn how to build your own Log-Structured Merge Tree from scratch as a new way to store data in your apps. These work by “appending new data to the existing data, instead of looking for something that exists and updating it. In other words, you don't have to spend any CPU cycles thinking about where to store data. You just append it at the end.” (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-lsm-tree-storage-engine-from-scratch-handbook/

Quote of the Week: “The day you stop waiting for your manager to tell you what’s broken, and you start fixing the things everyone else is ignoring, is the day you start moving up.” — Software Developer Santosh Yadav on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 19, 2025

1. I'm thrilled to announce that freeCodeCamp just launched our new Python certification curriculum. You can learn Python by building projects right in your browser. You'll learn a ton of fundamental programming concepts through our extensive theory sections. Then you'll apply that theory and get lots of reps with Python syntax by building projects. You can sit for the final exam and earn a certification that you can add to your LinkedIn or portfolio website. This is just one of the six certs in Version 10 of freeCodeCamp's Full Stack Developer Curriculum. This Python module is years in the making, and I think you're going to learn a lot from it. (comprehensive interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-python-certification-is-now-live/

2. Learn game development fundamentals by building your own 2D pixel art tower defense game. You'll use the popular Unity game development framework. You can code along at home and learn how to set up 2D tilemap levels, animate pixel-art characters, build towers, and spawn enemy waves. Then you'll learn how to export your game to be playable on Windows, Android, and in a web browser. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-2d-pixel-art-game-in-unity/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Jason Lengstorf, a college dropout who taught himself programming while building websites for his emo band. 22 years later, he's worked as a developer at IBM, Netlify, and run his own dev consultancy. He shares his observation that many CEOs over-estimated the impact of AI coding tools and laid off too many developers. He says the developer job market has already rebounded a bit, but will never be the same. He shares tons of tips for how to land roles in the post-LLM labor market. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ai-is-going-to-replace-devs-hype-is-over-22-year-developer-veteran-jason-lengstorf-podcast-201/

4. Learn modern web development techniques by building your own sales dashboard app using React, JavaScript, and Supabase. You'll start by architecting your database schema. Then you'll set up session management. Finally, you'll implement real-time data operations. By the end of the course, you'll have a dashboard app you can show off to your friends. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/supabase-for-beginners/

5. Now you can learn Spanish on freeCodeCamp. We just launched our Spanish curriculum today, which we've been working on all year. You'll learn proper Spanish pronunciation, greetings, introductions, numbers, and more. You'll also learn how to type Spanish characters like this one ñ on your phone and computer. We already have more than 200 steps live, with the rest of the CEFR A1 level going live in 2026. ¡Aprendamos! (fully interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a1-professional-spanish-curriculum-beta-is-now-live/

Quote of the Week: “The promise was that AI was going to replace developers. We’re seeing pretty clearly that’s not the case. Anything beyond a toy, anything that requires maintenance or significant feature development, you can’t vibe-code that. The strongest developers in the future are the ones who have the right skills to leverage AI effectively.” — Software Engineer Jason Lengstorf on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 12, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just launched our new JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms Certification. You can now take the final exam and earn this verified cert, then add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core freeCodeCamp curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this to serve as your shortest path to acquiring programming fundamentals. (300 hour interactive curriculum – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-javascript-certification-is-now-live/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a project-oriented course on building your own AI agents using the n8n framework. You'll learn about vector databases, Retrieval-Augmented Generation, multi-workflow builds, and more. You can code along at home, and by the end of the course you'll have a variety of agentic projects you can show off to your friends. (4 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-n8n-to-design-develop-and-deploy-production-grade-ai-agents/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Kunal Kushwaha. He's a software engineer and prolific computer science teacher on YouTube. After years of preparation, he failed India's Engineering Entrance Exam not once but twice. But he persevered. He built his own learning path by contributing code to open source projects. In his short career as a developer, he's worked at small startups as well as at a big UK cloud provider as their field CTO. He shares tons of tips for learning new skills, being productive while working remotely, and his thoughts on the Indian higher education system. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-your-own-learning-path-using-open-source-with-kunal-kushwaha-podcast-200/

4. Tell your friends who are learning English: freeCodeCamp just launched our English for Developers curriculum. You can learn vocab, grammar, reading, and listening – all through stories set in a Silicon Valley tech company. This is level A2 English, meaning it's lower intermediate. We'll introduce other CEFR levels in the coming months as well. (interactive curriculum with certification – announcement article and FAQ): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-a2-english-for-developers-certification-is-now-live/

5. freeCodeCamp also published an advanced Python course that will teach you about sequence models and Neural Machine Translation. You'll learn about historical breakthroughs, architectural innovations, and mathematical insights as you reproduce the findings of 7 landmark AI papers using the PyTorch machine learning library. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-nmt-from-scratch-pytorch-replications-of-7-landmark-papers/

Quote of the Week: “Open source saved my career. It gave me credibility, proof of work, skills, projects to showcase, and a network.” — Software Engineer Kunal Kushwaha on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

December 5, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Git and GitHub for beginners course. Git is a powerful version control tool that most developers now use to build software projects together. GitHub is a popular platform that adds tons of collaboration features on top of Git. You'll learn the basics of both in this course, which covers branching, merging, pull requests, and other key concepts. Well worth your time. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-and-github-crash-course-for-beginners

2. freeCodeCamp also just launched our new Responsive Web Design Certification. You can now take the final exam and earn this verified cert, then add it to your LinkedIn, CV, or personal website. This is version 10 of the core fCC curriculum. The community collectively spent thousands of hours developing all this as your shortest path to front-end development skills. This announcement and comprehensive FAQ will help you figure out where this fits into your journey toward your learning goals. (100+ hour interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamps-new-responsive-web-design-certification-is-now-live/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Andrea Griffiths, who taught herself programming using freeCodeCamp while working in construction. She moved to the US from Colombia when she was 17, and within 6 months she joined the US Army. She ran a chain of gyms before landing a support role at a tech company, then ascended to Product Manager and ultimately Developer Advocate at GitHub. She shares tips for busy parents who want to learn new skills, and how to stay focused in an increasingly distracting world. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tips-from-serial-career-changer-github-andrea-griffiths-podcast-199/

4. freeCodeCamp also just published a new Harvard CS50 course that will teach you R, a popular programming language for statistical computing and data science. You'll work with real-world datasets inside the RStudio Integrated Development Environment. You'll learn about Vectors, Matrices, Data Frames, filtering, visualizations, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-r-programming-from-harvard-university/

5. It is with great pride that I announce our Top Open Source Contributors of 2025. It's been a super productive year for the global freeCodeCamp community. As we start our 12th year as a community, we’re firing on all cylinders, pushing forward more steadily than ever toward a future of open source education. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-top-open-source-contributors-2025/

Quote of the Week: “Take a moment to stop and think about what it is that truly matters to you. And then start making the changes that you need to make.” — Andrea Griffiths on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast talking about her decision to learn programming and launch into an entirely new career

November 26, 2025

1. Before modern Large Language Models, scientists and developers worked with more fundamental Natural Language Processing tools. freeCodeCamp just published a handbook that will help you understand the tools that power chatbots, machine translation, text summarization, and more. You'll learn how computers analyze syntax, model semantics, and interpret context. Then you'll use popular Python libraries to apply those concepts to real projects. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-nlp-techniques-and-tools-in-your-projects-full-handbook/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that will give you a nuanced understanding of one of the trickier aspects of JavaScript development: Closures. First you'll learn about functions, parameters, and lexical scope. Then you'll learn how a Closure "closes over" a variable to keep it safe, while still granting you access to its values through function calls. If this sounds complicated, it is. But fear not – this handbook will give you tons of code examples of Closure mechanics, and teach you when to use them. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-closures-work-in-javascript-a-handbook-for-developers/

3. On this week's podcast I interview two university students who won a 24-hour hackathon. They built a project that helps people who are losing their vision learn how to read Braille. Alison Co and Cindy Cui talk about how, in the middle of the night, they decided to completely rip out their project's AI component. It made their code run so much faster. They share tips for succeeding at hackathons, and also for landing internships at companies like Shopify. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/when-not-to-use-ai-in-your-hackathon-project-with-mlh-winners-cindy-cui-and-alison-co-podcast-198/

4. Flexbox is a powerful CSS feature that lets you build user interfaces that fit any screen size. If you’ve ever struggled to center something with CSS or tried to make columns line up nicely, well, Flexbox simplifies this dramatically. freeCodeCamp just published a Flexbox for beginners course where you'll learn both the concepts and the code syntax while building a responsive website navigation bar. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-css-flexbox-for-beginners-free-2-hour-course

5. When you're working with Large Language Models, every additional token adds cost and latency. Microsoft just open-sourced a tool called LLMLingua that will compress your prompts and other context window data. freeCodeCamp published this tutorial to help you understand how this works and how you can add it to your Python projects. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-compress-your-prompts-and-reduce-llm-costs/

Quote of the Week: “Care less about school. It took me too long to realize that I should be doing more projects hands-on instead of worrying about trying to get like a 95 on a quiz that was worth 10 percent of my grade.” — Developer and university student Cindy Cui on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 21, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this beginner-friendly back-end development course. You'll learn how to build your own web servers and APIs using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. freeCodeCamp's website and mobile apps are built using these tools, which make up the popular MERN stack. You'll also get some exposure to database architecture, security principles, testing best practices, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/intro-to-backend-web-development-nodejs-express-mongodb/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Blender and Three.js course where you'll build your own 3D portfolio piece: a render of an adorable home office. If you're interested in 3D rendering and computer graphics, this is the course for you. You'll learn key concepts like Quad Topology, Raycasting, OrbitControls, and more. By the end of the course, your 3D model will be live on the web so you can share it with your friends. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-cute-room-portfolio-with-threejs-blender-javascript/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I had the honor of interviewing Harvard CS50 professor David J. Malan. Over the years, freeCodeCamp has published many of his computer science courses, which millions of people have now taken. I was hyped to ask him how he uses emerging LLM tools, and where he thinks the software engineering field is heading. I had a LOT of questions for him and he answered all of them. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50-prof-david-j-malan-on-why-you-should-learn-programming-slowly-podcast-197/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook on using Docker with Node.js. You'll learn how to set up Docker and Docker Compose. You'll also learn fundamental concepts like Volumes, Images, and Containers. This is an excellent resource for you to read through and code along with. Bookmark it for future reference. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-to-docker-with-nodejs-handbook/

5. Level up your JavaScript implementation skills with this new freeCodeCamp course on Clean Code. You'll learn how to detect “code smells” and refactor your JavaScript accordingly. You'll also learn how to use ESLint and Prettier to automate some of the more error-prone aspects of shipping code. (1 hour watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/level-up-your-javascript-detect-smells-and-write-clean-code/

Quote of the Week: “There’s something liberating about realizing that at the end of the day everything reduces to zeros and ones. It’s not magic. And once students see that, they think: OK, I got this.” — Harvard computer science professor David J. Malan on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 14, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Discrete Mathematics for beginners course. It'll teach you tons of math concepts that are key to modern Machine Learning. You'll learn some Number Theory and Combinatorics, then use Python to explore the Pigeonhole Principle, the Stars and Bars Principle, Stirling Numbers, the Chinese Remainder Theorem, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-discrete-mathematics/

2. We also published this JavaScript course on the open source n8n agentic workflow automation tool. freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon will teach you core concepts like working with loops, trigger nodes, webhooks, and more. You can code along at home and build 4 real-world projects, including a chatbot and an emergency notification app. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-complex-workflows-with-n8n-and-master-ai-integration/

3. On this week's podcast I talk with a dev who taught herself programming at age 27. Abbey Perini worked as an admin at a recruitment agency and has a unique perspective on the developer hiring process. She shares practical tips for applying and interviewing. She also shares how she has adapted to her adult ADHD diagnosis, and how she stays focused on shipping code. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/applying-into-the-void-with-recruiter-admin-abbey-perini-podcast-196/

4. Learn the popular Vue.js front end JavaScript framework. You'll learn Vue's core building blocks like components, reactivity, template syntax, dynamic data binding, and asset handling. By the end of the course, you'll have a simple Vue app that you can show to your friends. Also note that I recently interviewed Evan You, the creator of Vue, on the freeCodeCamp podcast. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-vuejs-javascript-framework-course/

5. Learn how to run an open source LLM locally on your own hardware using Ollama. This is a great way to unlock the power of LLMs without the privacy and security tradeoffs of using public LLM websites and APIs. This freeCodeCamp guide will walk you through the setup process and give you a feel for the options at your disposal. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-run-an-open-source-llm-on-your-personal-computer-run-ollama-locally/

Quote of the Week: “People get jobs years down the line because someone remembers them from an interview and wishes they could have hired them then.” — Software Engineer and former recruitment agency admin Abbey Perini on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

November 7, 2025

1. Learn how cryptography works, and how developers use it to secure both data and communication. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you Python functions for symmetric and asymmetric encryption. You'll learn about SHA-256, AES, RSA, and public / private keys as well. You'll even code your own command-line cryptography tool. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cryptography-for-beginners-full-python-course-sha-256-aes-rsa-passwords/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building your own 3D games that run in a browser using Three.js and Blender. You'll learn how to model characters, design levels, detect collisions, and make the camera follow your playable character. You'll even deploy your game to the cloud so your friends can play it. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/creative-web-development-with-threejs-and-blender/

3. On this week's podcast I interview a self-taught developer with nearly a decade of software engineering experience. Patrick Hartley had to drop out of college to provide for his family. He taught himself programming while working at a thrift store, getting experience by freelancing and building his own apps. After 10 years as a dev, he turned down opportunities at big tech companies so he could continue working remotely from Oklahoma City. He shares tips for building foundational Python and JavaScript skills, surviving meetings as an introvert, and landing remote roles – even when you're competing with the global developer talent pool. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/he-turned-down-a-faang-dev-job-to-keep-working-remotely-with-patrick-hartley-podcast-195/

4. Learn Event-Driven Architecture. freeCodeCamp published this advanced JavaScript handbook that will teach you about Event Loops, Task Queues, Call Stacks, Backpressure, Websockets, Pub/Sub, and more. Take your full stack development skills to the next level and be sure to share this with your developer friends. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/event-based-architectures-in-javascript-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. freeCodeCamp also published our first ever guitar course. You'll learn beginner music theory concepts like chords and scales. You'll then map them to the guitar fretboard. You'll also learn guitar-specific techniques like barre chords. I learned guitar during the pandemic and am having an absolute blast with it. I hope you will, too. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/guitar-theory-course-for-beginners-learn-fretboard-major-scale-and-triads

Quote of the Week: “I'd be happy sitting in a basement coding 8 hours a day. But I'm growing a lot faster trying to be an extrovert.” — Self-taught Software Engineer Patrick Hartley on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 31, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course taught by legendary Harvard computer science professor Dr. David J. Malan. This comprehensive cybersecurity for beginners course will teach you how to secure accounts, databases, and entire software systems. Dr. Malan also shares tons of practical tips for securing your privacy in an increasingly adversarial world. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cybersecurity-from-harvard-university

2. freeCodeCamp also published a guide to passing the Certified Kubernetes Administrator Exam. Beau Carnes teaches this course, which will walk you through key DevOps concepts. You'll start by setting up your K8s practice environment. Then you'll bootstrap a multi-node cluster and your control plane. You'll learn about Helm, High Availability Autoscaling, CoreDNS, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-kubernetes-administrator-certification-and-pass/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview a software engineer who got his first developer job at age 45. Eric Carlson is a self-taught software engineer at Cisco. In his early 20s, he worked his way up to manager at the busiest Domino's Pizza in Canada. He eventually went to college and studied liberal arts, then worked as a teacher for two decades before teaching himself programming using freeCodeCamp. He was able to gradually pivot into a developer role within the big telecom company where he was working. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/first-dev-job-at-45-interview-with-self-taught-freecodecamp-grad-eric-carlson-podcast-194/

4. Learn how to build high-performance mobile apps using Google's open-source Flutter framework. freeCodeCamp uses Flutter for our Android and iPhone apps, and it's way easier than maintaining two separate app codebases. This Flutter handbook will teach you how to efficiently lay out your apps with minimum widget rebuilds. You'll learn state management techniques, asynchronous patterns, and image caching best practices. You'll also learn how to use Isolates and lazy loading to make your apps really snappy. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-scalable-and-performant-flutter-applications-a-handbook-for-devs/

5. Learn Serverless Architecture using C# .NET and Azure cloud. This jam-packed course will teach you common microservice patterns, Onion Architecture, IoT functions, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/serverless-and-microservices-with-c-and-azure/

Quote of the Week: “Most developer stories about learning to code involve having time to do things like go to meetups, build side projects, grind LeetCode, and so on. I didn’t have time or energy to do any of these things with a baby at home. So I found another way into my first developer job. For me, I had to find a way to get paid to code at my non-coding job. First I found a way to code for 5% of my job, then 10%, then a jump to 50%, and finally a jump to a 100% coding role.” — Software Engineer Eric Carlson on how he transitioned into a developer role within his current company at age 45, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 24, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a massive course that will teach you almost every major data structure and algorithm that may come up in a developer job interview. You'll learn about Time Complexity, Space Complexity, and Big O Notation. Then you'll learn concepts like Trees, Graphs, Dynamic Programming, Backtracking, and more. (49 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-technical-interviews-by-learning-data-structures-and-algorithms/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a handbook that will teach you React for beginners. React is a powerful front end development library that tons of companies use to make their websites more interactive. If you already know some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, this handbook is for you. You'll learn about JSX, components, event handlers, hooks, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-handbook-for-beginners-learn-jsx-hooks-rendering/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast: from injured athlete to self-taught software engineer. I interview Kaleb Garner who earned a university scholarship to play baseball. But after a career-ending injury, he dropped out and moved back in with his parents. While working at an optometry office, he used freeCodeCamp to learn programming. We talk about how he was able to land his first developer job after only 20 carefully-researched applications. He also shares tips for making your network and your skillset more layoff-resilient. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-injured-athlete-to-software-engineer-with-kaleb-garner-podcast-193/

4. This SwiftUI for Beginners course will give you the tools you need to build your first iPhone app. You can code along at home and build your own movie browsing app with powerful search features and the ability to stream movie trailers. You'll learn about navigation, API networking requests, SwiftData, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-swiftui-and-create-an-ios-app-from-scratch/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp published an advanced Python tutorial on Machine Learning Lineage. This is important to establish the safety of mission critical AI systems. You'll learn about ETL Pipelines, Data Drift Checks, Model Tuning, and Model Risk Assessment. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-end-to-end-machine-learning-lineage/

Quote of the Week: "If they won't hire you without a degree, they weren't a good fit for you anyway." — Software Engineer Kaleb Garner on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 17, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on how to build your own MCP server with Python. Model Context Protocol Servers are like APIs for AI agents. Lots of developers are now building them to help agents interact with their websites' data more accurately. This course will teach you how to leverage the open source FastMCP library to build a calculator project that agents can then directly interact with. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mcp-essentials-and-how-to-create-secure-agent-interfaces-with-fastmcp

2. Learn how to pass Google's new Generative AI Leader Certification Exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll give you a business-level understanding of Google Cloud's gen AI offerings. By the end of this course, with the help of Andrew's practice materials, you'll be ready to sit for the exam. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-google-generative-ai-leader-certification-exam/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Evan You. He's the creator of the popular Vue front end development framework and the Vite JavaScript build tool that a lot of devs use as a boilerplate for their new projects. As a self-taught developer, he shares tips for getting involved in open source and ultimately leading open source projects and attracting sponsors. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/evan-you-from-art-school-kid-to-open-source-legend-podcast-192/

4. Teach your apps how to learn. This comprehensive Machine Learning fundamentals course will walk you through building systems smart enough to create their own algorithms. You'll use C++ to implement a Preceptron, which will then look at images of shapes and figure out ways to reliably label them. (interactive course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-tutorial-how-to-program-without-creating-your-own-algorithms/

5. Strix is a relatively new open source tool for testing the security of your apps and identifying vulnerabilities. It's essentially an AI-powered white hat attacker that you set loose in your codebase. This tutorial will explain how it works and how you can use it to harden your apps against common exploits. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-strix-the-open-source-ai-agent-for-security-testing/

Quote of the Week: "When I build things, I often start by prototyping the end developer experience I want for myself — then I reverse engineer from that to the implementation details." — Software Engineer Evan You on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

October 3, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new in-depth course that will teach you full stack development fundamentals from the ground up. It covers front end development tools like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then it moves to back end development tools like Node, SQL, and TypeScript. You can code along at home and build a variety of projects while getting exposed to a ton of concepts. (47 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/become-a-full-stack-developer-with-one-video/

2. We also just completed work on this new Go programming course where you build your own movie streaming app. Go is a fast back end language, and here we're pairing it with the Gin-Gonic web server framework. As you build this project, you'll also integrate your movie database with OpenAI's API to analyze data and give your users personalized movie recommendations. (15 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-movie-streaming-app-with-go-react-mongodb-openai/

3. On this week's podcast I interview the self-taught developer who built freeCodeCamp's relational database curriculum, and is now designing our daily coding challenges. Tom Mondloch shares how he finished community college and wasn't sure what to do next. So he spent the next few years working odd jobs in the great outdoors. He used freeCodeCamp to learn modern development tools and started contributing to open source projects. He shares tips for brushing up on your skills after you've taken a long break from programming. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lone-wolf-dev-turned-open-source-super-contributor-tom-mondloch-podcast-190/

4. When browsing the web, you may see the error message that something has been “blocked by CORS policy.” CORS stands for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. When fetching data, if the domain of the requester is different from the domain of the receiver, your browser will reject that request. It's an important security measure, but it can also be a headache for developers trying to maintain their web apps. Luckily, freeCodeCamp just published this tutorial – chock full of theory and code examples – to help you understand the basics. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-fix-cross-origin-errors/

5. You've probably heard people throw around terms like Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Generative AI. But what do they mean in relation to one another? This quick article breaks down the jargon for you in plain English. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-vs-deep-learning-vs-generative-ai/

Quote of the Week: "Just start. Find an open source repo. Find an issue. Even if it’s just a typo. Fix it and move on from there. That’s how you gain experience and grow as a developer." — Software Engineer Tom Mondloch on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 27, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth Python course that will walk you through training your own Large Language Model. If you have some basic programming skills and want to get deeper into Machine Learning, this is an excellent place to start. You'll learn about key concepts like Reward Modeling, Supervised Fine-Tuning, Mixture-of-Experts Layers, RMSNorm, RoPE, KV caching, and more. Dive in. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-an-llm-from-scratch-theory-to-rlhf/

2. We also published a Python course that will help you build production-ready AI systems. This no-nonsense course will take you step by step through building a sophisticated data pipeline that scrapes training data, cleans it up, and ensures its integrity before feeding it into your model. I love this dude's relentless teaching style. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-enterprise-grade-ai-project/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Ihechikara Abba, a software engineer with a Chess Elo of 2285, which puts him among top players. We talk about his recent freeCodeCamp course on checkmate patterns, and how improving your chess game can also improve your programming. He also shares tips for getting into embedded systems development with Arduino. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-chess-and-become-a-better-developer-with-ihechikara-abba-elo-rating-of-2285-podcast-189/

4. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building advanced AI agents. You'll use Python to implement interactive voice agents and intelligent research assistants. This course will even expose you to multi-agent workflows. You'll use sample codebases and popular tools like LangChain and LiveKit to code along at home. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-advanced-ai-agents/

5. Memory leaks are one of the most common performance issues with React apps. This JavaScript tutorial will walk you through the most common ways they afflict your apps. Then it'll equip you with the tools you need to track memory leaks down and fix them. It's chock full of code examples for Event Listeners, Timers, Subscriptions, and Async Operations. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/fix-memory-leaks-in-react-apps/

Quote of the Week: "If you don't like playing the social media game, contributing code to open source projects can serve as an alternative to building up a social media presence." — Software Engineer Ihechikara Abba on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 20, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive front end development course where you build your own browser-based code editor. You can code along at home and build your own single page app development environment with tabs for editing your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Along the way, you'll learn some intermediate JS techniques that allow for instant live preview, so you can see the results of your code changes right away. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-your-own-code-editor/

2. I also made a quick announcement about some big improvements to our core Full Stack Development curriculum. In short, we're breaking down our new coursework into a series of six new certifications you can earn along the way to the capstone cert. These include Python, Relational Databases, Front End Libraries, and more. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/introducing-freecodecamp-checkpoint-certifications/

3. freeCodeCamp also just published this new course that will help you pass the Databricks Data Engineer Associate certification exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. He'll introduce you to key concepts like Clusters, Structured Streaming, Data Lakes, and more. (8 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-databricks-data-engineer-associate-certification-exam-and-pass/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview two legends in the self-taught developer community: 100Devs founder Leon Noel and prolific teacher Danny Thompson. We spent the entire hour talking about the developer job market, and how it's changed due to interest rate changes and AI hype uncertainty. Danny and Leon have helped thousands of people navigate the developer job search, so they have tons of practical advice. You'll learn about common misconceptions people have about résumés, recruiters, Applicant Tracking Systems, knockout questions, and more. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/playing-the-developer-job-search-game-to-win-in-2025-with-danny-thompson-and-leon-noel-podcast-188/

5. Finally, enjoy this breezy read about Cosine Similarity and the role it plays in Large Language Models. As its author, Manish, says, Cosine Similarity is “a bridge between human language and machine understanding. It allows a model to treat meaning as geometry, turning questions and answers into points in space.” Not only will you learn the math involved, you'll also see it implemented in Python code. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-does-cosine-similarity-work/

Quote of the Week: "If your goal is to ship something right now, you should use AI. But if your goal is to build something you can understand and talk about in front of employers, you shouldn't be using AI right now." — Software Engineer Danny Thompson on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 13, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a GameDev for beginners course that will help you build your first 2D platformer game. First you'll learn the basics of the open source Godot game engine, and its Python-like GDScript programming language. Then you'll dive into Godot's editor, custom tile sets, game mechanics, scoring, checkpoint systems, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have your own game that your friends can play in any browser. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-game-development-by-building-your-first-platformer-with-godot/

2. freeCodeCamp just launched our daily coding challenges. You can solve these programming puzzles using Python or JavaScript. Build up your data structures + algorithms skills each day, right in your browser or in the freeCodeCamp iPhone or Android app. We're launching with a backlog of 30 challenges that are live now. See how many you can solve. (article with more details): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/introducing-freecodecamp-daily-python-and-javascript-challenges-solve-a-new-programming-puzzle-every-day/

3. Learn how to build your own secure PHP web apps using the popular open source Symfony framework. This intermediate course is taught by Beau Carnes, who has many years of experience as a software engineer and as a high school special ed teacher. He'll quickly fill you in on Symfony's security features, which enable you to query encrypted data without ever even needing to decrypt it on your MongoDB database server. You can code along and home and build your own secure personal finance app while applying these new concepts. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-secure-web-applications-with-php-symfony-and-mongodb/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Ania Kubów. She's a software engineer and a prolific programming teacher on YouTube. She shares tips for how to keep your focus and expand your skills in today's increasingly distracting world. She's passionate about building games, and has lots of advice for getting into GameDev by using JavaScript-based browser games as an entry point. We also talk about the JS13k competition that she judges each year, where devs build entire games that fit within just 13 kilobytes. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-focus-on-building-your-skills-when-everythings-so-distracting-with-ania-kubow-podcast-187/

5. I also recommend reading this quick post by a freeCodeCamp community member on the importance of Hackathons. They opened all sorts of doors for him in his job search. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-every-student-should-join-hackathons/

Quote of the Week: "My worry is that with AI now people just stop learning the fundamentals. But then how do you fully understand something, really? You should definitely still learn the fundamentals before using all these AI tools." — Software Engineer Ania Kubów, who has taught some of YouTube's most popular LLM-focused courses, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

September 6, 2025

1. Learn about AI-assisted coding from a software engineer who's maintained freeCodeCamp's platform and infrastructure for the past 7 years. Mrugesh was initially skeptical of AI tools but has recently used them to great effect. And he wrote this handbook to help you do the same. He says experienced developers can complete tasks faster with AI assistance. But they need to know how to use these tools effectively. And they also need strong foundational programming skills. This handbook is a no-nonsense guide to emerging tools and best practices. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-an-expert-in-ai-assisted-coding-a-handbook-for-developers/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course on building your own AI agent from scratch using Python. You'll implement the agentic loop. Then you'll endow your agent with the ability to read, write, and execute code. Finally, you'll supervise your agent as it goes through and makes fixes to an intentionally buggy codebase. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-ai-coding-agent-in-python/

3. For this week's podcast, I've changed the format. I now start off the show with a few minutes of freeCodeCamp community updates and useful news about programming. Then I do a shorter, more focused interview with a software engineer. This week I talk with Ankur Tyagi, a freelance developer and prolific contributor to freeCodeCamp's open source learning resources. He's worked at Volvo, Barclays, Accenture, and other multinationals. He shares his own tips for leveraging AI tools, and why he doesn't think they'll result in fewer jobs for devs. He also has tons of tips for running your own developer consultancy. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-ai-as-an-accelerator-not-a-crutch-with-freelance-engineer-ankur-tyagi-podcast-186/

4. The freeCodeCamp community also just published our first-ever Mandarin Chinese course. It's aimed at absolute beginners. It'll teach you fundamentals of the language and help you prepare for the standardized HSK exam. As you may recall, we've published beginner courses on Spanish and German as well. We eventually hope to have courses on a wide range of world languages at many levels of proficiency. I started learning Mandarin 23 years ago and I can tell you this course just scratches the surface. But it should be a good starting point for you if you're curious. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mandarin-chinese-for-beginners-full-hsk-1-level/

5. Learn the graph algorithms that power Netflix's video recommendation engine and Google Maps' routing logic. This Python tutorial will introduce you to Breadth-First Search, Depth-First Search, Dijkstra’s Algorithm, and other key computer science concepts. It includes plenty of code examples to help you understand these powerful programming structures. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/graph-algorithms-in-python-bfs-dfs-and-beyond/

Quote of the Week: "To build any complex software, you need a lot of good engineers. You need engineers who can think about problems. You need engineers who can drill down into your own tasks and your own use cases." — Software Engineer Ankur Tyagi on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 30, 2025

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published this Python Machine Learning course where you'll learn how to control a robotic arm using computer vision. You'll set up serial communication between Python and a cheap Arduino microcontroller board. Then you'll learn how to detect physical objects using the open source Python libraries MediaPipe and OpenCV. You'll also learn how to manipulate servo motors and LED displays. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-arduinos-for-computer-vision/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a course that will help you prepare for the Google Professional Cloud Architect Certification exam. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every DevOps exam under the sun, and he teaches this course. You'll learn about Infrastructure as Code, Serverless Architecture, networking, monitoring, logging, and more. (16 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-the-google-professional-cloud-architect-certification-exam-and-pass/

3. Three.js is a powerful 3D rendering tool that tons of artists use to build games and interactive experiences that can run right inside a browser. This new freeCodeCamp course will walk you through building 5 practical projects. You'll learn about foundational concepts before moving on to textures, dynamic particle effects, and interactive physics. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-3d-web-experiences-with-javascript-and-threejs/

4. On this week's podcast, I interview Emmett Naughton, a software engineer who taught himself programming over several years while working as a janitor at a hospital. He talks about making ends meet while raising a family and recovering from getting laid off twice. He also shares how discovering he had sleep apnea and treating it dramatically improved his thinking. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-hospital-janitor-to-developer-with-emmett-naughton-podcast-185/

5. The Bag of Words algorithm is an important method that machine learning engineers have used to turn text into numbers so they can train their models. This tutorial will teach you how Bag of Words works, using Python code examples. It also describes the limitations of Bag of Words, and how scientists have gone on to create Word2Vec, GloVe, and other algorithms for mapping the relationships between words. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-bag-of-words-works/

Quote of the Week: "I was mopping floors in an outpatient surgical recovery room listening to the Code Newbies podcast when I first heard an interview with Quincy." — Software Engineer Emmett Naughton on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, sharing how he discovered the freeCodeCamp community and dove deeper into programming

August 23, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever chess course, taught by a software engineer on our team who has an ELO rating of 2285, putting him among top competitive players. Ihechikara Abba will teach you how to think strategically and checkmate your opponents. This beginner-level course starts off with algebraic chess notation and identifying the squares. Then you'll learn several endgame patterns. We published both a handbook and an accompanying YouTube course for you to reference and share with your friends. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/checkmate-patterns-in-chess-for-beginners

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course on how to build your own AI shopping agent. Software Engineer Ania Kubów will teach you how to use Node, LangChain's LangGraph, Gemini, MongoDB, and other popular tools to build your agent. By the end of this course, your agent will be able to autonomously perceive, plan, act, and respond to your users. It will also be able to decide when it has enough information to respond, and when it needs to first reach out for external information by searching product databases. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-an-ai-powered-e-commerce-chat-assistant-with-mongodb/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview a developer who dropped out of college and worked as a park ranger, preventing Yogi Bear from stealing pic-a-nic baskets. In all seriousness, he performed important preservation work and even hiked the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. He shares tips for learning programming even when you have no money, and how to surround yourself with ambitious peers who can help you learn faster. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-drop-out-to-backpacker-to-self-taught-developer-with-dominick-monaco-podcast-183/

4. Alibaba just dropped the latest version of their Qwen LLM and already the freeCodeCamp community has a comprehensive course on how to train it from scratch. You'll learn about its architecture, Training Hyperparameters, Muon Optimization, RoPE Positional Embeddings, inference, text generation, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-and-train-qwen3-from-scratch/

5. Learn the field of System Design from a dev who applies the principles both to software development and to his day-to-day life. You'll learn about scalability issues, the CAP Theorem, Caching & CDNs, Rate Limiting, and other key concepts. (50 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-key-system-design-principles-behind-high-traffic-platforms-like-gaming-and-job-discovery/

Quote of the Week: "Big change happens in small increments. Big change is possible with really small, consistent effort." — Software Engineer Dominick Monaco on how he iterated his way to working as a developer over time, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 16, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this full length book on how to architect a database using SQL and relational database management systems. This book is aimed at beginners, and includes a Jupyter Notebook you can interact with as you follow along. It will teach you Postgres and a bit of SQL. Then you'll learn how to design and maintain efficient, secure databases that support complex data-driven apps. (Full length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-design-structured-database-systems-using-sql-full-book/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive data science course on Time Series Forecasting with Python. You'll learn about key Time Series components like trend, seasonality, and residuals. You'll start by building some baseline models. Then you'll dive into Cross-Validation, Exogenous Features, Prediction Interval Generation, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-time-series-forecasting-in-python/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Edidiong Asikpo about her journey from medical school into software engineering. She talks about Nigeria's tech scene, how to break into tech when you live outside the Silicon Valley ecosystem, and how she transitioned from mobile app development to DevOps. Tons of actionable tips here. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/abandoning-med-school-to-become-a-software-engineer-with-edidiong-asikpo-podcast-182/

4. freeCodeCamp also published this in-depth guide to passing the Google Cloud Associate Engineer certification exam. Andrew Brown will teach you about Infrastructure as Code, Serverless, Google Kubernetes Engine, data storage solutions, and more. If you're interested in a career in DevOps, take a gander. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-google-cloud-associate-cloud-engineer-exam/

5. Learn how the popular Next.js web development framework handles caching and rendering. This course uses the latest version of Next.js – version 15. It will teach you all about Static Site Generation, Server-Side Rendering, Incremental Static Regeneration, and other important concepts. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-nextjs-15-caching-and-rendering/

Quote of the Week: "To this day, I remember when my first open source pull request got merged. It was one of the best days of my life. I was so, so happy. I couldn't believe that a code contribution that I made was now part of an application used by thousands of people." — Software Engineer Edidiong Asikpo on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

August 9, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive beginner course on modern Front End Development using React and Tailwind CSS. You can code along at home and build your own React project. Along the way, you'll learn about component-based development, utility-first styling, state management, and more. By the end of the course, you’ll have foundational knowledge that you can use to build more of your app ideas. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-and-tailwind-css-for-front-end-development/

2. Learn about Zero-Trust Architecture and how to implement it. “Trust no one, verify everything.” That's the approach that these authentication systems take to minimize risk of intrusion or attack. This security tutorial will teach you about Role-Based Access Control, JWT Token Management, Continuous Verification, and other approaches to architecting your apps. (50 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-implement-zero-trust-authentication-in-your-web-apps/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Dilip Krishnamoorthi. He's a senior software engineer who works at Sony building user interfaces for Playstation game consoles. We talk about how he dropped out of a traditional Indian university and used an inexpensive distance learning program to finish his engineering degree for about the cost of a Playstation 5. He also shares what it's like to work in Bengaluru – the Silicon Valley of Asia – and contrasts that with San Francisco where he now works. Dilip loves learning new tools and shares his thoughts on AI agents and tips for keeping up with the state of the art. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/senior-playstation-engineers-tips-for-learning-new-tools-and-getting-things-done-podcast-184/

4. freeCodeCamp also published this handbook on how to leverage React and Next.js streaming functionality to turbo-charge your app loading speeds for your users. Instead of waiting for the server to send one big bundle of HTML, streaming lets you progressively send blocks as others finish rendering. This makes your app feel much smoother. If you're serious about performance and user experience, this is the handbook for you. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-nextjs-15-streaming-handbook/

5. And if you want to go even deeper into React, freeCodeCamp also published this advanced handbook on Shared State Complexity. What happens when several different parts of your app need to access and update the same information at the same time? This handbook breaks down several approaches to addressing this fundamental problem. You'll learn about State Management, The Context API, Prop Drilling, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/shared-state-complexity-in-react-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "History has taught us: never underestimate the amount of money, time, and effort someone will expend to thwart a security system. It's always better to assume the worst. Assume your adversaries are better than they are. Assume science and technology will soon be able to do things they cannot yet. Give yourself a margin for error. Give yourself more security than you need today. When the unexpected happens, you'll be glad you did." — Bruce Schneier, software engineer and security expert

August 2, 2025

1. Don't be content merely knowing how algorithms work – understand WHY they work the way they do. freeCodeCamp just published this advanced Python course that will level up your computer science knowledge. CS Professor Qiang Hao will help you refine your algorithmic thinking and your intuition for translating abstract mathematics into working code. He touches on Sorting Algorithms, Divide-and-Conquer Algorithms, Amortized Analysis, the Master Theorem, and more. Put your thinking cap on and dive in. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/algorithm-analysis-deep-dive/

2. Learn Object-Oriented Design Patterns using Java. This interactive course built by prolific freeCodeCamp contributor and computer science professor Dr. Mark Mahoney will teach you the Composite Pattern, the Observer Pattern, the Visitor Pattern, and more. (interactive course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/object-oriented-design-patterns-with-java/

3. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course on cloud-based AI engineering. AWS software engineer Suman Debnath will teach you all about LLM Embeddings, RAG, Multimodal Models, and LangChain-powered Agents. You'll build an end-to-end app that automates insurance claims: claim creation, document management, data retrieval, and more using a variety of AWS services including Bedrock. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-enterprise-ai-embeddings-rag-and-multimodal-agents-using-amazon-nova-and-bedrock/

4. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Nick Taylor, a Montreal-based software engineer and prolific open source contributor. He shares tips on getting started contributing to open source projects, and then converting that track record into job opportunities. He also talks about the changing nature of working in tech, and how he gets mileage out of both emerging AI tools and time-tested open source libraries. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-turn-open-source-into-a-job-with-nick-taylor-podcast-181/

5. And if you're already working as a developer and are keen to climb the ladder at your organization, this is the article for you. freeCodeCamp contributor Shruti Kapoor wrote this detailed guide to progressing from Senior Engineer up to Staff Engineer. She shares her own journey upward at big tech companies. Then she breaks down the differences in engineering roles and the typical promotion process. She shares practical tips for evaluating your own readiness and building a portfolio of work that will impress your higher-ups. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-promoted-from-senior-to-staff-engineer-tips-from-my-experience/

Quote of the Week: “The real skill for working with AI is communication. If you can’t explain precisely what you want, the tool will churn out junk. Soft skills suddenly matter a lot.” — Software Engineer Nick Taylor on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 25, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to gracefully answer common LeetCode-style questions you'll get asked during developer job interviews. It covers essential data structures and algorithmic patterns. You'll build up your intuition so you can recognize which patterns to apply, and how to avoid brute force solutions. You'll start by learning fundamental data structures like Arrays, Sets, and Hashmaps. Then you'll bust out Python and learn about Big O Notation, before moving on to more advanced concepts like Sliding Windows, Binary Search, Backtracking, and Priority Queues. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-structure-and-algorithm-patterns-for-leetcode-interviews/

2. And if you want to go much deeper into Python Machine Learning, this week we also published a comprehensive Computer Vision course. You'll use the open source PyTorch library to implement one of the most influential convolutional neural networks: Visual Geometry Group Networks (VGGNets). You'll learn the theoretical origins of VGGNets and the math that powers them. Then you'll fire up Colab and start implementing one for yourself. Whenever you're looking for courses on advanced topics like this, remember to use freeCodeCamp's search bar. We have thousands of tutorials, books, and full-length courses like this. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/implement-vgg-from-scratch-with-pytorch-deep-learning-theory/

3. Want to get a developer job? Be shameless. That's the advice of this week's freeCodeCamp podcast guest, Namanh Kapur. He's a senior software engineer at LinkedIn and has a ton of hot takes on where the field is heading. He shares tips for how to interact with recruiters, which foundational developer skills he thinks you should prioritize learning, and how to get hired in what he calls the “post-LeetCode world.” (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/we-are-truly-in-the-hackathon-era-namanh-kapur-interview-podcast-180/

4. Not every codebase is run by a team of developers. A lot of projects are built by a single person who's just iterating on their ideas and trying to find customers. That's where this week's Ultimate Tool Stack for Indie Hackers comes in. Manish breaks down a lot of Lean Startup Methodology and translates it into specific tools you can use to quickly build the first version of your products. He covers prototyping tools, payment gateway tools, analytics, and more. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ultimate-tool-stack-for-indie-hackers/

5. freeCodeCamp also published this quick guide for more experienced developers. It shares some practical tips for incorporating AI tools into your day-to-day programming workflows. Author Spruce Emmanuel doesn't pull any punches or sugar-coat any of his observations about the utility of these tools or the future of manually writing most code. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-ai-effectively-in-your-dev-projects/

Quote of the Week: “Let's get one thing straight: AI is here to help, not to replace. Your job, my job, was never just to write code. Writing code was always just a part of it. Our real job is to build software solutions that work.” — Spruce Emmanuel, developer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor, in his article on incorporating AI tools into your software development workflows

July 18, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive guide to AI app security and the most common vulnerabilities. You'll learn about Threat Modeling, Prompt Injection, Data Poisoning, supply chain risks, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-build-security-into-ai/

2. JavaScript is the most popular language on the planet. But it's also super duper prone to errors. Luckily, freeCodeCamp just dropped this comprehensive handbook to help you understand how JavaScript's error handling works. You'll learn about Try-Catch, Error Rethrowing, the Finally keyword, and the Error Object itself. We also show tons of example code that you can scrutinize and learn from. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-javascript-error-handling-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview a developer who had to apply to 800 jobs, but eventually landed one. Braydon Coyer started out building mobile apps in high school. At one point his iPhone game even out-sold Angry Birds for a day or two. He shares tons of strategies for applying for developer roles, sane ways to integrate AI into your developer workflows, and how to switch from mobile app dev to full stack dev. This dude is a blast. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/799-rejections-but-he-got-the-job-braydon-coyer-developer-interview-podcast-179/

4. I'm a huge fan of data visualization, and I love me some D3.js. So I was jazzed about this new course that'll help you shore up your Data Viz fundamentals. You'll go from bare-bones scatter plots to dynamically updating charts with fancy animations. If you want to learn how to make your data more accessible and more fun, this course is for you. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-interactive-data-visualization-with-svelte-and-d3/

5. As you may know, freeCodeCamp is a big open source project. And we have tons of developers who jump in to help us improve our curriculum and our codebase. But it's common for many of them to lose steam and drop off the map. This guide will help ensure that this doesn't happen to you. It'll give you actionable tips for setting open source goals, finding the right projects to get involved in, engaging with fellow devs, and more. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-sustainable-open-source-contribution-routine/

Quote of the Week: "When I was learning to code, the big picture didn’t click until I needed to solve real problems. That’s when variables and arrays started making sense — not in theory, but in practice." — Software Engineer Braydon Coyer on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 11, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive course that will teach you how to build apps using the LAMP Stack – Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. This is a classic toolchain that a huge number of websites still use to this day. You can code along at home and build your own clone of Google Calendar – complete with multi-appointment support and booking conflict logic. Then you'll use JavaScript to add a dynamic user interface. This project will help you expand your horizons and get in some serious reps. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-google-calendar-clone-with-php-mysql-and-javascript/

2. You may have heard the term “vibe coding”, where you write the specifications for your app, then hand it over to code generation agents who write the code for you. This approach has been a bit polarizing in the developer community, with vocal critics and vocal advocates. My advice is don't listen to any of them. Think for yourself. freeCodeCamp just published this course that will introduce you to vibe coding tools like n8n – an open source workflow automation tool – so you can wire together APIs and services without needing to write a ton of code manually. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-vibe-code-with-help-from-n8n/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Joe Hill. He's a software engineer who works on a data platform for NASA. Joe taught himself programming for 4 years while working as a janitor. As the single father of two Autistic boys, he first used his programming skills to build an iPad app to help them learn how to talk. He shares tons of practical tips for learning new skills and for getting things done inside big orgs. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-freecodecamp-to-nasa-with-data-engineer-joe-hill-podcast-178/

4. Learn how to write Python tests so you can make your codebase more robust. This tutorial will teach you the basics of pytest and show you tons of examples. You'll learn about Markers, Fixtures, Parameterization, and more. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-pytest-a-guide-to-testing-in-python/

5. Tell your gardener friends: freeCodeCamp just published a tutorial on how to monitor the moisture of your soil using an Arduino microcontroller. This tutorial will show you what hardware to get and how to wire it up. Then it'll walk you through the code you'll run, and explain how everything works. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-a-resistive-soil-moisture-sensor/

Quote of the Week: "Becoming tool agnostic is one of the biggest strengths you will ever have as a programmer. If you walk into a place and they say "we use XYZ", you can go “Great. I'll learn it." That is so powerful." — Software Engineer Joe Hill on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

July 6, 2025

1. We just published a full-length interactive book by computer science professor and freeCodeCamp contributor Dr. Mark Mahoney. It will teach you the foundations of both back end and front end web development. You'll learn some Node, Express, SQLite, GraphQL, Web Components, React, and more. Mark even built his own open source “code playback” system to walk you through the book's code step-by-step with detailed explanations. Pretty cool. (full interactive book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-animated-introduction-to-web-development-from-back-to-front/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive guide to the Google Cloud Cybersecurity Certificate exam. You'll learn the basics of being a Cloud Security Analyst such as System Safeguarding, Risk Management, and Threat Analysis. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginners-guide-to-cloud-cybersecurity/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Back End engineer Tai Groot about Go, TypeScript, and Rust. We dive into the Developer Experience VS Performance tradeoffs of each of these programming languages. One piece of advice Tai shares: Rust is a superb language for rewriting an older codebase... but never use it to write your first version of something new. He also shares tips for running open source projects, and for senior engineers who want to mentor new devs who are entering the field. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rust-vs-go-vs-typescript-which-back-end-language-is-for-you-with-tai-groot-podcast-176/

4. The freeCodeCamp community uses Flutter to build our Android and iOS apps. It's a great way to maintain several apps with a single codebase. And one of the most important features developers get out of a mobile app is Local Notifications. This comprehensive tutorial will show you how to use the open source Awesome Notifications library to share updates with your users and remind them of time-sensitive events in your app. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-local-notifications-in-flutter/

5. Finally, did you know that JavaScript is now one of the most popular languages for writing games? You can build some pretty sophisticated experiences that run right in a browser. This guide will walk you through five powerful JS libraries you can use to simplify your game development workflow and get your game in front of players as quickly as possible. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-frameworks-for-game-developers/

Quote of the Week: "Running an open source project taught me more about software design and communication than any job I’ve had. You have to think about every decision from the perspective of a stranger reading your code." — Software Engineer Tai Groot on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 29, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new handbook on how to build your own custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. The entire MCP paradigm was just invented 7 months ago, so let me explain how it works. Before MCP, you needed to write custom connector code for each data source your LLM used – such as calendars, map APIs, and sensor data streams. Sure – tools like LangChain helped with this. But MCP makes things so much simpler. You just lay out how your data is structured. That way when an LLM connects, it can figure out how to get whatever data it needs all on its own. This MCP approach is an excellent complement to the Retrieval Augmented Generation technique developers were using last year. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-custom-mcp-server-with-typescript-a-handbook-for-developers/

2. Many of the recent breakthroughs in AI tools have been thanks to the Transformer Architecture pioneered at Google. This course will teach you how Transformers work, and how they're evolving. You'll learn about Attention Mechanisms, Positional Encoding, Activation Functions, and Normalization. Transformers! More than meets the eye! (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-evolution-of-the-transformer-architecture-used-in-llms/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview Kelly Vaughn. She's a software engineer who went from building apps for freelance clients to running her own full-blown developer agency. She shares tips for scaling up your business in your community and not burning yourself out in the process. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-therapist-to-six-figure-freelance-dev-podcast-176/

4. Learn how to build your own embedded systems – from smart fridges to home security systems. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive handbook that will teach you Firmware Design from the ground up. You'll learn about the Sense-Process-Act cycle that governs the behavior of most devices. Then you'll learn about low-level system design and modern best practices. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-embedded-systems-firmware-basics-handbook-for-devs/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp also published our first-ever course on the German language. Learn how to speak the native language of more than 100 million Europeans with this A1-level course for absolute beginners. You'll learn grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and a ton of common phrases you can use while traveling. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-speak-german/

Quote of the Week: "There’s a difference between freelancing and running an agency. Freelancing is a hustle. Running an agency is about systems, people, and risk." — Software Engineer Kelly Vaughn on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 21, 2025

1. The freeCodeCamp community just released three new sections of our Certified Full Stack Developer curriculum: React Hooks and State, Testing, and Performance. These include dozens of lectures, workshops, and interactive labs. As you progress through the coursework, you'll build your own fully playable Tic Tac Toe game, color picker, and more. We'll continue to publish the remaining modules throughout 2025. If you start the curriculum now, you can be one of the first people to earn the cert when we add the final exam and capstone project in early 2026. (fully interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-in-your-browser-freecodecamp-full-stack-curriculum-mid-2025-update/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive course that will help you earn the Google Cloud Data Analytics certificate. You'll learn about SQL, BigQuery, data visualization, data lakehouse architecture, and more. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginners-guide-to-cloud-data-analytics/

3. Logic and reason underpin all of software development. And this freeCodeCamp handbook will teach you how to think critically when testing your code. You'll learn how to use Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, Contrapositives, Truth Tables, and other philosophical tools to map out all the places where your software can go off the rails. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-logic-philosophy-and-science-of-software-testing-handbook-for-developers/

4. Learn the fundamentals of data communication and networking in this new freeCodeCamp handbook. You'll learn about routing, switching, Network Topologies, the seven layers of the OSI Model, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-data-communication-and-networking-handbook/

5. Finally, you may practice good operational security on your laptop. But what about your phone? This quick article will give you some practical tips for locking down your phone. (7 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-improve-your-phones-privacy/

Quote of the Week: "A top coder sees a program graphically. A data structure as a hierarchy of relationships, a program as a network of data pipes. The first and only time they reduce pictures to words is when they write code." — Robert Wagner, Programmer and Computer Science professor

June 14, 2025

1. Learn how to build your own full-stack JavaScript apps. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on the popular MERN Stack. MERN stands for MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. These are the key tools that a lot of modern web apps use, including freeCodeCamp's platform itself. You'll learn how to build your user interface, handle data routing, and even rate-limit your back end API – so you can stop your app from getting overwhelmed by all those bots out there that are scraping the web for LLM training data. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-mern-stack-in-2025/

2. Learn MLOps by building your own system that can run sentiment analysis on YouTube videos. The emerging field of ML Ops is a hybrid of Machine Learning and System Administration (AKA Ops). This comprehensive course will give you a solid project-oriented intro to MLOps. You'll learn about Data Preprocessing, AI Model Benchmarking, Hyperparameter Tuning, Ensemble Techniques and more. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mlops-by-creating-a-youtube-sentiment-analyzer/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview former CTO and prolific programming teacher Hitesh Choudhary. He shares lessons he's learned from personally mentoring dozens of software engineers over the years. He also talks about India's higher education system. And he gives tons of tips for managing your time as a developer. I had a blast learning from Hitesh and I think you will, too. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-electrical-engineering-student-to-cto-with-hitesh-choudhary-podcast-175/

4. freeCodeCamp published a new handbook on the emerging architecture paradigm of Micro Frontends. You'll learn why this approach is gaining so much steam among software engineers. This handbook will teach you all about Module Federation, Cross-Window Messaging, the Shadow DOM, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/complete-micro-frontends-guide/

5. And we published a handbook on Apple's code signing process. If you want to publish mobile apps in the Apple store, this handbook is a real lifesaver. It would have saved freeCodeCamp's team a ton of time when we were publishing the freeCodeCamp iOS app. We're going to publish a lot more hyper-specific handbooks like this in the future to make developers' lives a bit easier. Bookmark this and you can come back to it when you're ready to publish your first app. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/apple-code-signing-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "You will not get opportunities unless you prove yourself first. And for proving yourself, there is no hiring manager coming to your door and saying, ‘Hey, please build something for me.’ You have to prove it by contributing to open source." — Software Engineer and programming teacher Hitesh Choudhary, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

June 7, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever chemistry course. Over the years we've published hundreds of courses on math and computer science, and we're gradually adding other academic subjects as well. This is an excellent starting point for beginners, and a great refresher for folks who want to get back into learning chemistry. Chad, the instructor, has taught chemistry for more than 15 years. He'll teach you the absolute basics of matter, chemical bonding, and scientific notation. Then you'll dive into more intermediate topics like thermodynamics, kinetics, and electrochemistry. (35 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/general-chemistry-college-course/

2. Learn low-level game development by building your own Candy Crush-style match-3 video game using the C programming language. That's right – instead of using a powerful game engine like Unreal or Unity 3D, you're going to use some of the most fundamental tools imaginable. You'll implement the core game logic, detect player input, and even add bursts of animation using the Raylib graphics library. This is a fun way to spend an afternoon while getting reps with the world's most widely run language. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/c-game-development-with-raylib/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview software engineer and O'reilly programming book author Joe Attardi about the many changes he's seen during his 21 years in industry. He talks about how AI tools are changing development, and how he thinks devs with a strong foundation in computer science are best positioned to fully leverage these tools. Joe's one chill, humble dude. I had a blast learning from him. And I think you will, too. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-survive-in-tech-when-everythings-changing-w-21-year-veteran-dev-joe-attardi-podcast-174/

4. freeCodeCamp published a couple handbooks this week, too. This first one will teach you how to build your own AI agents using open source tools like LangChain and LangGraph. You'll learn about automation workflows, agent loops, multi-agent collaboration, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-open-source-llm-agent-handbook/

5. And this second handbook will take you on a deep dive into the world of Front End Monitoring. You'll learn how to collect performance data, error data, user behavior data, then make sense of these insights through modern reporting tools. If you're serious about leveling up your full stack development skills, I think you'll find this to be well worth reading. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-front-end-monitoring-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "Computer Science fundamentals are more important than ever. As a software engineer, I want to understand things. I don’t like just taking stuff at face value. I want to know why it works and what’s going on behind the scenes." — 21-year industry veteran Joe Attardi on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 30, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a full course to help you learn Python for Data Science. This beginner's course covers popular Python libraries like Pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn. First you'll learn how to configure your development environment. Then you'll dive in and practice key skills like Data Extraction, Dataframe Concatenation, Data Visualization, and even some basic Machine Learning. (17 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-for-data-science-full-course

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook that you can read right in your browser on the emerging field of Agentic AI Systems. Agents can go out and attempt tasks in the real world for you. Think of a shopping agent that knows your shoe size and preferences, and tries to find you the best deal on bowling shoes. You'll also learn how these systems use planning and goal setting rather than predefined actions. You can code along at home with the handbook and by the end of it, you'll have your own simple Python and LangChain-powered agent. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-agentic-ai-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast I interview a senior dev who was just laid off last week at Microsoft, and he walks us through everything. He has nerves of steel and seems totally unfazed by his coming job search. He talks about the role that both long-term planning and daily trail running have played in giving him resilience. It's clear to me that he's taken the time to prepare himself and his family for just about anything. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/laid-off-but-not-afraid-with-x-senior-microsoft-dev-mackevin-fey-podcast-173/

4. If you're traveling this summer, you might benefit from reading this guide on how attackers most commonly use technology to exploit travelers. You'll learn how to defend yourself against fake wi-fi networks, phony travel sites, shady SIM card vendors, ATM skimming, and more. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-attackers-target-travelers-and-how-to-defend-yourself/

5. Learn how to run an inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer in “Headless Mode”. Instead of functioning like a traditional computer with a keyboard, mouse, and screen, you can set up your Pi to perform tasks in the background, then access it remotely through a network protocol like Secure Shell (SSH). This way you can have a dedicated home automation server or a surveillance system. This tutorial will walk you through everything you need to know to get your headless server online. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-your-raspberry-pi-headlessly-with-vs-code-and-ssh/

Quote of the Week: "One of the things I love about computers is there are so many different rungs on the ladder of abstraction. And each layer has its own interesting challenges. When I moved from Intel to Microsoft, I went from very low-level hardware-adjacent development to cloud development at internet scale. But everything I had learned earlier helped me ramp up quickly at that higher level of abstraction." — MacKevin Fey on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 23, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course on building AI agents using the open source LangChain LangGraph Python framework. This course will teach you fundamental Agentic AI concepts like Elements, Type Annotations, and Retrieval Augmented Generation. You can code along at home, and by the end of the course you'll have built 5 different agents you can show to your friends. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-langgraph-and-build-conversational-ai-with-python/

2. freeCodeCamp also published this comprehensive guide to Relational Database Management Systems. You'll learn key database architecture concepts and how to diagram them. You'll also learn about Relational Algebra, Data Normalization, Schema Design, SQL Queries, and more. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-database-management-systems/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview a developer from Iraq about her journey into tech. She has managed to build out her professional reputation through live-streaming herself participating in online coding and data science competitions. She shares tips for making friends with other developers – even when you're living far away from tech hubs like Silicon Valley. (90 minute watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-developer-friends-when-you-dont-live-in-silicon-valley-with-iraqi-engineer-codelife-podcast-172/

4. Learn what JavaScript Linting is and how it helps you write better code. This tutorial will also teach you about Abstract Syntax Trees and why they're so useful for representing code. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-javascript-lint-rules-work-and-why-abstract-syntax-trees-matter/

5. I'm thrilled to announce that freeCodeCamp just published our first-ever course on a world language. This full-length Spanish for Beginners course will teach you basic grammar and vocabulary so you can speak at a CEFR A1 Level. The instructor has more than 17 years of experience teaching Spanish to beginners. ¡Vámonos! (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-a1-level-spanish/

Quote of the Week: "I had never coded before I started my Computer Science degree. I felt behind compared to my peers. But I started searching online. I found freeCodeCamp. Just being able to write code in the browser and see the output – that was what made coding feel practical and doable." — Iraqi Software Engineer Code;Life on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

May 16, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will help you learn modern Android app development. You'll learn how to use Android Studio alongside the Kotlin language, a popular alternative to coding in Java. The final project involves building a clone of the Uber app – complete with map integration and real-time location tracking. (60 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-kotlin-and-android-60-hour-course/

2. And after you're done with that 60 hour course, try this other 60 hour course ;) It's a full-length Generative AI bootcamp led by CTO and AI enthusiast Andrew Brown. You'll learn powerful tools like Juptyer Notebook and Ollama. You'll also get exposure to the latest applied machine learning techniques. This course is designed to be reasonably accessible to non-developers as well, so any curious person can learn how to harness the power of these new tools. (65 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-genai-65-hour-bootcamp/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview software engineer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor Sam Crombie about life in San Francisco startup purgatory. Sam left his job at Microsoft to go through Y Combinator, and is currently trying to find product-market fit as a lone-wolf developer. We discuss how useful AI coding tools really are, tips for getting people to care about your apps, and how parents can help their kids get scholarships for Ivy League schools. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ditching-a-microsoft-job-to-enter-startup-hell-with-lonewolf-engineer-sam-crombie-podcast-171/

4. Learn how to build web apps faster with Vite, a new JavaScript front end build tool. Vite means quick in French. And this quick course wastes no time in showing you the ropes. You'll learn about Hot Module Replacement, Optimized Dependency Prebundling, Intelligent Caching, and more. (1 hour crash course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-vite-for-a-better-web-development-workflow/

5. Learn how to become a better analytical programmer by analyzing five different JavaScript implementations of the classic Rock-Paper-Scissors game. Along the way, you'll learn how to use visual tools for code comparison, and learn how to diagram codebases using Mermaid.js. I hope this helps you broaden your horizons as a dev and appreciate the many ways you can accomplish simple tasks with code. (2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-an-analytical-programmer-compare-five-projects/

Quote of the Week: "You can do all the user research you want. But at some point, you just need to put your project out there. My biggest false starts came from not launching. I've learned that you can’t just theory-craft forever. You have to actually ship." — Sam Crombie on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, sharing lessons from startup “pivot purgatory"

May 9, 2025

1. Learn Next.js by building your own Dropbox-style file storage app. This beginner-accessible course will help you learn full stack JavaScript using modern tools like React and PostgreSQL. You'll also learn how to design intuitive user interfaces, database schemas, file hierarchies, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-dropbox-clone-with-nextjs/

2. Kubernetes (often shortened to k8s) is a powerful open source tool for deploying services to the web, then monitoring them and scaling them as needed. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive handbook that will teach you key k8s concepts like Pods, DaemonSets, StatefulSets, and more. If you code along at home, by the end of this handbook you'll deploy an app to a k8s cluster in the cloud. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-kubernetes-handbook-devs-startups-businesses/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Shashi Lo. He's a software engineer at Microsoft who grew up the child of refugees. He dropped out of art school and taught himself programming by building projects for local businesses. He shares techniques he uses to continue to learn skills even while he's busy raising his 4 kids. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-art-school-drop-out-to-microsoft-engineer-with-shashi-lo-podcast-170/

4. Improve your C++ programming skills by building your own audio plugin. freeCodeCamp is proud to publish this intermediate course by a developer and 3x Grammy-nominated producer and saxophone player. You'll learn native app development with the open source JUCE library, which is used in a lot of Digital Audio Workstation apps. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/improve-you-c-skills-by-coding-an-audio-plugin/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp also published this Front-End Performance Optimization Handbook this week. You'll learn JavaScript tricks to ensure your web apps load quickly. You'll learn how to minimize file size, make fewer server requests, optimize images, and more. There are tons of techniques in here that I hadn't even heard of. This is well worth reading if you're serious about improving your web development skills. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-front-end-performance-optimization-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "An ideal code review would be a small set of code changes that are easy to understand. You can pretty much read the code like a paragraph and understand what’s happening. Smaller pull requests help you avoid regressions, and save time for both the code author and the code reviewer." — Shashi Lo on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, talking about best practices he's learned while working as a dev at Microsoft

May 2, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Calculus course that will not only teach you math concepts, but will also show you how to implement them in Python code. Math professor Ed Pratowski will teach you college-level calc concepts like Limits, Integrals, Derivatives, Parametric Equations, and more. You can code along at home using Jupyter Notebook to implement these mathematical expressions and interact with them visually. This will help you solidify your understanding of these abstract concepts. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-college-calculus-and-implement-with-python/

2. Python has its own Node.js-style web development framework called Django. And freeCodeCamp just published a crash course that will help you get up and running with it. You'll learn about Django's Model-View-Template design pattern, its admin dashboard, and its “batteries included” design philosophy that makes building web apps relatively straightforward. By the end of this crash course, you will have built your own first Django app. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/django-crash-course-for-beginners

3. freeCodeCamp just published yet another comprehensive handbook by CTO Omer Rosenbaum on how Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) works. Note that even though IPv6 came out 13 years ago, IPv4 still handles a majority of web traffic. This handbook will teach you the basics of how IP addresses work. You'll also learn about Network Addressing Schemes, Packet Fragmentation Handling, Header Fields, Subnet Masks, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-ipv4-works-a-handbook-for-developers/

4. Learn how to build your own DevOps pipeline using 100% freely available open source tools. This intermediate tutorial will show you step-by-step how to configure your cloud environment, set up Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment, and orchestrate your containers. You'll also learn how to secure and monitor everything. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-production-ready-devops-pipeline-with-free-tools/

5. Learn how to run multiple virtual machines on a single Linux computer using a tool called a hypervisor. This is helpful for running multiple servers or doing cross-platform testing of your apps. This tutorial will introduce you to Network Bridges, Guest VMs, and the Cockpit VM manager. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/turn-ubuntu-2404-into-a-kvm-hypervisor/

Quote of the Week: “If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.” — technology writer Robert X. Cringely in an old issue of InfoWorld magazine

Apr 25, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Python course that will walk you through building your own Llama 4-style Large Language Model. You'll learn about the inner workings of LLMs: Transformer Block Architecture, Feedforward Networks, Rotary Positional Embeddings, and the attention mechanism itself. Then you'll build a tokenizer and train a model to generate text. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-your-own-llama-4-llm-from-scratch/

2. If all these machine learning terms you keep hearing are confusing or intimidating, no worries. freeCodeCamp just published this crash course that will explain these terms simply with the help of animations. You'll learn about Gradient Descent, Regularization, Decision Trees, and the Transformer model itself. (30 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/essential-machine-learning-concepts-animated/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Tae'lur Alexis about her journey from working at McDonald's to working as a software engineer. She taught herself programming using freeCodeCamp. After 5 years of working as a developer, she started to specialize in information security. And last year she moved overseas to work remotely from Thailand. She has a ton of actionable tips for people who want to start a career in software development, and for experienced devs who want to transition into security. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-fast-food-worker-to-cybersecurity-engineer-with-taelur-alexis-podcast-169/

4. freeCodeCamp just published a JavaScript Array course that covers everything you need to know about the Array data structure. You'll learn methods like push, pop, slice, map, filter, and reduce. You'll even learn about more advanced techniques like flatMap and findLastIndex. This course also includes tons of code examples and comprehension check questions to help you retain everything as you learn it. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/all-about-javascript-arrays/

5. Learn REST API Architecture by building your own movie database app using back-end JavaScript. Representational State Transfer (REST) is the most common architecture for building APIs these days because it allows your server to be stateless. That is, it can serve new requests without any memory of its previous requests. This beginner tutorial will walk you through installing Express, setting up your webserver, configuring routes, and writing to your database. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-rest-api-principles-by-building-an-express-app/

Quote of the Week: “As a developer, you can’t just jump straight to learning security. You have to start with Linux and networking. I had to go back and study how to build servers from scratch, set up a tech stack, and then learn how to break those systems. Building and breaking – it’s a constant cycle. That’s how I really started to understand security.” — Tae'lur Alexis on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, talking about her journey from web developer to security engineer

Apr 18, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on how to train your own GPT-like Large Language Model from scratch. You'll learn how to use Python libraries to load text data, train a tokenizer, and implement the Transformer architecture. Then you'll pre-train your model and use supervised learning to fine-tune it. By the end of the course, you'll have built your own AI assistant that you can chat with. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/train-your-own-llm/

2. And if you want to go even deeper with Python, we also published a course on data engineering fundamentals. You'll adopt the mindset and best practices of the two senior platform engineers who teach this course. Some of the techniques you'll learn include extracting data from APIs, automatic schema management, incremental loading, and how to orchestrate scalable workflows. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-loading-with-python-and-ai

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Alyson La who used freeCodeCamp to teach herself how to program while working as an accountant. She was able to transition to a data analyst role and ultimately became a data engineer at GitHub. After one of her kids was diagnosed with Autism, she stepped away from her career for 3 years. She now teaches other women how to re-enter the workforce through a charity called Tech Moms. She shares a ton of practical advice for anyone interested in building more technical skills. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-accountant-to-data-engineer-with-alyson-la-podcast-168/

4. Laravel is the most popular PHP framework for building web apps. And freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth course on how to learn it. You can code along at home and build your own clone of the Medium blogging website. Along the way, you'll learn Tinker, Breeze, Blade Directives, and more. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-laravel-by-building-a-medium-clone

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp just published this full-length handbook that will teach you all about Serverless Architecture, which simplifies development by letting you focus purely on application code. Psst – serverless is a marketing term and does still involve servers. You'll learn how to set up a Docker image that you can then use with AWS Lambda functions to handle your server requests. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/serverless-architecture-with-aws-lambda/

Quote of the Week: “I worked in spreadsheets. But as a data analyst, I had to learn SQL for the first time. The big transition was going from Excel to accessing a database, writing SQL, and then analyzing the data in a spreadsheet. Understanding how the tables connected, how joins worked – that was the bridge that helped me move further into engineering roles.” — Alyson La on her transition from accountant to data analyst and ultimately data engineer, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Apr 11, 2025

1. One of the hardest aspects of building apps in C and C++ is just getting your development environment properly configured. This course will walk you through how to set up key tools like CMake, vcpkg, Git, and Docker. From there, you'll be able to build high-performance apps with granular memory management. This course will put you in a strong position to take full advantage of freeCodeCamp's many other C and C++ for beginners courses. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/c-setup-and-installation-tools-cmake-vcpkg-docker-and-copilot/

2. Lynx is a cross-platform development framework that just became open source a few weeks ago. You can use Lynx to build JavaScript apps that run on all kinds of devices, including Apple and Android phones. It's similar to frameworks like React Native and Flutter. This comprehensive freeCodeCamp course will guide you through setting up your first Lynx project, integrating with APIs, and leveraging its unique dual-thread architecture. You'll code your own game review app while learning to use Lynx's UI components, state management, and navigation implementation. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-lynx-to-create-javascript-mobile-apps/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Jason Lengstorf, who learned to code by building websites for emo bands. Jason dropped out of college but went on to work as a software architect at IBM and other tech companies. He shares his tips for teaching yourself programming by chasing your curiosity. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-drop-out-to-software-architect-with-jason-lengstorf-podcast-167/

4. Wireshark is a popular open source tool that security engineers use to analyze network traffic. This in-depth tutorial will show you how to harness Wireshark's power by filtering packet data so you can understand what's happening in a network and catch bad actors. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-wireshark-filters-to-analyze-network-traffic/

5. If you've already learned languages like Python, JavaScript, and C++, and are looking for a new adventure, consider Clojure. It's a functional language based off of Lisp that can also leverage the Java Virtual Machine to run code in parallel. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive Clojure primer with interactive challenges that you can solve as you read. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-clojure-programming-basics/

Quote of the Week: “You can't just hang out with other developers – but never build anything – and expect to become a developer. At the same time, you can't just build things – but never deliver them to anybody – and expect to become a developer. You have to do both.” — Jason Lengstorf, self-taught engineer and software architect, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Apr 4, 2025

1. Learn how Large Language Models like GPT 4 work – one layer at a time. This freeCodeCamp course will walk you through the new DeepSeek-V3 technical report so you can learn about Multi-Head Latent Attention, Query-Key-Value mechanisms, Mixture of Experts Architecture, Rotary Positional Embeddings, and more. It will help you bridge the gap from understanding the theory to writing the Python code. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understand-and-code-deepseek-v3/

2. Laravel is the most popular PHP web development framework. And freeCodeCamp just published a crash course where you can code along at home and build your own Instagram clone using Laravel. This course is taught by Beau Carnes, one of freeCodeCamp's most popular instructors. You'll learn some PHP basics and how to harness the power of Laravel's Model-View-Controller architecture. You'll also learn how to configure your development environment, create your data models, set up routing, and test your app. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-full-stack-instagram-clone-with-laravel-and-mongodb/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Ryan Furrer about his journey from broke musician to software engineer. As you may know, not every guest on my podcast has a PhD from Stanford. Case in point, Ryan dropped out of college and worked as a violin instructor. He spent 5 years teaching himself how to program while working odd jobs and paying down his student debt. He ultimately ramped up with freelance gigs before landing developer jobs. He shares tons of practical insights for mid-career folks who want to break into tech. (90 minute listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-broke-musician-to-working-dev-ryan-furrer-podcast-166/

4. The freeCodeCamp community is on a roll with another awesome handbook – this time on cryptography. You'll learn the history of the RSA cryptosystem and the math that underpins it. You'll also learn about various attacks on the encryption scheme such as Håstad’s Broadcast Attack, the Bleichenbacher Attack, the Malleability Exploit, and the many additions to RSA that have hardened it over the decades. Strong recommend. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-cryptography-handbook-rsa-algorithm/

5. Finally, did you know you could run your own home VPN off of a cheap Raspberry Pi computer? This freeCodeCamp tutorial will walk you through setting up a Tailscale open source mesh VPN for all your internet-connected devices, using the WireGuard protocol. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/set-up-a-home-vpn-using-tailscale-on-a-raspberry-pi/

Quote of the Week: “You don't have to push yourself if you're not comfortable. But there are rewards to be reaped should you figure out a way to put yourself slightly past the threshold of comfort.” — Ryan Furrer, self-taught developer, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Mar 28, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive tutorial that will teach you all about Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and how computers use them to talk to one another. You'll get a full rundown of Clients, Servers, Requests, and Responses. You'll learn about various architectures like REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and gRPC. We've also included tons of diagrams and code examples to help you understand and retain the key concepts. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-api-fundamentals-and-architecture/

2. Lots of people know how to use spreadsheets, but few people know how to use them well. freeCodeCamp just published an Excel crash course that will help you learn the key formulas and functions. It covers Conditional Logic, VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP for searching data, data cleaning methods, common time functions, and more. This is perfect for refreshing your Excel knowledge and learning a few new techniques that you'll inevitably use in the future. (75 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-top-excel-formulas-and-functions/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview a developer who didn't get serious about coding until he was 32 years old. Francesco Ciulla says he hated coding and preferred working as a volleyball coach. But he eventually knuckled down and got good at it, and today his code runs on Europe's Copernicus satellites. We talk about his long journey into software engineering, and how even though he's a proud introvert, he's managed to give conference talks and teach fellow developers. (90 minute watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/programming-satellites-at-age-37-with-francesco-ciulla-podcast-165/

4. When you're building Python apps, you don't necessarily need a third-party tool to find performance bottlenecks within your codebase. The Python Standard Library already includes some pretty powerful built-in profiling modules. And this quick freeCodeCamp tutorial will show you how to leverage them. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-pythons-built-in-profiling-tools-examples-and-best-practices/

5. And if you're looking for a fun project idea to practice your Python skills, you can code along at home with this tutorial and do some data analysis on your own YouTube metrics. Even if you just have a single cat video uploaded, that's enough data to play with. You'll learn how to use Jupyter Notebook, Pandas, Seaborn, and Matplotlib. First you'll export your data and run a correlation analysis on it. Then you'll visualize your data using a scatter plot chart. Finally, you'll be able to analyze your audience retention. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/extract-youtube-analytics-data-and-analyze-in-python/

Quote of the Week: “I tried so hard and got so far but in the end git push --force origin master” — Francesco Ciulla, software engineer and guest on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast (In case you didn't get the reference, it's a Linkin Park joke)

Mar 22, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this project-based course that will help you learn modern web development tools like Next.js, Supabase, and shadcn. You can code along at home and build your own note taking app that integrates with the OpenAI API, so you can have conversations with GPT about your notes. By the end of the course, you'll have deployed your own working app to the cloud that you and your friends can use for taking notes. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-ai-note-taking-app-with-nextjs-and-supabase/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a full-length handbook that will teach you the fundamentals of web accessibility. This way you'll be able to make your projects more usable by people who are living with disabilities. You'll learn about Semantic HTML and ARIA attributes. You'll then learn how to apply these tools to help people who have color blindness, or even full blindness. You'll also learn how to make your sites more accessible to people who navigate with a keyboard or a voice interface rather than a mouse. As I like to say, good accessibility is just good usability for everybody. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-web-accessibility-handbook/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Jesse Hall. He's a software engineer who taught himself how to code while raising kids and working on the Best Buy Geek Squad fixing people's computers. He grew up in a trailer park in a one-stoplight town. He didn't get serious about coding until his 30s, when freeCodeCamp's curriculum helped him ultimately get a job at a big tech company. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-a-self-taught-developer-while-supporting-a-family-podcast-164/

4. As you may know, I spend a lot of time learning world languages. And Large Language Models have been a great tool for me to improve my grammar, usage, and vocabulary. freeCodeCamp just published a course on how to fully leverage LLMs to practice world languages and even prepare for standardized exams. You'll learn AI prompting techniques, memory tricks like the 2-7-30 rule of spaced repetition, and other approaches to turbocharge your progress. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-any-language-with-ai

5. Learn about microcontrollers and how they process sensor data. This beginner's guide will teach you about Software Architecture and Sensor Pipelines. You'll also learn about Analog-to-Digital Converters, Scaling, and how device drivers work. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/connect-read-process-sensor-data-on-microcontrollers-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "I always thought that software development was like rocket science. You had to be super smart for that kind of thing. But of course, one day I just went to Google and did a quick search and found Python. I could write a little script, and it would do these things for me. And it shaved an hour off my day every day. And that's what hooked me on software development." — Jesse Hall, self-taught software engineer and guest on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Mar 15, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive introduction to the JavaScript programming language. JavaScript is the main language used for web development, and you can even use it to build mobile apps. This course will teach you Object Oriented Programming, Functional Programming, and Asynchronous Programming. You'll also learn how to use Node.js and its massive ecosystem of libraries through Node Package Manager. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-essentials/

2. freeCodeCamp also just published this in-depth handbook on how to become a full stack developer in 2025. Author Prankur Pandey breaks down the key tools that web developers use these days, including DevOps tools. He also shares tips on preparing for coding interviews and the developer job search. He even has a section on how he leverages AI tools to help him get more done as a dev. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/become-a-full-stack-developer-and-get-a-job/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview prolific computer science educator Caleb Curry about his recent experience getting laid off as a developer, and how he succeeded in quickly landing a new role. Caleb recently started mentoring a few dozen people who are getting into the field, and he shares that same advice he's been giving them about focusing on a few key skills and going really deep. Caleb has a ton of tips for how to manage your information diet so you can gradually amass knowledge. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-fewer-skills-but-go-deeper-the-caleb-curry-interview-podcast-163/

4. If you're interested in learning more about how software projects are managed, this tutorial may strike your fancy. You don't need a code editor for this – you can just read along and look at the Python code examples. You'll learn key software design concepts: Problem Statements, Use Cases, Requirements, High Level System Architecture, and how the entire process flows together. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-software-design-basics/

5. One of the most common ways teams build software is through Agile development sprints. This tutorial will give you a quick tour of Sprint Retrospectives, where teams look back on the work they've done over the past few weeks. You'll learn the mechanics of the Start - Stop - Continue approach, and how it can result in better decision making for what to prioritize in subsequent sprints. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-run-a-sprint-retrospective-start-stop-continue-method/

Quote of the Week: "If you're a beginner and you're learning, I would not use AI – at least not right now. I wouldn't use Copilot or any of these tools that basically help you write solutions while you're coding. It's just going to allow you to not learn those things for yourself." — Caleb Curry, software engineer and guest on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Mar 8, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Python Machine Learning course that will teach you the fundamentals of how generative AI systems work. You'll walk away with a grasp of key ML concepts. You'll also understand how working with these types of models is different from writing traditional rule-based software. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-machine-learning-concepts-plus-generative-ai/

2. Learn how to build your own Massively Multiplayer Online game using the same Unity development framework used to build Genshin Impact, Hearthstone, Cuphead, and other games. Beau Carnes is a prolific teacher within the freeCodeCamp community, and he'll show you the moves. You'll start by learning some basic C# programming. Then you'll dive into server and client architecture, game mechanics, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-simple-mmo-game-in-unity/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Anjana Vakil. After studying computational linguistics and working as a teacher, she started teaching herself how to code in her 30s. She has since worked as a software engineer at tech companies and for freelance clients. She shares her experience as an American developer who lives and works in Europe. She also argues that her skills from her previous career have given her a big edge over her peers. She thinks that career changers often underestimate how much of a boost they'll get from their non-tech domain expertise. I learned a lot from Anjana and I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-a-developer-in-your-30s-anjana-vakil-podcast-162/

4. If you want to go even deeper with Python machine learning, consider learning the popular Pytorch library. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive intro that will teach you how to use pre-trained models to perform Tabular Data Classification, Image Classification, Audio Classification, and more. This is an excellent primer for aspiring data scientists or machine learning engineers. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-pytorch-in-five-projects

5. The MERN Stack is a pretty standard set of web development tools for building full-stack JavaScript apps. MERN stands for MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js. This tutorial will show you how to set up your development environment by installing Node and its package manager. Then you'll set up your app's front end, back end, and database. By the end of the tutorial, you'll have your own simple To-Do app deployed and running in the cloud. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-mern-stack-to-do-app/

Quote of the Week: "The more we can keep ourselves nimble, the better. It's very unlikely that you'll start your software career working in the exact same technology that you'll be working in even a year later — let alone 20 years later." — Anjana Vakil, software engineer and guest on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Mar 2, 2025

1. Linear Algebra is one of the most important fields of mathematics if you want to build AI systems using modern machine learning techniques. And freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course to help you learn it. You'll review foundational concepts from high school like Cartesian Coordinates and the Pythagorean Theorem. Then you'll dive into more advanced topics like Vectors in High Dimensions, Linear Independence, Normalization, Projections, and more. Don't be daunted by advanced math – you CAN learn it and harness its power for your projects. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-linear-algebra-for-machine-learning/

2. Learn how to build a vision transformer from scratch using Python. Transformers are not just the coolest aliens in cartoon history – they're also the key breakthrough that has allowed engineers to create powerful Large Language Models these past few years. And Transformers are useful for computer vision as well. This course will teach you techniques like Image Pre-processing, Multi-head Attention, Patch Embeddings, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-vision-transformer-from-scratch/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview modern-day renaissance man Vaughn Gene. After struggling with high school, Vaughn joined the US Navy and spent 10 years in Japan. He became fluent in the Japanese language and worked as a personal trainer for locals. He wanted more flexibility in his work, so he used freeCodeCamp to learn to code, then started lining up freelance clients. Along the way, Vaughn has also taught himself guitar, piano, Spanish, and advanced Mixed Martial Arts techniques. He shares his self-teaching heuristics, and how he's able to cultivate so many skills in tandem. I loved learning from him, and I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-go-full-on-renaissance-man-mode-in-2025-with-vaughn-gene-podcast-161/

4. One of the most powerful innovations of the past 30 years – for better or for worse – has been algorithmic recommendation feeds. And as a developer, if you want to build such a Recommender System for your app, you'll first need to overcome what are called Cold Start Problems. This tutorial will explain these challenges and give you conceptual tools for pushing through them. You'll learn about Contextual Data, Preference Collection, Hybrid Filtering, and more. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cold-start-problem-in-recommender-systems/

5. LaTeX is an open source typesetting tool used to represent mathematical expressions in academic papers. You can also use it to jazz up the typography of your documents. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to leverage the power of LaTeX right on your local Windows machine. You'll even learn how to load it into VS Code. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-run-latex-projects-locally-for-free-on-windows/

Quote of the Week: "The more intelligent you are, the more likely you'll worry: what if I learn it the wrong way or the slow way or the suboptimal way? But in worrying like that – all that time we spend worrying - someone else is just going to spend learning the thing. In learning a new skill, the only bad choice you can make is really just doing nothing." — Vaughn Gene, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Feb 23, 2025

1. If you want to expand your coding skills, consider learning Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). In this freeCodeCamp handbook, you'll learn about Inheritance, Prototypes, Object Blueprints, and other OOP concepts. Along the way you'll see tons of straightforward JavaScript code examples that you can implement yourself for practice. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-classes-in-javascript-handbook/

2. Learn how to code your own 3D browser games using the popular Three.JS JavaScript library. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to build your own browser-playable clone of the Frogger-like game Crossy Road. You'll learn how to render a polygonal map, animate cars, move the player character, detect collisions, and more. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-code-a-crossy-road-game-clone-with-threejs/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview a self-taught software engineer who learned to code in her 30s without spending a single penny. Julia Undeutsch is an accessibility expert who works at a large European company. She talks about how she used freeCodeCamp to learn while working full time. She also shares her adventures in Japan, where she has given many tech talks in Japanese. She's a super warm person and I think you'll enjoy learning from her journey. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/she-taught-herself-coding-at-age-30-for-zero-dollars-podcast-160/

4. Learn Kubernetes for beginners. freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes will teach you how to deploy your own microservice architecture-based apps to the cloud using Kubernetes and Amazon's Elastic Kubernetes Service. You'll learn Kubernetes deployment patterns and how to manage real-world production environments. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-kubernetes-and-eks-for-deployment/

5. Learn user management in Linux. This tutorial covers user privilege tiers and permission scope, which dictate who can access which system operations and background processes. Not only does this tutorial teach you broader concepts – it solidifies those through tons of command line interface examples. You can bookmark this handy reference for the next time you're assigning roles on a Linux server. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-user-management-in-rhel-a-comprehensive-guide/

Quote of the Week: "I was in my early thirties, and I never thought about coding in the sense that I could do it. Of course, I always found coding cool. I always thought it's cool when I see it in the movies, like, 'How can people be so smart and program this?' But not me. I mean, I'm old. I'm a woman. Never, ever. But my younger brother told me, 'You still have to work at least 30 to 40 years. You can still do everything you want.'" — Julia Undeutsch, Software Engineer, Accessibility expert, and freeCodeCamp alumna

Feb 15, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a full-length handbook that will teach you how to code in TypeScript. It's a type-safe superset of JavaScript. That means you'll be using the same JavaScript syntax and techniques you've already learned from freeCodeCamp, but with fewer errors thanks to static type checking. This book also teaches some front-end development concepts with React and Vite. Worth a read. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-typescript-with-react-handbook/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive course to prepare you (or your kids) for the Cambridge A-Level Computer Science exam. This exam is similar to Advanced Placement exams in the US or International Baccalaureate exams in other countries. So this course should be helpful for students regardless of where they live. It covers foundational CS concepts, algorithms, data structures, and other topics you'll encounter on the exam. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-a-level-computer-science-concepts

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Peggy Wang. She's a robotics engineer who grew up in Milwaukee, used freeCodeCamp to learn to code, and ultimately got into Stanford. She's worked on augmented reality at Oculus, self-driving cars at Google Waymo, and is now building AI agents. During our conversation, she helps separate AI hype from reality, and delves deep into her hopes for humanoid robots. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-freecodecamp-to-cto-with-robotics-engineer-peggy-wang-podcast-159/

4. If you've ever wondered how GitHub's command line SSH authentication works, this quick read will walk you through the technical details. You'll learn about Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption, Cryptographic Hash Functions, and other infosec concepts. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ssh-authentication-with-github-under-the-hood/

5. One tool developers often use to catch errors in their code is logging. This tutorial will give you a brief intro to logging best practices in Python. You'll learn about logging levels like DEBUG and CRITICAL, and how to monitor the flow of your apps. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-logs-in-programming/

Quote of the Week: "The gap between simulation and reality is getting narrower. Grand Theft Auto is just one example. Graphics level. Fidelity. If you're able to rig up all the controls a robot would use in a 3D video game, and you train it with scenarios that the robot would encounter in real life, you should be able to generalize that to the real world." — Robotics Engineer and freeCodeCamp alum Peggy Wang on how developers now use simulated environments supercharge the AI training process. You can hear my full interview with her on this week's podcast.

Feb 8, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on modern web development using powerful tools like Next.js, React, and Strapi. This is an intermediate course, but you can code along at home even if you're a beginner. You'll build a fully-functional summer camp website, complete with event management, pagination, form handling, and more. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-app-with-nextjs-and-strapi

2. Learn clustering algorithms in Python. This freeCodeCamp handbook will teach you key techniques for Unsupervised Machine Learning so you can build more sophisticated AI systems. You'll learn about K-Means Clustering, Hierarchical Clustering, DBSCAN Clustering, t-SNE, and more. We've included a ton of code examples and data visualizations to make it easier for you to digest all of these engineering insights. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/clustering-in-python-a-machine-learning-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview Rishab Kumar about his journey from working at a gas station to working at Google as a software engineer. He couldn't afford to finish university in Canada, so he taught himself DevOps and how to build cloud infrastructure. We talk about how he persisted in applying to jobs at big tech companies despite rejections, and how he earned tons of cloud engineering certifications along the way. He shares actionable advice for anyone who wants to get into the field. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-gas-station-to-google-self-taught-cloud-engineer-rishab-kumar-podcast-158/

4. If you're interested in security – and you should be – then this handbook is for you. You'll build your own scalable access control system for your apps. First you'll start by exploring the open source CASL library, a popular off-the-shelf tool for authorizing user access. Then you'll set to work coding your own permissions validation framework. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-scalable-access-control-for-your-web-app/

5. Learn asynchronous programming with TypeScript. If you already know some JavaScript, you can probably pick up TypeScript pretty easily. It's just JavaScript with statically typed variables, which results in fewer bugs. We recently upgraded our open source freeCodeCamp codebase from JavaScript to TypeScript. Anyway, this handbook will teach you key Async programming concepts like Promises, Callbacks, and Async/Await. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-async-programming-in-typescript-promises-asyncawait-and-callbacks/

Quote of the Week: "If I was going to start learning programming from zero, where I had zero context, I'd learn IT fundamentals: how networking works, how the internet works, DNS, how packets transfer data, how computers communicate with each other. Because at the end of the day, all these servers in the cloud use networking to talk to each other. The second skill I'd spend my time on is learning how Linux works." — Rishab Kumar, software engineer and my guest on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast

Feb 1, 2025

1. A few days ago a Chinese hedge fund released a surprisingly powerful Large Language Model called DeepSeek. Developers trained this model for a fraction of the cost that GPT-4o and Claude required. The model is open-weight, and you can run it offline on your own hardware. I'm thrilled to say that freeCodeCamp has already published a comprehensive course to help you get up and running with DeepSeek. My friend Andrew Brown is a CTO and AI enthusiast, and he teaches this course, which will help you learn this new tool and its capabilities. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-deepseek-r1/

2. Learn Object Oriented Programming (OOP) with Python. OOP is a classic paradigm for writing maintainable code. You'll learn key concepts like Inheritance, Encapsulation, Abstraction, Polymorphism, and more – all with hands-on Python examples. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-object-oriented-programming-in-python/

3. This week on the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Lane Wagner, a software engineer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor. He runs a popular website for learning back end development. We talk about his thoughts on computer science degrees, his love of the Go programming language, and his freeCodeCamp course on developer careers that more than 3 million people have watched. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/getting-a-developer-job-lane-wagner-podcast-157/

4. Learn how to code your own book recommendation engine using Python. This course will teach you how to use a Large Language Model to process book titles and descriptions. It will then surface recommendations for books you might like in a dashboard. You'll learn about Data Cleaning, Vector Databases, Langchain, Zero-shot Classification, Sentiment Analysis, and more. And if your resulting project works well, you may never again need to wonder which book you should read next. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-semantic-book-recommender-using-an-llm-and-python/

5. Learn how to write Clean Code. This is a popular approach to building maintainable software. And this handbook will teach you all about code readability, clean project structures, best practices for comments, testing, and more. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-clean-code-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "AI can't save you if your code is a mess. It's like building a house on sand. Sure, it stands for a while. But one strong gust of wind or one big wave and it collapses. Remember: AI is just a tool. If you don't know how to write clean, scalable applications, you're setting yourself up for failure." — Shahan Chowdhury, developer and freeCodeCamp contributor

Jan 25, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive guide to the famous "NeetCode 150" – the 150 most important LeetCode algorithm problems. If you're gearing up for technical job interviews, this should be a good use of your time. You'll learn Graphs, Trees, Linked Lists, Dynamic Programming, and more. (38 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-technical-interviews-using-neetcode-150

2. Learn about Webhooks by coding your own Discord bot. This freeCodeCamp tutorial will walk you through setting up a Next.js codebase, configuring your environment variables, and creating a Discord Server Action. You can then use this project as the boilerplate for building future bots to do tasks for you and your friends. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/integrate-discord-webhooks-with-nextjs-15-example-project/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Google Brain Machine Learning Engineer Jiquan Ngiam. We talk about the limits of AI, and separate hype from current capabilities. We discuss how AI agents work, how non-developers can leverage AI, and how skilled developers can REALLY leverage AI to get things done. Plus I perform a song from the 1988 Nintendo Double Dragon II soundtrack. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-reality-vs-speculation-jiquan-ngiam-podcast-156/

4. If you're interested in information security, you may enjoy this crash course on Metasploit, a powerful Penetration Testing tool. You'll learn about Exploits, Payloads, Auxiliary Modules, and more. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-metasploit-for-beginners/

5. And if you want a more hands-on infosec project, try building your own Real-Time Intrusion Detection System using Python. You'll learn about Packet Capturing Engines, Network Traffic Analysis, and Alert Systems. Then you'll wire these all together using Python's scapy, numpy, nmap, and scikit-learn libraries. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-real-time-intrusion-detection-system-with-python/

Quote of the Week: "I used to think that being able to think, code, and communicate simultaneously was an impossible feat, until I realized that most people are just not good at coding interviews when they first start out. Interviewing is a skill that you can get better at by studying, preparing, and practicing for it." — Yangshun Tay, FAANG Software Engineer and freeCodeCamp contributor

Jan 18, 2025

1. Learn how to read academic papers so that you can stay on top of the latest breakthroughs in computer science and software engineering. Yacine is an engineer and researcher, and in this freeCodeCamp course he'll walk you through how he approaches reading papers. You'll learn how to quickly gain context, fill your conceptual gaps, and analyze datasets & codebases. You'll also learn a bit about common mathematical notation, and how to avoid being daunted by academic terminology. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understanding-deep-learning-research-tutorial-theory-code-and-math/

2. Learn about the emerging field of AI Engineering, which is essentially adding AI to existing websites and apps. 90% of AI Engineering is just good old-fashioned web development with a few new tools and APIs sprinkled in. This handbook will give you an overview of the field, with case studies and helpful career tips for getting started. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ai-engineering-handbook-how-to-start-a-career-and-excel-as-an-ai-engineer/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview software engineer Elliot Arledge about building new AI systems from scratch. Elliot has taught several popular freeCodeCamp courses, including one on GPU programming with CUDA. He shares his own approach to reading academic papers – an important skill – and tips for assimilating new concepts quickly. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cuda-gpu-programming-elliot-arledge-podcast-155/

4. Learn how AI is now being applied to agriculture to increase crop yields. freeCodeCamp just published this book that will give you insight into optimized crop cultivation techniques. You'll learn about Precision Agriculture, pest & disease management, soil moisture monitoring, sustainable land use strategies, harvest automation, and more. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-in-agriculture-book/

5. GitHub Actions are a powerful tool for automating aspects of your developer workflow. They can save you and your collaborators a lot of time by listening for certain events, then automatically taking pre-determined actions. freeCodeCamp just published a tutorial that will show you how to get up and running with GitHub Actions on your own Git repositories. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-use-github-actions-step-by-step-guide/

Quote of the Week: "All the wonders of our universe can in effect be captured by simple rules. Yet there can be no way to know all the consequences of these rules, except just to watch and see how they unfold." – Stephen Wolfram, mathematician and computer scientist

Jan 11, 2025

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course that will teach you fundamental Machine Learning concepts, then show you how to deploy your own Generative AI systems to the cloud. You'll learn about model training, optimization, autonomous agents, and more advanced techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation. This course is taught by my friend Andrew Brown – a CTO who has spent years architecting elaborate systems. (23 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-generative-ai-in-23-hours/

2. Learn how to code your own home automation system. This project-oriented “Internet of Things” course will teach you how to write software to monitor the temperature, air quality, and air pressure in your home. You can use inexpensive off-the-shelf hardware like Raspberry Pi and ESP32 microcontrollers. You'll learn about server design, database management, communication protocols, and control interfaces. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-iot-home-automation-by-building-a-project/

3. Many people rely on spreadsheets to do their jobs, but few people actually invest the time to master these powerful tools. This new freeCodeCamp course will teach you tons of useful spreadsheet techniques. You'll build 33 different spreadsheet projects – getting exposure to Visual Basic scripting, advanced formulas, and tons of time-saving keyboard shortcuts. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-spreadsheets-by-building-33-projects/

4. This Web Development tutorial will show you how to ramp up the performance of your Next.js and React apps. You'll learn about caching, font optimization, code splitting, lazy loading, and more. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/optimize-nextjs-web-apps-for-better-performance/

5. And this Machine Learning tutorial will teach you how to handle non-linear data using a technique called Support Vector Machine Kernel Functions. This is vital for classification tasks like medical image analysis, speech recognition, or time-series forecasting. Enjoy. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/svm-kernels-how-to-tackle-nonlinear-data-in-machine-learning/

Quote of the Week: "It is not knowledge, but the act of learning – not possession, but the act of getting there – which generates the greatest satisfaction." — Carl Friedrich Gauss, 18th century Mathematician and Astronomer

Jan 4, 2025

1. The freeCodeCamp community just shipped major updates to our core software engineering curriculum for 2025. We've added hundreds of short lectures on computer science concepts, along with dozens of new programming projects. By the way, don't worry if you were studying the old curriculum – all the old coursework is still live. But I encourage you to dive into the new coursework, as it is much more robust. My article goes into more detail on the improvements. (massive interactive coding curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/christmas-2025-freecodecamp-curriculum-updates/

2. If you're interested in learning mobile app development, you don't necessarily need to spend years learning Java, Android, Swift, and Objective C. You can instead build cross-platform apps using the JavaScript skills you already have, with help from an open source framework called React Native. This course will teach you the basics, including CRUD operations, Multi-Screen Navigation, Dynamic Routing, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mobile-app-development-with-react-native/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview The King of CSS himself, Kevin Powell. Over the years, Kevin's shared over 800 CSS tutorials. We talk about why you should still learn CSS in 2025, how not to fear it, and some of the big improvements coming to CSS. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-not-hate-css-kevin-powell-interview-154/

4. freeCodeCamp just published a full-length handbook on Object Oriented Programming with C#. This book dives into the many C# class design patterns, including Sealed Classes, Singleton Classes, Concrete Classes, and more. This is just one of many C#-related learning resources we'll publish in 2025. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/classes-in-c-sharp-handbook-with-examples/

5. You can make learning to code a bit easier by focusing on the fundamentals. freeCodeCamp's curriculum is just one path, but we have tons of extra-curricular resources, too. This article will give you some tips for learning algorithms, data structures, programming languages, and other software engineering tools. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-learning-to-code-easier-by-focusing-on-the-fundamentals

Quote of the Week: "If you are feeling impostor syndrome, you are probably on a path to achieving new things. Impostor syndrome never attacks the content. It attacks the achievers." — Danny Thompson, freeCodeCamp alum, software engineer, and host of The Programming Podcast. (They interview me on Episode 7 that came out last week.)

Dec 21, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will help you prepare for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional exam, and pass it with confidence. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of similar cloud cert exams. He'll teach you all about Virtual Private Clouds, cloud databases, serverless functions, and tons of AWS-specific security and storage tools. (70 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-solutions-architect-professional-sap-c02-certification-course

2. Each week somebody writes asking for me to share some more Java-focused courses. Well, I'm thrilled to say that freeCodeCamp just published a course on the Spring Boot web development framework that will walk you through integrating AI capabilities into your Java apps. You can code along at home and build several projects that incorporate AI APIs like an audio transcription tool, a recipe generator, and a question & answer chatbot. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-smarter-spring-boot-applications-with-spring-ai

3. On this week's podcast, I interview software engineer James Q. Quick about how he approached his job search after a recent layoff. James grew up in Memphis and was an athlete who also played violin. He knew nothing about computer science, but chose it as his college major. Since then, he's not only worked as a dev at Microsoft, FedEx, and many tech startups. He's also given more than 100 talks at developer conferences. He talks about how his Harry Potter Trivia app helped launch his career. And he shares tons of advice for how to make a name for yourself through writing tutorials and giving conference talks. (90 minute watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-a-developer-job-even-in-this-economy-james-q-quick-podcast-153/

4. Learn game development fundamentals and code your own 2D platformer game. This course will teach you how to code your own JavaScript game that runs right in a browser, which will make your game extremely easy to share with your friends. You'll learn how to use the Kaplay JS library to load sprite art assets, handle collisions, react to controller inputs from players, and more. You'll even learn how to deploy your game to a publishing platform like itch. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-game-development-with-javascript-and-kaplay

5. You may have heard the term “User Stories.” These are a key concept in Agile software development. User Stories are essentially feature specifications, but they're written from the perspective of what your end users are actually trying to accomplish. This comprehensive tutorial will teach you how to create good user stories that can guide you and your team as you build features for your apps. This tutorial will also show you quite a few examples of well-designed user stories, and share some tips for how to structure them. You'll also learn about some common pitfalls developers encounter when crafting user stories, so that you can avoid them. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-user-stories-for-beginners/

Dec 14, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course by computer science professor Dr. Radu. It will teach you how to use math to simplify your code. You can code along at home and build a musical polyrhythm app that procedurally generates sounds and visualizes them using JavaScript. You’ll learn how to structure your code for readability and maintainability – all while seeing how math underpins these concepts. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-math-can-make-your-code-better-by-coding-polyrhythms/

2. Elasticsearch is a powerful open source tool that tons of apps use for their search bars. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will show you how you can deploy your own real-world search engine that you can incorporate into your apps. You'll learn about Index Management, Tokenization, Embedding, Ingest Processors, Data Pipelines, Aggregations, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-elasticsearch-with-a-comprehensive-beginner-friendly-course/

3. On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Scott Tolinski. He's the host of the world's most popular web developer podcast, Syntax FM. We talk about how 12 years ago he sustained a serious head injury while breakdancing that sidelined him for 9 months. But he made good use of this downtime and slowly built a programming tutorial empire. He shares insights from his career of working for tiny agencies, giant companies, and everything in between. He also shares some productivity tips that have helped keep him from burning out over the decades. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/scott-tolinski-syntax-podcast-interview/

4. freeCodeCamp also published this CI/CD Handbook. CI/CD stands for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. It's an important process in software development, and this handbook will teach you how it works. You'll learn about Docker, GitHub Actions, Branch Management, and a ton of cloud deployment concepts. (90 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-continuous-integration-delivery-and-deployment/

5. R is a popular statistical programming language, and it has its own web development framework called Shiny. This tutorial will show you how to build your own weather data dashboard app using R Shiny. You'll start by setting up the project. Then you'll get keys for your data API, and wire them into your dashboard. Along the way, you'll learn about Geocoding, Error Handling, Reactivity, and more. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-weather-app-with-r-shiny/

Quote of the Week: "People who discover the power and beauty of high-level, abstract ideas often make the mistake of believing that concrete ideas at lower levels are worthless and might as well be forgotten. On the contrary, the best computer scientists are thoroughly grounded in basic concepts of how computers actually work. The essence of computer science is an ability to understand many levels of abstraction simultaneously." — Donald Knuth, programmer and mathematician

Dec 7, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will teach you the fundamentals of React, the most popular front end development JavaScript library. This course will teach you key concepts as you code along at home, building several projects including a meme generator and an AI-powered chef's recipe app. This course teaches emerging best practices, and the newest version of React, React 19. (16 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-2024

2. freeCodeCamp also just published a full-length book on how to design your own Microservices and deploy them to the cloud. Microservice Architecture is a software development approach where you build stand-alone apps that only do one specific thing. Then these Microservices call upon one another to get more complicated things done. This differs from the traditional Monolith approach, where everything's part of the same codebase. This intermediate book will teach you about Synchronous versus Async Communication, RESTful APIs, Protocol Buffers, Container Orchestration, CI/CD Pipelines, and more. It also features case studies from companies that have adopted Microservices, such as Amazon and Netflix. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-microservices-book-build-and-manage-services-in-the-cloud/

3. One of my favorite podcast interviews I've done was with John Washam, a software engineer at Amazon. John's also the creator of one of the most popular open source projects of all time: Coding Interview University. This is John's first-ever appearance on a podcast, so we go really in-depth. We talk about his years working as an interpreter in the US military. Then we dive into how he taught himself software engineering, and what he's learned from climbing the ranks at a big tech company. If you're learning to code later in life, this should be particularly helpful for you. (3 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-john-washam-crammed-for-8-months-got-a-job-at-amazon-then-taught-1000s-of-other-devs-134/

4. Don't be content merely using spreadsheets – excel with them. Pun intended. Last week I shared my podcast interview with Eamonn Cottrell, who runs a coffee shop chain and learned to code so he could automate back office tasks. Well, Eamonn's back with a new course that will teach you how to fully leverage the power of Google Sheets. You'll learn about data validation, slicers, visualizations, and even building custom functions using App Scripts. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-google-sheets-course-for-beginners/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on how to build robots using Arduino microcontrollers. It covers electrical engineering concepts like resistance, pin declarations, and analog input/output. You'll learn how to add your own sensors, control motors, LED displays, and more. Note that we have English-language Arduino courses, too. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-arduino-in-spanish-course-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware industry." — Henry Petroski, Engineer, Author, and Duke University professor, lamenting the sloppy coding practices he'd seen in industry

Nov 29, 2024

1. If you already know a little JavaScript and want to learn Python, too, this handbook is for you. It will turbo-charge your learning by teaching you the similarities between these two high level scripting languages. You'll learn how each language approaches Syntax, Data Structures, Modules, Error Handling, and more. You'll even get some side-by-side script comparisons so that you can appreciate the nuanced differences in how these languages get things done. My humble advice is to learn both of these languages, and to learn them well. They will only become more and more central to software development over the next 20 years. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-for-javascript-developers-handbook/

2. Learn how to run Large Language Models on your own computer – no cloud servers required. This course will teach you how to use Ollama to run the Llama LLM. You'll be able to access its APIs and Python libraries so you can build AI-powered apps locally. Along the way, you'll apply these new skills to build your own grocery list organizer, Retrieval Augmented Generation system, and recruitment agency app. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/local-ai-development-with-ollama-course/

3. On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Eamonn Cottrell. He's a software engineer who taught himself how to code while running a local chain of coffee shops in Knoxville. He has largely automated a lot of the back office tasks for his shops, and is helping other people do the same. He's already published 37 freeCodeCamp tutorials on productivity and automation using spreadsheets. We talk about his love of coffee and latte art, ultra-marathoning, and how he balances being a musician with the practical realities of providing for a family of 6. Super inspiring. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/self-taught-coding-automating-coffee-shop-chain-eamonn-cottrell-interview-151/

4. Learn HTML Canvas by coding your own meme generator website. You can code along at home with this tutorial and build a simple website that creates memes where you can customize the text that appears on top of an image. This is a beginner-level project that will only take a few hours. It will give you hands-on practice with some powerful web development tools. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-meme-generator-using-html-canvas/

5. When you run a popular app, you probably don't want to deploy new features to all of your users at the same time. You instead want to test those features out with a small subset of your users. That's where Feature Flags come in handy. This tutorial will teach you how to add Feature Flags to a Golang app, so that you can more safely roll out new code. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-flexible-api-with-feature-flags-using-open-source-tools/

Quote of the Week: "Language choice is not as important as all the other choices: if you have the right overall architecture, the right team of programmers, the right development process that allows for rapid development with continuous improvement, then many languages will work for you. If you don't have those things you're in trouble regardless of your language choice." — Peter Norvig, Software Engineer and AI researcher at Stanford

Nov 22, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on Flutter – a popular framework for building Android and iOS apps at the same time. We think Flutter is awesome, and use it to build and maintain freeCodeCamp's own mobile apps. This beginner-level course will teach you Flutter by walking you through step-by-step as you code your own clone of the Spotify app. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-full-stack-spotify-clone-with-flutter/

2. Reverse Engineering is when you want to build your own version of an app, but don't know how it was implemented – you only have the finished product to serve as your guide. This tutorial will give you a methodology for reverse engineering websites so you can get practice implementing features you see in the wild. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-reverse-engineer-a-website/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I talk with Tim Ruscica, software engineer and host of the popular Tech with Tim YouTube channel. We talk about how Tim learned computer architecture as a kid by playing Minecraft, then managed to land a Microsoft internship when he was just 19. He also shares his insights on learning to code, and why he recommends Python as a first programming language: “It's the least overwhelming thing to get your hands dirty.” (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tech-with-tim-freecodecamp-podcast-150/

4. Learn how to manage the state of your React apps using Redux and Redux Toolkit. This freeCodeCamp JavaScript course will teach you powerful design patterns you can use to shape the experience of your users. You'll learn about middleware, hooks, async actions, immutable state updates, and more. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-redux-and-redux-toolkit-for-state-management/

5. Whether you're a developer or a semi-technical decision maker on a team, you'll benefit from understanding modern development frameworks and what they bring to the table. This comprehensive guide will break down the many framework categories for you, so that you can choose the right tools for the job. You'll learn about AI frameworks, UI frameworks, testing tools, infrastructure tools, and more. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understanding-modern-development-frameworks-guide-for-devs/

Quote of the Week: "If you're 5-10 years old and your main circle isn't frequently discussing: PWA vs Native app, TypeScript vs JavaScript, Flutter vs React Native – and are instead discussing: Playdough, LEGOs, Goldfish... then it's time to elevate your circle." — Ben Awad, software engineer and freeCodeCamp contributor. And yes, he means this as a joke.

Nov 15, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive full-stack development course that will help you learn modern JavaScript tools by building your own dating app. This course will walk you step-by-step through setting up Next.js, Prisma, and NextAuth. You'll even deploy your app to the web using Vercel. Along the way, you'll add interactive features with Pusher for real-time web socket messaging, and Cloudinary for media uploads. This is an ideal course if you want to expand and solidify your web dev skills. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-deploy-a-full-stack-dating-app/

2. Learn how to harness the power of Large Language Models (LLMs) through this Generative AI course freeCodeCamp just published. You'll learn key concepts like data preprocessing, fine-tuning, and Retrieval Augmented Generation. You'll also learn how to use popular tools like Hugging Face and LangChain. By the end of this project-oriented course, you'll have built your own AI pipeline and vector database, and deployed your app to the cloud. (22 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-generative-ai-for-developers/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Google Machine Learning Engineer turned Stanford Researcher Yifan Mai about the state of AI. He runs the open source HELM project, which benchmarks the capabilities of LLMs like GPT-4 and Llama against one another. We talk about the ragged frontier of LLM use cases, Open Weight models and how they're different from open source software, and his predictions for how AI will impact the job market. I had a blast and learned so much from this conversation. And I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/open-weights-vs-open-source-with-google-engineer-and-stanford-researcher-yifan-mai-podcast-149/

4. Most developers I know use Git constantly. I certainly do. And one tool that helps keep me sane is Git aliases. These are custom shortcuts that dramatically reduce the amount of typing you have to do in your command line. This tutorial will teach you how to create your own custom Git aliases – with custom parameter syntax – and make them globally accessible throughout your developer environment. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-simplify-your-git-commands-with-git-aliases/

5. The Go programming language is growing in popularity among devs who want to write high-performance code. If you want to get into Golang, this tutorial will teach you the foundational concepts. You'll learn about Go's data types, control structures, pointers, error handling, concurrency, standard library, and more. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/key-golang-concepts-for-beginner-go-devs/

Quote of the Week: "Brainpower is by far our scarcest resource." — Edsger Dijkstra, programmer and computer scientist

Nov 8, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on AI fundamentals. You'll learn a ton of Machine Learning concepts like regularization, overfitting, and bias-variance trade-off. You'll also learn how to use Python to implement Linear Regression, Neural Networks, and other key algorithms. Then you'll cement your understanding through case studies on recommendation engines and predictive analytics systems. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-foundations-of-machine-learning-and-artificial-intelligence/

2. And if you want even more practice implementing AI systems, freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubów just published a new course on using Retrieval Augmented Generation to build a chatbot. You'll learn how to take an off-the-shelf foundation model like GPT-4, then embed your own custom datasets. Ania will even guide you through deploying your bot to the cloud, so you can show it off to your friends. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-your-own-rag-chatbot-with-javascript/

3. On this week's podcast, I talk with Jerod and Adam – hosts of the longest-running software podcast on Earth: the Changelog. We talk about how open source is changing, and they share some pretty wild stories. We also discuss how more companies are self-hosting their own infrastructure. And we talk about Open Data and Open AI Models. I hope you enjoy these conversations and their many insights as much as I do. (90 minute watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/open-source-the-changelog-podcast-148/

4. As my friends at The Changelog often say: “Software is eating the world. And open source is eating software.” This new freeCodeCamp course will show you how to navigate Open Source like a pro. You'll learn key open source concepts and terminology. Then you'll learn how to identify good projects to contribute to, and how to navigate their codebases. Finally, you'll learn how to submit good pull requests that maximize the chances of your code getting merged in. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/become-an-open-source-master/

5. Learn how to write Clean Code – a widely-respected approach to building maintainable software. This tutorial will teach you the key Clean Code principles, such as the Single Responsibility Principle, Dependency Minimization, testing best practices, and more. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-clean-code-tips-for-developers/

Quote of the Week: "Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it." – John McCarthy, all the way back in 1956. He was a computer scientist who created the Lisp programming language.

Nov 1, 2024

1. This week, the freeCodeCamp community turns 10 years old. Back in 2014, I sat down and wrote the first lines of the freeCodeCamp open source codebase. Since then, we've built an interactive 3,000-hour core curriculum that teaches math, programming, and computer science. We've also built a library of more than 12,000 programming tutorials and more than 1,000 full-length YouTube courses. And most importantly, we've brought together a supportive community of developers who are eager to help people expand their skills. In this brief article and update video, you'll learn about the path ahead, along with some major improvements we're making to freeCodeCamp's core curriculum. (10 minute read plus a 5 minute video): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-turns-10-major-curriculum-updates/

2. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of cloud cert exams. We just published his new course on how to pass the Google Cloud Digital Leader certification exam. Unlike the more technical certifications that freeCodeCamp also has prep courses for, this credential focuses on the business aspects of cloud computing and foundational cloud concepts. It may be a good fit for you as a professional. And if so, this course is an excellent place to start. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-and-pass-the-google-cloud-digital-leader-certification-exam/

3. This week's freeCodeCamp podcast is one of the best interviews I've ever done. Dorian had a rough upbringing in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. As a kid, he dropped out of high school and got arrested 4 times for crimes like stealing cars. His mother had to get him out of there, and his parole officer agreed to let him move to Las Vegas. There he found stable jobs parking cars at casinos. He taught himself how to code using freeCodeCamp, and eventually got software engineering jobs at Fortune 500 companies. I hope you enjoy this whirlwind of an interview. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-stealing-cars-to-self-taught-software-engineer-dorian-develops-podcast-147/

4. freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth tutorial on how to debug JavaScript right in your browser. You'll learn how to use Chrome DevTools to inspect elements, add breakpoints, and traverse the callstack. If you're new to web development, this should be a helpful resource. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-developer-tools-to-debug-javascript-in-the-browser/

5. One of the most powerful tools cybersecurity researchers use is – surprisingly – Google search. They use a technique called “Google dorking” to find Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). This quick tutorial will teach you some search operators you can use for extremely deep searching, so you can find secrets that are right out in the open waiting to be discovered. (8 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/google-dorking-how-to-find-hidden-information-on-the-web/

Quote of the Week: "We can only see a short distance ahead. But we can see plenty there that needs to be done." — Alan Turing

Oct 25, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to code your own Sonic the Hedgehog infinite runner game in JavaScript. You'll learn how to implement core gameplay mechanics like enemy logic, parallax scrolling, scoring systems, and more. We also include all the sprite art assets you'll need to build a working game. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-sonic-infinite-runner-game-in-javascript/

2. Learn AI Engineering where you wrap a foundation model in your own custom code. In this course, we'll use the Claude LLM API to code two projects: a text summarizer app and an image describer app. You'll learn how to incorporate the API into your app, handle errors, engineer prompts, and deploy to the cloud so your friends can try it. (1 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-use-claude-ai/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Tadas Petra, a prolific mobile app developer and teacher. When Tadas was just a child, his family immigrated to Chicago from Lithuania. His parents did whatever work they could find while Tadas struggled to learn English in school. He eventually got into university but nearly failed his first programming class. He persisted, and eventually got an internship at a trucking company writing code to control trucks. We talk about his coding journey and his many tips for learning mobile app development. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tadas-petra-podcast-146/

4. If you want to write solid software, why not learn SOLID Principles? These are S: Single Responsibility Principle. O: Open-closed Principle. L: Liskov Substitution Principle. I: Interface Segregation Principle. And D: Dependency Inversion Principle. Don't be daunted – this tutorial will break all this down with nice code examples to help you grok this popular programming approach. (20 minute read): https://freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-the-solid-principles-in-csharp

5. Up your CSS game by learning how to create elegant curved-edge shapes and rounded-edge shapes. This tutorial will teach you how to use the clip-path and mask properties to create radial gradients. You'll also see some of the cool geometry involved. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rounded-and-curved-edge-css-shapes/

Quote of the Week: "I really enjoyed porting games to new systems because I learned a lot that way. For a programmer, it was really challenging to port a game from a high-quality arcade machine to a lower-quality home console. The skills I developed working on ports are what enabled me to create new games." — Yuji Naka, programmer and creator of Sonic the Hedgehog

Oct 18, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on how to build mobile apps using React Native. In the past, if you wanted to build mobile apps, you needed to learn iOS and Android-specific tools. But over the past decade, the JavaScript tool ecosystem for building mobile apps has improved dramatically. This course will teach you how to code your own ecommerce mobile app using React Native, Expo, Supabase, and the Stripe payment API. You'll also learn how to build an admin panel using Next.js, which you can use to browse inventory, customers, and transactions. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mobile-app-development-course-with-react-native-supabase-nextjs/

2. My friend Eamonn is a coffee shop owner turned software engineer, and a prolific contributor to freeCodeCamp's open learning resources. He's written this excellent guide to Excel keyboard shortcuts. Learn how to center cell contents, hide gridlines, auto-fit column sizes and more – all with just a few keystrokes. No mouse necessary. I'm somewhat of a shortcut connoisseur myself, so I found these super useful. I think they'll save you a lot of time, too. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/microsoft-excel-keyboard-shortcuts/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Roadmap SH founder Kamran Ahmed about his journey into open source software development. We talk about his early career as a dev in Pakistan, and how he worked abroad in Berlin, Dubai, and now London. He shares his passion for open source and practical tips for how to get involved. This is a perfect conversation to listen to during Hacktoberfest – the month-long celebration of open source – where you can get involved and make your first code contributions. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/roadmapsh-founder-kamran-ahmed-podcast-145/

4. Learn how to build a full-stack MERN stack app. MERN stands for MongoDB, Express, React, and Node. Developers have used this time-tested stack for over a decade now. And now you can, too. This beginner's course will walk you through building a bookstore app. You'll start by coding a Dynamic, Responsive front end using React. You'll learn how to create Reusable Components for your navigation bar and shopping cart system. Then you'll dive into back end development. You'll build an API that can process book orders and store them in your database. You'll also learn about Authentication, State Management, and Deployment. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-book-store-app-using-react-node-mongodb/

5. Learn how to leverage the powerful Binary Exponentiation Algorithm to calculate large powers of numbers. Developers use this all the time when working on cryptography and computer graphics. The reason Binary Exponentiation is so powerful is that it reduces the amount of multiplications you need to do, and each iteration through the loop re-uses previous calculations. This tutorial will show you how to implement this algorithm step-by-step with a simple Python script, and understand what's happening under the hood. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/binary-exponentiation-algorithm-explained-with-examples/

Quote of the Week: "The power of Open Source is the power of the people. The people rule." — Philippe Kahn, software engineer and founder of 4 tech companies

Oct 11, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published this course that will teach you how databases work from the ground up. You'll learn about Schemas and Indexing. You'll also learn how databases leverage both RAM and disk storage, how they interact with networks, and how they distribute data. Then you'll explore SQLite's architecture and contrast it with MySQL and PostgreSQL. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-databases-in-depth/

2. Learn how to pass AWS's new Certified AI Practitioner certification. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of similar cloud cert exams. He'll teach you all about the cert and the many cloud services it covers: Bedrock, PartyRock, SageMaker, Athena, and more. (15 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-to-pass-the-aws-certified-ai-practitioner-certification/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I talk with Dennis Ivy about how to become a street-smart developer. Dennis grew up in an immigrant family with 13 kids, and dropped out of school to work in construction. He taught himself to code while working as a janitor at a church. Then he started building websites for local plumbers. He eventually built a software system that he was able to sell to his employer, kicking off a career of entrepreneurship and freelance development. Dennis has tons of practical tips for building your network and finding clients. I had a blast hearing what he had to say. And I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-a-street-smart-developer-dennis-ivy-interview-144/

4. Learn how to build your own cross-platform desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux – all using JavaScript. That's right. You can use JS – the native language of the web – to build apps that can leverage that sweet desktop hardware. Imagine people alt-tabbing straight to your app instead of having to navigate to it through a browser. This course will teach you how to use Electron with React and TypeScript. And if you want to learn even more about Electron, I recently did a podcast interview with Jessica Lord, the creator of GitHub's Electron team. Tons of apps now use Electron, including Slack, Figma, and VS Code. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-desktop-apps-with-electron-react-and-typescript/

5. What is Hydration? What is Pre-rendering? This tutorial will walk you through these key web development concepts and teach you how Client-side Rendering works. You'll also learn how traditional Server-side Rendering works, and the trade-offs involved. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a much better understanding of how developers build modern Single Page Applications and serve them at scale. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-pre-rendering-and-hydration-in-web-dev/

Joke of the Week: "A couple of relational databases walked into a NoSQL bar. They left because they couldn’t find a table." — Kenneth Fisher, Database Administrator

Oct 4, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course where you'll code your own developer portfolio page using React and the popular Next.js full stack development framework. This course will also teach you how to harness the power of Three.js for 3D animation and Tailwind CSS for styling your page. You'll build the site step-by-step and add your own 3D art assets and music. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-front-end-portfolio-project-with-nextjs-and-threejs/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a couple full length programming handbooks this week. Here's one that will help you learn how to use the light-weight open source SQLite database with Python. You'll learn how to create your own database tables, insert data, query your database with Python, use transactions, and handle errors. This is a beginner-friendly handbook that can read, code along with, and bookmark for future reference. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/work-with-sqlite-in-python-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview ex-Google software engineer YK Sugi on the reality of today's developer job market. We talk about the role of interest rates in employers' hiring patterns, and how devs are adopting emerging AI tools to get more done. YK grew up in Japan, and he also shares some differences between the software industries in Japan and in the US. I had a blast talking with him and learned a lot. I hope you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/developer-job-market-with-ex-googler-yk-sugi-podcast-143/

4. Learn how to develop Linux device drivers. This course will show you how to set up your development environment, then do some low-level programming. You'll learn about the Linux Kernel, System Calls, the Proc File System, Loadable Modules and more. You can code along at home and also get some practice coding in the C programming language. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-create-linux-device-drivers/

5. Kaggle is a data science website that regularly hosts coding competitions. And they host thousands of open datasets you can use in your own machine learning projects, too. If you want to take a crack at it, this course will show you how you can get started. You'll get tips for choosing the right competitions, preparing your datasets, using feature engineering to improve your model's performance, and submitting your model's predictions to the Kaggle leaderboard. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/improve-your-data-science-skills-by-solving-kaggle-challenges/

Quote of the Week: "UNIX was not designed to stop people from doing stupid things. Because that would also stop them from doing clever things." — Doug Gwyn, a systems programmer who helped design UNIX at Bell Labs, which ultimately inspired Linux

Sep 27, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on CUDA, NVIDIA's GPU programming language. You'll learn how to leverage Graphical Processing Units – chips with thousands of core processors – to do high-performance computing. You'll also get exposure to GPU architecture, writing kernels, matrix multiplication optimization, multi-layer perceptrons, and more. If you want to dive into serious machine learning, this is a great place to start. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-cuda-programming/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive study guide for the Microsoft 365 Certified Fundamentals (MS-900) certification. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of similar cloud cert exams. He'll teach you all about Cloud Architecture terminology. Then he'll cover concepts like Scalability and Fault Tolerance. Finally, he'll walk you through the many Microsoft tools covered in the certification exam. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-microsoft-365-certified-fundamentals-ms-900-exam/

3. This week on the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview PhD drop-out turned Google Data Scientist Megan Risdal. We talk about how she helps oversee the Kaggle community, which hosts 300,000 open datasets. They also run data science competitions each week that anyone can participate in. We also talk about her time at Stack Overflow, and she compares the two developer communities. Megan studied Applied Linguistics in school, so she has a nuanced perspective on Large Language Models and AI research. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-phd-drop-out-to-google-data-scientist-with-megan-risdal-podcast-142/

4. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are essentially websites that feel snappy – even when you're on a slow internet connection. You can build PWAs that remain functional even when your users are completely offline. This in-depth tutorial will walk you through coding your own PWA using the popular Next.js framework. You'll learn all about Dynamic Caching, Service Workers, Fallback Pages, and more. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-create-a-nextjs-pwa/

5. And if you want to boost your web app's performance even further, you can use an approach called Prefetching. This tutorial will teach you key Prefetching concepts, then show you how to leverage its power through code examples. But – as with all good things – it's possible to go overboard with this and actually degrade your app's user experience. This tutorial will help you strike the right balance. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/boost-web-performance-with-prefetching/

Fact of the Week: Even though NVIDIA created the first modern GPU, the term “GPU” has been associated with stand-alone graphics chips since the 1970s, when it stood for “Graphics Processor Unit”. Sony then popularized the term in 1994 when they marketed the Playstation's “Geometry Processing Unit”, a Geometry Transformation Engine paired with a 2D co-processor. Finally in 1999, NVIDIA introduced the GeForce 256 “Graphics Processing Unit”, leading to modern GPUs like the one that's in the device that you're reading this Fact of the Week on right now.

Sep 20, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course on Design Patterns – a key programming concept. You'll learn fundamental Object-Oriented Programming concepts like inheritance, composition, encapsulation, and abstraction. You'll also learn Unified Modeling Language (UML), a powerful tool for diagramming your codebases. And you'll learn all 5 SOLID Principles and all 23 design patterns from the classic “Gang of Four” book. This course uses C#, but it's widely applicable regardless of which programming language you're focused on these days. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-object-oriented-programming-and-design-patterns-in-c

2. Learn the FARM stack. EE-EYE-EE-EYE-OH. This is a new JavaScript stack that incorporates FastAPI, React, and MongoDB. This project-oriented course is taught by freeCodeCamp instructor Beau Carnes. He'll teach you about the stack and how to deploy your apps with NGINX and Docker – all within the context of coding your own to-do app. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-the-farm-stack-to-develop-full-stack-apps/

3. On this week's podcast I interview prolific open source contributor and tutorial creator Eddie Jaoude. We talk about his journey into open source and tips for building your reputation through hackathons. He also shares his audio-video setup tips in case you want to create some tutorials of your own. He's a super chill dude whom I've followed for years, and it was a blast finally learning more about him. I hope you enjoy this as well. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lessons-from-freelancing-for-dozens-of-startups-eddie-jaoude/

4. Learn API security so you can harden your APIs against the most common types of attacks. This course will teach you about Cross Origin Resource Sharing, Error Disclosure, Information Leakage, Insecure Cookies, Path Traversal, Rate Limits, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-secure-api-servers

5. If you want to make your websites accessible to as many people as possible – regardless of disabilities they may have – then you should learn about HTML Attributes. This tutorial will show you how to use these in your designs. You'll learn about ARIA Attributes, Role Values, Scope, Inert, Tabindex, and more. Super useful stuff for ensuring that your website is usable by everyone. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-html-attributes-to-make-your-websites-and-apps-more-accessible/

Quote of the Week: "If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better." — John Carmack, programmer and co-creator of DOOM

Sep 13, 2024

1. AI Engineering is an emerging software development field where you build apps on top of existing AI models. Microsoft recently unveiled a new certification in AI Engineering that you can earn by passing their exam. And already, freeCodeCamp is coming in clutch with a comprehensive course on it. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of similar cloud cert exams over the years. He'll teach you all about Azure's AI Search, Computer Vision API, Speech API, Video Indexer, and more. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-azure-ai-engineer-associate-certification-ai-102/

2. And if you want to go even deeper into AI engineering, this handbook will teach you how AI Agents can help you supercharge your Language Models. You'll learn some of the history and philosophy behind AI agents, and how developers progressed from Rule-Based Systems to Machine Learning over the decades. You'll also learn what kinds of problems current generation AI Agents are best applied to, such as debugging a script or maximizing the amount of natural light in an architectural design. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-ai-agents-can-supercharge-language-models-handbook/

3. On this week's podcast I interview Jack Herrington, the Blue Collar Coder. As a kid, Jack had to work to overcome Dyslexia, and didn't have good enough grades to get into college. Despite this, he taught himself to code while working blue collar jobs. He has now worked as a software engineer for more than 40 years at companies like Nike, Adobe, and Walmart. We talk about his war stories from the field, and the 6 programming books he's published along the way. We also talk about his love of bad movies. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/surviving-40-years-in-tech-jack-herrington-podcast-140/

4. Chart.js is an open source Data Visualization library. This tutorial will walk you through building your own charts that look great in a browser. You'll see real code examples of popular chart types like Scatterplots, Radar Charts, and Polar Area charts. You'll also learn how to load in your own JSON data, and how to add ARIA labels to make your charts accessible to people with disabilities. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-chart-js-for-interactive-data-visualization/

5. freeCodeCamp doesn't just teach programming. We also published a course on music production this week. You'll learn how to use the popular Digital Audio Workstation tool FL Studio. This course by music educator Tristan Wilcox will teach you key concepts like song structure, mixing, mastering, and automation. He also teaches music theory fundamentals like chords, melody, rhythm, and bass. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-music-production-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "A good programmer is someone who always looks both ways before crossing a one-way street." — Doug Linder, Programmer

Sep 6, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a course that will help you learn how to build your own full stack apps using MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js. These are the core tools of the MERN stack. You can code along at home while you watch and build your own fully-responsive eCommerce app. Along the way, you'll get hands-on experience building RESTful APIs, managing databases, and developing front end user interfaces. This is an excellent crash course for web development beginners. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-mern-stack-by-building-a-store/

2. “Multimodal” Data Analysis is when you can give an AI several different types of input, such as text, images, and audio. This beginner's course will teach you how to perform Multimodal Data Analysis using Python and Large Language Models. It's taught by Dr. Immanuel Trummer, a computer science professor from Cornell. Strong recommend. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-multimodal-data-analysis-with-llms-and-python/

3. This week on the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Emma Bostian, a senior engineer at Spotify. At her first job after college, her boss told her: “You need to get your stuff together or you won't make it in this industry.” She doubled down on her coding skills, making heavy use of the freeCodeCamp curriculum. She talks about lessons she's learned along the way, and what she looks for when she's hiring new developers. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/spotify-developer-emma-bostian-podcast/

4. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is a way to combine your own custom data with the power of Large Language Models (LLMs). This Python tutorial will show you how to build your own RAG pipeline using the open source LlamaIndex framework. This way, you can get more customized results from your LLM, with fewer hallucinations. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-rag-pipeline-with-llamaindex/

5. Cache poisoning is a type of attack where a hacker is able to manipulate the data your browser has stored in cache, potentially executing dangerous scripts on your machine. This tutorial will explain how it works so you can protect against it both in building apps and in using the web yourself. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-cache-poisoning-and-how-to-avoid-it/

Quote of the Week: "If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into committees. That’ll do them in." — Unknown

Aug 30, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth beginner's course that will teach you how to code in the Java programming language. You'll also learn how to use Spring Boot, an industry-standard Java web development framework. This backend-focused course will walk you through coding your own ecommerce shopping cart. You'll start from scratch and generate a new project, implement the web server, code your API endpoints, and even add Spring Security to harden your system. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-shopping-cart-backend-with-spring-boot-and-spring-security/

2. And if you want to learn even more Java, freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive Selenium course this week. You'll learn Automated Web Testing so you can ensure your apps do what you want them to do. This way you can catch potential bugs and vulnerabilities before you deploy your code. This course will teach you about the Page Object Model, WebElements, Selenium Interfaces, and how to simulate user interactions like mouse movement and keyboard events. Enjoy. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-java-testing-with-selenium/

3. This week on the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Hiroko Nishimura, who had a brain tumor removed when she was just 22 years old. At the time, the doctors told her she'd never be able to live independently again. But she learned how to walk again and talk again. And eventually she learned a ton about Systems Administration and Cloud Engineering. Today, more than 500,000 students have learned these developer concepts from her. We talk about Hiroko's entire life – from learning English as an immigrant from Japan, to getting her first job in tech, to becoming a prolific teacher. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-brain-tumor-to-teaching-500000-sysadmin-students-with-hiroko-nishimura-podcast-138/

4. React Compiler is a new feature in Version 19 of the popular React JavaScript library. The compiler can now handle optimization for you, saving you a ton of development time and sparing you many headaches. This in-depth tutorial will show you how React Compiler works, and give you practical tips for harnessing its full power in your JavaScript apps. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-compiler-complete-guide-react-19/

5. Microsoft Excel continues to be one of the most widely-used productivity tools – even among developers. This tutorial will teach you how to use Excel for Data Visualization. You'll learn about Excel's many chart types and how you can customize them. You'll even learn how to build your own interactive dashboards. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/excel-for-data-visualization/

Quote of the Week: "When you have very large pieces of software, most of the tools look at the individual lines of code as text. It is often extremely powerful to look not at individual pieces of code but at a system as a whole." — James Gosling, Software Engineer and the Father of Java

Aug 16, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive guide to the Amazon Web Services Developer Associate certification exam. If you're interested in learning some DevOps and cloud computing, this course will prepare you to earn this popular cert. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of similar cloud cert exams. He'll teach you all about AWS EC2, S3, Lambda, DynamoDB, and other key cloud computing tools. (81 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ultimate-aws-certified-developer-associate-dva-c02-course-from-andrew-brown/

2. Most machine learning these days is done with Python, but there are some JavaScript libraries for building AI systems as well. ml5.js is a developer-friendly open source library that's built on top of Google's TensorFlow. This crash course will teach you key concepts, and how to use an open dataset from Kaggle to code your first model. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-ml5js-for-machine-learning-in-javascript/

3. This week on the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Angie Jones, a test engineer and inventor who holds 27 software patents. She's worked at companies like IBM and Twitter, doing both test engineering and developer advocacy. We talk about how a bad performance review from a boss early in her career taught her to be less timid and more vocal about her ideas. We also talk about her love of virtual worlds like Second Life, and how she uses AI to debug code. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/developer-and-inventor-with-27-software-patents-angie-jones-interview-134/

4. Developers often build small chunks of reusable code called Components. And at some point it makes sense to pull these together into a full-blown Component Library. This tutorial will give you a solid understanding of what Component Libraries are, their history, and how they differ from Design Systems. You'll learn how to wield the power of Component Libraries for yourself, so you can avoid rewriting code that other devs have written so many times before, and instead focus on the novel work to be done. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-a-component-library-when-to-build-your-own/

5. Learn Control Theory by building a rocket control system. You're going to be sending real rockets up into space and making sure they don't explode. Just kidding – freeCodeCamp doesn't have the budget for that. So you'll have to use a bit of imagination here. This tutorial will teach you Control Theory concepts like Signal Input, Signal Processing, and Feedback. You'll learn about PID controllers, Transfer Functions, Nyquist Plots, and more. Have fun and don't blow up any expensive satellites in the process. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/basic-control-theory-with-python/

Quote of the Week: "The first step of any project is to grossly underestimate its complexity and difficulty." — Nicoll Hunt, programmer and game developer

Aug 9, 2024

1. A vast majority of servers these days run Linux as their operating system. And a lot of developers run Linux on their laptops as well. It's safe to say that Linux is one of the most useful skills you can learn working in tech. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive book that will teach you how to install Linux and work with its file system and many packages. You'll learn about shell scripting, networking, command line automation, security, and more. You can read this right in your browser and bookmark it for future reference. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-linux-for-beginners-book-basic-to-advanced/

2. And while you're learning Linux, why not learn how operating systems work in more detail? This massive course will teach you about Kernels, von Neumann Architecture, Multitasking, API Calls, Interrupts, CPU Scheduling, Disk Structure, and more. (25 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-about-operating-systems-in-depth/

3. Did you know that Babe Ruth – the most famous home-run-hitting baseball player of all time – was blind in one eye? He made up for this by being extremely good at predictive analytics – honing his instincts for what type of pitch is coming across home plate. I learned this during my insight-filled conversation with Ken Jee. He's a golfer turned data scientist who works closely with professional athletes. During my podcast interview, Ken shares a ton of tips for folks interested in getting into data science and machine learning, and for athletes who want to gain a quantitative edge on their competitors. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/where-data-science-meets-sports-analytics-with-ken-jee-podcast-interview-135/

4. One of the most exciting areas of AI at the moment is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). This freeCodeCamp Python course will teach you how to combine your own custom data with the power of Large Language Models (LLMs). You'll code your own AI system that can summarize documents for you and even have conversations with you to answer your questions about those documents. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-rag-fundamentals-and-advanced-techniques/

5. Learn how to use JavaScript to code a desktop PC game. That's right – you don't necessarily need a full-blown GameDev framework like Unity or Unreal to build games. You can code along at home and build your own Flappy Bird-like game, step-by-step. You'll load sprite assets, implement collision detection, and code the menu and score-keeping logic. Enjoy. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-pc-game-using-javascript/

Quote of the Week: "I often compare open source to science. Science took this whole notion of developing ideas in the open and improving on other peoples' ideas – making it into what science is today and the incredible advances that we have had. And I compare that to witchcraft and alchemy, where openness was something you didn't do." — Linus Torvalds, programmer, creator of Linux, and open source advocate

Aug 2, 2024

1. I learned to code in my 30s. I read a bunch of computer science books, built some apps, and won a few hackathons. Then I landed my first software engineering role at a small tech company. I wrote this book to summarize the insights I've heard from CTOs, professors, and fellow self-taught developers. Transitioning into tech is not easy, and it may take you several years of preparation. This book will give you practical, no-nonsense pointers so you can map out your road ahead. (full-length book and 4-hour audiobook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/

2. This new freeCodeCamp course will teach you .NET and MongoDB by coding your own restaurant reservation system. You'll learn how to use Entity Framework Core, a popular Object-Relational Mapper (ORM). ORM tools help your app talk to a wide variety of databases without you needing to learn all the database-specific implementation details. Beau Carnes teaches this course. He's an experienced developer and classroom teacher, and I think you'll dig his down-to-earth teaching style. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/using-entity-framework-core-with-mongodb/

3. On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview John Washam, a software engineer at Amazon. John's also the creator of one of the most popular open source projects of all time: Coding Interview University. This is John's first-ever appearance on a podcast, so we go really in-depth. We talk about his years working as an interpreter in the US military. Then we dive into how he taught himself software engineering, and what he's learned from climbing the ranks at a big tech company. (3 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-john-washam-crammed-for-8-months-got-a-job-at-amazon-then-taught-1000s-of-other-devs-134/

4. AI models are more powerful than ever. But most of them are a black box. We don't know why they create the output that they do. And this can be dangerous. Machine Learning researchers call this the problem of Interpretability. Thankfully, a lot of very smart people are hard at work on what's called Explainable AI. This primer by Tiago Monteiro will teach you about Glass Box Models, Kolmogorov–Arnold Networks, and other important concepts in the emerging field of Explainable AI. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-an-interpretable-ai-deep-learning-model/

5. Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published an HTML, CSS, and JavaScript course for beginners. You'll practice your skills by building a responsive navigation bar with dropdown menus, and a landing page with a custom modal. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/practice-your-html-css-and-javascript-skills-in-spanish-by-building-3-projects/

Quote of the Week: "The amateur software engineer is always in search of magic – some sensational method or tool whose application promises to render software development trivial. It is the mark of the professional software engineer to know that no such panacea exist." — Grady Booch, software engineer and creator of Unified Modeling Language

July 26, 2024

1. System Design questions come up all the time in developer interviews. Employers ask these because they want to make sure that you know how to turn design requirements into production-grade code. Thankfully, freeCodeCamp has a new crash course will teach you the key concepts. You'll learn about Scalability, Availability, Data Handling, High-Level Architecture, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-system-design-principles

2. Learn to code your own sticky note app using React and Appwrite, a Backend-as-a-Service tool. Dennis Ivy is an excellent programming teacher, and he'll walk you through building this beginner-level app step-by-step. You can code along at home. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-sticky-notes-app-with-react-and-appwrite/

3. Learn how to do heavy-duty Machine Learning without first needing to get a PhD in mathematics. On this week's podcast, I interview Daniel Bourke, who has created many popular AI learning resources over the years. We talk about how as a kid he broke into his school's network and gave himself good grades, just like Matthew Broderick in Wargames. Daniel then spent years fixing people's computers from around the Brisbane area before learning how to code. He explains how Machine Learning actually works, and what LLMs are doing for you behind the scenes. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-machine-learning-skills-without-doing-a-phd-in-math-podcast-133-with-daniel-bourke/

4. Learn how to use React's Context API. This lets you share values between React components a lot more easily than the old-fashioned way of passing props down a component tree. This tutorial will give you lots of practical examples of how to leverage the power of the Context API in your apps. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-context-api-tutorial-examples/

5. Lazy Loading doesn't sound like it would be a good thing, but in the case of JavaScript performance, it is. Lazy Loading is a design pattern where you only fetch mission-critical data from the server first, then go back to get other data as needed. This tutorial will teach you how to perform Lazy Loading using React and the popular Next.js framework. You'll learn about Dynamic Import, Suspense, and React.lazy. You'll also learn the limits of this design pattern, and why developers don't just use it for everything under the sun. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/next-js-performance-optimization/

Joke of the Week: "There are only two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors." — Leon Bambrick, programmer

July 19, 2024

1. Learn CSS by coding a ton of CSS. This freeCodeCamp course will teach you how to style your webpages by building 24 projects step-by-step. You'll recreate layouts from popular apps like GitHub, CodePen, and Instagram. You'll build loading animations, progress bars, and flashcards using pure CSS. And you'll learn key CSS concepts like transitions, pseudo-elements, keyframe animations, and hover effects. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-24-css-projects/

2. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive guide to prepare you for GitHub's Advanced Security Certification. We now have courses for 3 out of 4 of GitHub's professional certs. You'll learn how to identify vulnerabilities, secure your workflows, manage dependencies, and take action on alerts. In short, this course will guide you down the path of passing this exam, so you can add another feather to your cap as a capable GitHub operator. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-github-advanced-security-certification-exam/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview Jessica Chan, AKA Coder Coder. She's a software engineer who has worked in the field for more than a decade. Interestingly, she studied photography in school and never even took a programming class. We talk about how as a kid she and her sister ran a dial-in BBS back before there were websites. We also talk about how she stayed at her first developer job for 7 years, and how she spent the first year of it “in abject fear of losing my job.” (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-doing-data-entry-to-becoming-a-developer-with-jessica-chan-aka-coder-coder-podcast-132/

4. Learn how Multithreading works. By learning how to code using multiple threads, your programs can take advantage of multi-core processors and powerful GPUs. This course is taught by a senior engineer from a big tech company. Even though it's taught in Java, you can apply these concepts to your Python code as well. And even to single-threaded languages like JavaScript that achieve massive parallelization through Node.js Worker Threads. In this course, you'll learn about Deadlocks, Atomic Variables, Semaphores, Mutexes, and more. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/multithreading-for-beginners/

5. Monte Carlo simulations are one of the most powerful tools data scientists have in their toolbox. Named after a famous casino in Monaco, Monte Carlo methods involve creating detailed models of a situation with many uncertain factors. By running the model many times with different random inputs, you can see a wide range of possible outcomes, and can learn more about how the system behaves. This tutorial will give you more insight into Monte Carlo methods and show you how they're used for everything from financial modeling to designing circuit boards. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-monte-carlo-methods/

Joke of the Week: "Why do programmers prefer dark mode? Because light attracts bugs." — ShivamLH on Reddit

July 12, 2024

1. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of cloud certification exams over the years. And he's back with an in-depth guide to the popular AWS SysOps certification exam. This course will not only teach you everything tested on the exam – it will also ground you in cloud engineering concepts. So what is SysOps? Well, it's like a traditional SysAdmin (System Administrator) role that pretty much every company has – but for cloud servers. This freeCodeCamp course will cover Networking, Logging, Metrics, Events, Security, Load Balancing, Serverless Architecture, and more. If you want to take the plunge and learn all these skills, this course has got you covered. (68 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-to-pass-the-aws-sysops-administrator-associate-soa-c02-certification/

2. freeCodeCamp just published a TypeScript for beginners course to help you learn the art of statically-typed JavaScript. Most scripting languages like JavaScript and Python are dynamically-typed. But this causes so many additional coding errors. By sticking with static types – like Java and C++ do – JavaScript developers can save themselves a lot of debugging. Instructor and software engineer Bob Ziroll will teach you TypeScript fundamentals like Literal Types, Unions, Generics, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-typescript-with-interactive-lessons/

3. "The Swiss Army Knife is kind of bad at everything. But it's got a real good general sense, and it will help you survive. I want people to become Swiss Army Knife developers." That's an excerpt from my conversation with Scott Hanselman, a software engineer at Microsoft. He shares many of the lessons he's learned from his multi-decade career, and from conducting more than 900 podcast interviews with devs. I talk with him about so many topics, like how it took him 11 years to finish college, and what it's like to lead a fully remote team of devs from his hometown of Portland. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-scott-hanselman-learned-from-900-podcast-interviews-with-devs-podcast-131/

4. Optimistic UI is a new User Interface Design approach that gets its name from its blind optimism. Instead of waiting for confirmation from the server, an Optimistic UI front-end assumes everything will turn out OK, and immediately updates itself to reflect user input. This reduces perceived latency and simplifies complex UI interactions like dragging and dropping. This tutorial by developer Jaja David will teach you key concepts like Stale-While-Revalidate and Optimistic CRUD. It will also explore the drawbacks of this happy-go-lucky approach. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/improve-user-experience-with-optimistic-ui-swr/

5. Learn React Native by coding your own meditation mobile app. React Native is a JavaScript framework that you can use to build native apps that you can then publish in the Apple and Android app stores. This course will teach you how to structure your app and set up your developer environment. Then you'll learn about React Components, Props, Styles, and more. You'll also learn how to use React Router and NativeWind, a universal style system based on Tailwind CSS. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-meditation-app-with-react-native-expo-router/

Quote of the Week: "Most people don’t even know what SysAdmins do. But trust me, if they all took a lunch break at the same time, they wouldn’t make it to the deli before you ran out of bullets protecting your canned goods from roving bands of mutants." — Peter Welch, SysAdmin

July 5, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a game development course that will walk you through coding your own Metroidvania style game. The term “Metroidvania” comes from a genre of platformer adventure games where your character explores a large interconnected game world. Some of my favorite Metroidvania games include Hollow Knight and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. This beginner-level JavaScript course will show you how to implement enemy AI, room-linking logic, boss battles, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-gamedev-with-kaboomjs/

2. Learn the fundamentals of the Go programming language (Golang) by coding your own payment platform. Georgio Tunson is a software engineer who uses Golang extensively, and he teaches this beginner-friendly course. You'll learn about Golang's basic syntax, data structures, concurrency model, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/go-for-absolute-beginners/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Alison Yoon. She started her career in Korea's fashion industry before transitioning into web design. From there, she used freeCodeCamp to further expand her skills. She now works as a front end developer at a tech company in London. We talk about her coding journey, and her leadership of the freeCodeCamp Korean translation effort. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-fashion-to-software-engineer-with-alison-yoon-podcast-130/

4. Learn about State Management in JavaScript with this new Redux Data Flow Handbook. Joan Ayebola is a Front End Developer who has a knack for explaining technical concepts in a way newbie devs can understand. Her book will teach you how to harness the power of Unidirectional Data Flows in your app. You'll learn about Reducer Functions, Dispatching Actions, Redux Middleware, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-data-flows-in-redux/

5. And finally, tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a new course on React for beginners. Carpi Coder, a Spanish-speaking software engineer, will teach you how to leverage the flexible React front-end JavaScript library. You'll also learn how to fetch data from a Firebase API and display it in your app. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-in-spanish-beginners-course

Quote of the Week: "When I make characters, I try to design them in a way that teaches players how to play the game. In other words, if an enemy looks too pretty, they won't seem like an enemy to the player. But if you give them an enemy-like appearance, then the player won't need to read the manual or anything to know: ‘oh, I've got to avoid this guy.’" — Gunpei Yokoi, who helped develop the original 1986 Metroid game that spawned the Metroidvania game genre

June 28, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a GameDev course on Godot, an open source game engine similar to Unity 3D and Unreal Engine. You can use Godot to build multi-platform games, then publish them on mobile and desktop platforms through Steam, Epic, Itch, and other game storefronts. This beginner course will teach you Godot fundamentals by walking you through step-by-step as you code your own fully-playable 3D RPG game. You'll learn how to build your game environment, spawn monsters. You'll add inventory systems, leveling systems, combat sounds, and even lighting effects. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-create-a-3d-rpg-game-with-godot/

2. Vim is a powerful code editor that comes built-in with most operating systems, including Linux and MacOS. Vim lets you to do almost anything with just a few keystrokes. You'll never need to take your hand off your keyboard to reach for your mouse again. This course by CTO Andrew Brown will give you a solid foundation in using Vim in just a few hours. Then if you want to become as proficient as he is, you can keep practicing while coding over the coming months, and feel that sheer build-up of speed. Ride like the wind! (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-vim-your-guide-to-efficient-text-editing/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview Adrian Twarog. He's a software engineer who started his career by working as the office IT guy for 10 years. He's since published YouTube courses that millions of people have watched. We talk about how he learned to code by volunteering to take on web design projects at work. He started making design tutorials on YouTube and published 300 in a single year. And he accomplished all this from Perth, Australia – as far as you can get from Silicon Valley. I think you'll dig our conversation. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/why-are-senior-developers-learning-low-code-and-ai-tools-adrian-twarog-interview-129/

4. React is a truly ubiquitous web development framework. And the React team just released their long-awaited Version 19. Well, freeCodeCamp moved quickly and published a comprehensive guide to all of React's new features. You'll learn about the new React Compiler that can find performance optimizations in your code for you. You'll also learn about improvements like the new Form Actions for managing states and handling user interactions. This course is an excellent starting point for React Newbies and returning React veterans alike. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/whats-new-in-react-19/

5. There's a ton of hype around Generative AI. But it's not all hype – there's some real utility there, too. This new handbook will lay out some of the ways companies are using GenAI to discover new medicines and coordinate responses to emergencies. It's a breezy read written with non-developers in mind, summarizing a lot of recent research papers. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/generative-ai-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "Whether it's a 2D game or a 3D game, I always try to create a believable world for that game. Even the text of a game can contribute to that world feeling alive, I think. Having text prepared for every place you investigate, and having that text change depending on the circumstances, I think really helps create the illusion that you are “in” that world." — Hideo Kojima, Creator of Metal Gear Solid

June 21, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a Linux course that will teach you how to use some of the open source operating system's most powerful features. It's designed with both Linux beginners and intermediate users in mind. You'll learn Linux's file system with hard links, soft links, permissions, and root accounts. You'll also learn how to use grep, a command line tool for finding what you need inside large datasets. This course also includes interactive labs, so you can apply the new skills you're learning. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-linux-crash-course-with-labs/

2. One of the most exciting areas of AI at the moment is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). This freeCodeCamp Python course will teach you how to combine your own custom data with the power of Large Language Models (LLMs). You'll use LangChain, Mistral AI, Ollama, and more. You'll learn straight from Per Borgan, a software engineer, teacher, and long-time friend of mine. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-intelligent-apps-with-mistral-ai/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast I interview designer and developer Colby Fayock. We talk about his journey from designing truck wraps to working as a software engineer. He also shares his day-to-day life building APIs and SDKs, and how he uses AI at work. Believe it or not, Colby doubled as a male model at ThinkGeek, which was kind of like The Sharper Image but for Star Wars fans. I think you'll enjoy our conversation. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/quincy-interviews-colby-fayock-dev-designer-male-model-prolific-fcc-contributor-podcast-128/

4. freeCodeCamp just published an entire handbook focused on PHP and its powerful array data structure. It's chock-full of code examples. You can code along at home and build your own soccer player sports card app. This is another excellent PHP reference from prolific author Kolade Chris. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/php-arrays-how-to-rebuild-the-football-team-cards-with-php-and-mongodb/

5. The Black-Scholes Equation is the most important mathematical formula that most people have never heard of. Black-Scholes completely revolutionized corporate finance when it was discovered in 1973. This tutorial will explain how the formula works, and how you can implement it in Python. Then you'll use it to predict the price of concert tickets, and learn about its many other real-world applications. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-the-black-scholes-equation-works-python-examples/

Quote of the Week: "Innovation must lead infrastructure for a simple but compelling reason: Innovation produces new types of products and markets, and it is virtually impossible to know how to run those markets efficiently before they are created." — Myron Scholes, Nobel Prize winning economist and co-creator of the Black-Scholes Equation

June 14, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course to help you learn the Python skills used in data science. You'll start by learning the basics of data analytics, such as data wrangling, filtering, and statistical analysis. Then you'll apply those skills toward the field of A/B Testing, through a series of practical projects. This course is an excellent place to strengthen your Python abilities. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-for-data-science-hands-on-projects-with-eda-ab-testing-business-intelligence/

2. Learn High-level System Design with this new software architecture course. Keerti is a software engineer and teacher, and she'll introduce you to principles for building sophisticated apps. You can code along at home and build three API services that chunk data, transcode the data with FFmpeg, and stream it using Adaptive Bitrate Streaming. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-high-level-system-design-by-building-a-youtube-clone/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Dr. Chuck, creator of the popular Python for Everyone course. He's a Computer Science professor at University of Michigan, and he's taught coding to millions of students through his freeCodeCamp courses. We talk about what separates a “Master Programmer” from an average one. We delve into what he sees as the biggest shortcomings of university programs – even elite ones like the one he teaches at. We also discuss his theories on the recent tech layoffs, and his suggestions for how devs can stay ahead of recent breakthroughs in AI. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-outsmart-ai-as-a-developer-dr-chuck-interview-127/

4. Learn how to build 3D graphics and games that run in a browser. ThreeJS is a powerful JavaScript library that abstracts away the complexities of WebGL. This course will walk you through building five projects, including a 3D model of the Earth, a wireframe wormhole, and a physics demo complete with realistic collisions. Happy rendering. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-threejs-by-building-five-projects/

5. You may have heard people talk about an emerging technique called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). This is when an AI looks up information from outside sources to improve its own responses. Well, freeCodeCamp just published a handbook that will help you understand RAG so you can use it in your AI models. Even if you don't have time to read the whole thing, I still encourage you to bookmark it for future reference. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/retrieval-augmented-generation-rag-handbook/

Quote of the Week: "If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is." — John von Neumann, Mathematician and Computer Science Pioneer

June 7, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a full book on how to use Python for Applied Data Science. You'll start by learning core data science principles. Then you'll learn about data cleaning, data transformation, and Exploratory Data Analysis. You'll also learn powerful Python libraries like Pandas, NumPy, and Matplotlib. This is a full-blown reference manual with tons of code examples. You can bookmark it and read it over multiple sessions as you continue to expand your skills. Enjoy. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/applied-data-science-with-python-book/

2. Learn how to code your own functional clone of YouTube that runs on a phone. This course will teach you how to reverse engineer many of YouTube's key features using Flutter, Firebase, and Riverpod. You can code along at home and step-by-step implement authentication, state management, video uploading, playback, and even social features. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-youtube-clone-with-flutter-firebase-and-riverpod/

3. On this week's podcast, learn why the US National Security Agency mailed developer Suz Hinton a fidget spinner. She's a long-time software engineer who's worked at Microsoft, Amazon, and Stripe before completely retraining as a security researcher. I had a blast talking with her and checking out the creative gadgets she builds in her lab. I think you'll dig our conversation. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-suz-hinton-went-from-dev-to-white-hat-hacker-podcast-126/

4. Learn low-level programming by coding your own file system using the popular Go programming language. This course is taught by Anthony GG, who has worked as a software engineer for over two decades. He'll teach you about network protocols, caching, data streaming, high-performance computing, and more. If you've coded in Python or JavaScript before, you can probably pick up Golang pretty quickly. And this is an excellent course to help you do so. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-how-to-build-a-decentralized-file-storage-system-with-go/

5. And finally, tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a new course on the Go Programming Language for beginners. Spanish-speaking software engineer Leonardo Castillo teaches Go's straight-forward syntax, and how to take advantage of its powerful concurrency and native machine code compilation features. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-go-in-spanish-golang-course-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "Technology is not the driver of change. What drives technology is human desire." — Ellen Ullman, software engineer and author

May 31, 2024

1. My hero Dr. Chuck created this comprehensive C programming course and shared it with the global freeCodeCamp community. Dr. Chuck is a University of Michigan computer science professor, and he is a hardcore advocate for everyone learning C. Not only will this course help you understand computer architecture and low-level programming. It will also teach you Object-Oriented Programming concepts. This course even includes an interview with the creator of Python, Guido van Rossum. As you may know, Python – like most modern programming languages – is built on top of C. (18 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/complete-c-programming-course-from-dr-chuck/

2. Learn Linear Algebra so you can build your own AI systems. Tatev Aslanyan is a data scientist who has taught several freeCodeCamp courses over the past few years, mostly focused on Machine Learning. She'll teach you the key Linear Algebra concepts that come up over and over in developing modern AI tools. You'll learn about Vector Spaces, Euclidean Distance, Matrix Operations, Gaussian Elimination, and more. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/linear-algebra-crash-course-mathematics-for-machine-learning-and-generative-ai/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview software engineer Jerod Santo, who hosts the longest-running podcast on open source, The Changelog. We talk about his life as a remote dev in Omaha, Nebraska, where he's raising his 6 kids. We also talk about the new Changelog News podcast with its weekly 10-minute updates on the world of open source. He shares his process for researching and surfacing interesting developments. And he also talks about emerging trends in open source, such as the controversial relicensing of Terraform. I had a blast learning from Jerod and I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/open-source-is-changing-the-changelog-host-jerod-santo-on-how-to-keep-up-podcast-125/

4. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed dozens of cloud certification exams over the years. And he's back with an updated guide to the popular AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam. This course will not only teach you everything tested on the exam – it will also ground you in cloud engineering fundamentals. And no, that's not a typo. This really is a 50 hour course. But as opera singer Beverly Sills once said, there are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going. (50 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate-certification/

5. Two of the most important tools in any data scientist's toolbox are Linear Regression and Logistic Regression. This tutorial by data scientist Olu Samuel Praise will teach you how to apply each of these techniques for analyzing data and making predictions. In short, Logistic Regression will give you a binary classification of data: is this picture of a hot dog – yes or no? And Linear Regression will give you a continuous value like a percentage. For example, predicting exam scores from students based on their attendance and hours studied. Again, both approaches are super useful and I think you'll learn a lot from this quick read. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/linear-regression-vs-logistic-regression/

Quote of the Week: "C retains the basic philosophy that programmers know what they are doing; it only requires that they state their intentions explicitly." — Brian W. Kernighan, who created the C Programming language alongside Dennis Ritchie back in the 1970s

May 24, 2024

1. This university-level precalculus course will help you learn mathematical concepts and apply them using Python. Ed Pratowski has decades of experience teaching both math and computer science. This hands-on course will not only teach you the mathematical concepts and notation – it will also show you how to implement these in Python as runnable code. This freeCodeCamp course will also prepare you for our more advanced engineering mathematics courses that we'll publish over the coming 36 months. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-college-precalculus-with-python/

2. On this week's podcast, I interview ThePrimeagen, a former Netflix engineer who live-streams his coding on Twitch. He shares his thoughts on AI tools and why he ripped GitHub Copilot out from his code editor. He thinks AI will create more software engineer jobs than it destroys. We also explore his love of hard Nintendo games and why he left Silicon Valley to live on a horse ranch in South Dakota. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-is-overrated-why-theprimeagen-ripped-out-github-copilot-from-his-code-editor-podcast-124/

3. freeCodeCamp just published a handbook that can help you prepare for coding interviews during your job search. You'll learn key JavaScript concepts like hoisting, closures, and currying – all with code examples. You'll also learn how to use Asynchronous Programming keywords like async and await. This is an excellent reference that you can come back to time and time again, so be sure to bookmark it. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/js-interview-prep-handbook/

4. We also published a comprehensive handbook on Object-Oriented Programming in JavaScript. This will teach you how JS Classes work, and how you can use them to implement design patterns. You'll learn about Constructors, Class Field Methods, the “super” keyword, and the famously confusing “this” keyword. Learn it, know it, live it. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-class-handbook/

5. In Machine Learning, Fine-Tuning is the process of taking a model that you've already trained (or a foundation model like Llama) and enhancing it with your own datasets. For example, you could take a Large Language Model and make it much better at chess by fine-tuning it by feeding it thousands of famous chess games. This course will first teach you about Quantization, a technique to optimize models for efficiency. Then you'll learn modern methods of fine-tuning like LORA and QLORA. Next you'll delve into Gradient-based optimization methods. Finally you'll learn how to build AI pipelines and how to fine-tune models using your own datasets. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/fine-tuning-llm-models-course/

Quote of the Week: "Calculus is fundamentally naive. Almost childish in its optimism. Experience teaches us that change can be sudden, discontinuous, and wrenching. Calculus draws its power by refusing to see that. It insists on a world without accidents, where one thing leads logically to another. Give me the initial conditions and the law of motion, and with calculus I can predict the future – or better yet, reconstruct the past." — Steven H. Strogatz, Mathematician, Author, and Professor at Cornell

May 17, 2024

1. Quantum Computing is real. Engineers are already finding ways to apply it to Cryptography, Drug Discovery, AI, and other fields. You can be the first of your friends to understand and appreciate how Quantum Computing works. The first half of this course focuses on the math behind quantum computing algorithms. You'll learn about Complex Numbers and Linear Algebra. Then you'll learn concepts like Qubits – Quantum Bits – along with Quantum Entanglement, Quantum Circuits, and Phase Kickback. Even though this course is designed for newcomers to Quantum Computing, I'm not going to downplay the importance of math skills in understanding this course. Fortunately, if you want to improve your math skills, freeCodeCamp also has a ton of university-level math courses to help get you there. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-algorithms-behind-quantum-computing/

2. If you're looking for a more beginner-friendly course, freeCodeCamp just published this JavaScript for Beginners course. This is an excellent way to pick up your first programming language. You'll learn about JavaScript Data Types, Operators, Control Flow, Functions, and even some Object-Oriented Programming concepts. You can follow the steps to set up your development environment on your computer, then code along step-by-step with this guided tour of JS. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-javascript-with-clear-explanations/

3. On this week's podcast, I interview designer and developer Gary Simon, who is founder of DesignCourse and has over a million YouTube subscribers. I ask him tons of questions about what it takes to become a professional designer in 2024. And we learn all about his own coding journey. He got his start creating thousands of logos for design clients. And he shares the story of how he got complacent mid-career – right before most of his client work evaporated overnight. He hasn't taken his eye off the ball ever since. It was a blast learning so much from Gary. I think you'll enjoy this, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-become-a-pro-designer-in-2024-interview-with-gary-simon-podcast-123/

4. You may have heard the terms “Microservice” and “Monolith” before. These are two common approaches to architecting an application. You can think of a Monolith as a stand-alone restaurant, and a Microservice as a food stall in a larger food court with shared tables and shared bathrooms. This tutorial will show you the common arguments for building your apps using each of these architectures. It will also walk you common configurations using lots of helpful diagrams. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/microservices-vs-monoliths-explained/

5. WordPress is one of the easier-to-use tools for building websites. freeCodeCamp teacher Beau Carnes just published a crash course on how to get a WordPress site live. The course includes a walkthrough of some new AI tools that can make this process even faster. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-wordpress-with-ai-tools/

Joke of the Week: A cop pulls Werner Heisenberg over and asks him: "Do you have any idea how fast you were driving?"

Heisenberg replies: "No. But I DO know exactly where I am right now."

The cop, exasperated, says: "You were driving 100 miles per hour!"

And Heisenberg sighs and says: "Welp. Now I'm totally lost."

That was a joke I heard from a physics teacher. My quick, dirty, non-physics teacher explanation: the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics essentially states that you can't – at the same time – accurately know both the momentum of a particle and that particle's location.

May 10, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a practical guide to the math and theory that power modern AI models. This course for beginners is taught by Data Scientist and MLOps Engineer Ayush Singh. He'll walk you through some basic Linear Algebra, Calculus, and Matrix math so you can better understand what's happening under the hood. Then he'll teach you key Machine Learning concepts like Neural Networks, Perceptrons, and Backpropagation. If you want to expand your math skills so you can work with cutting edge tools, this course is for you. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/deep-learning-course-math-and-applications/

2. Jose Nunez is a software engineer and running enthusiast. He recently ran a tower race – up 86 flights of stairs to the top of the Empire State Building. He wanted to analyze his performance data, but found the event's official website to be lacking. In this tutorial, he'll show you how he scraped the data, cleaned it, and analyzed it himself using Python. He'll also show how he created data visualizations and even coded an app so his fellow racers can view their results. If you're looking for real-life hands-on data science projects, this is an excellent one to learn from and find inspiration in. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/empire-state-building-run-up-analysis-with-python/

3. On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview prolific programming teacher John Smilga. He talks about what it was like growing up in Latvia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. He worked construction in the US for 5 years before teaching himself to code and becoming a professional developer. Today he has taught millions of fellow devs through his many courses on freeCodeCamp. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-construction-worker-to-teaching-millions-of-developers-with-john-smilga-podcast-122/

4. Learn how to wield the most popular Version Control System in history: Git. Hitesh Choudhary is a software engineer who has published many courses on freeCodeCamp over the years. And this is one of his best. You'll learn how to use Git to make changes to a codebase, track those changes, submit them for review, and even how to revert changes if you break something. You'll also learn how to use Git to collaborate with developers around the world through the global Open Source community. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-git-in-detail-to-manage-your-code/

5. And if you want to go even deeper with Git, you can earn a certification in GitHub Actions. These are Serverless DevOps tools that let you automate development workflows like building, testing, and deploying code. Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed more than 50 DevOps certifications over the years. He teaches this freeCodeCamp course, which covers everything that's on the certification exam. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-github-actions-certification-exam/

Quote of the Week: "In mathematics, you don't understand things. You just get used to them." — John von Neumann, Mathematician, Engineer, and Computer Scientist

May 3, 2024

1. Kirby is a classic Nintendo game where you control a squishy pink alien with a massive appetite. And in this freeCodeCamp course, you'll code your own version of Kirby that runs in a browser. You'll learn TypeScript – a statically-typed version of JavaScript – and the Kaboom.js library. This course includes all the sprite assets you'll need to build a playable platformer game that you can share with your friends. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-kirby-clone-with-typescript-and-kaboomjs/

2. And if you want to learn what it's like being a professional GameDev, I interviewed Ben Awad, creator of Voidpet, which I can only describe as a sort of Emotional Support Pokémon-like mobile game. Ben is a prolific coding tutorial creator, and has a weird but popular TikTok channel as well. I had a blast learning more about his adventures over the past few years. Did you know he sleeps 9 hours every single night? He swears by it. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ben-awad-is-a-gamedev-who-sleeps-9-hours-every-night-to-be-productive-podcast-121/

3. You've heard of personal portfolio websites. But what about a portfolio that runs right in a command line terminal? That's right – this tutorial will teach you how to build an interactive portfolio experience, complete with ASCII art, a résumé menu, and even a joke command. You'll learn all about Shell Commands, Tab Completion, Syntax Highlighting, and more. And at the end of the day, you'll have a fun way to share your work with potential clients and employers. (35 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-create-interactive-terminal-based-portfolio/

4. The great thing about emerging AI tools is that you don't need to be a Machine Learning Engineer with a PhD in Applied Mathematics just to be able to get things done with them. The burgeoning field of “AI Engineering” is essentially just web developers using AI APIs and off-the-shelf tools to power up their existing apps. We just published this course, taught by frequent freeCodeCamp contributor Tom Chant. It will introduce you to this new skill set and this new way of leveraging AI. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-ai-engineering-with-openai-and-javascript/

5. What's the difference between React and Next.js? And while we're at it, what's the difference between a library and a framework? In this course, software engineer Ankita Kulkarni will explain these concepts. And she'll also teach you various data fetching mechanisms and rendering strategies. If you want to expand your understanding of Front End Development, this course is for you. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/whats-the-difference-between-react-and-nextjs/

Quote of the Week: "Game development is very difficult. Nobody sets out to create a game that's not fun. It's all of the challenges and difficulties that happen throughout development that determine whether a game is a failure or a success. I think playing those thousands of games is the single best and easiest way to learn from my predecessors." — Masahiro Sakurai, Software Engineer, Game Developer, and Creator of Kirby

Apr 26, 2024

1. If you've used spreadsheets before, you're all set to learn SQL. This freeCodeCamp course, taught by Senior Data Engineer Vlad Gheorghe, will help you grasp fundamental database concepts. Then you'll apply what you've learned by analyzing data using PostgreSQL and BigQuery. You'll learn about Nested Queries, Table Joins, Aggregate Functions, and more. Enjoy. (11 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sql-for-analytics/

2. On this week's episode of The freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview my friend Andrew Brown. He's a CTO who has passed dozens of certification exams from AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, and other cloud companies. We talk about Cloud Engineering and he shares his advice for which certs he thinks people should prioritize if they want to get into the field. We also talk about his love of Star Trek and of the classic Super Nintendo game Tetris Attack. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cto-andrew-brown-passed-dozens-of-cloud-certification-exams-freecodecamp-podcast-episode-120/

3. Learn Next.js by building your own cloud photo album app. Prolific freeCodeCamp instructor Colby Fayock will teach you how to use powerful AI toolkits that let your visitors modify photos right in their browsers. He also teaches key image optimization concepts. This is a great course for anyone interested in sharpening their front end development skills. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-google-photos-clone-with-nextjs-and-cloudinary/

4. The Rust programming language has become quite popular recently. Even Linux now uses Rust in its kernel. A few years back, freeCodeCamp published a comprehensive interactive Rust course. And today I'm thrilled to share this new Rust Procedural Macros handbook. Procedural Macros let you execute Rust code at compile time, and Rust developers use these all the time. This handbook should serve as a helpful reference for you if you want to level up your Rust skills. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/procedural-macros-in-rust/

5. And finally, Tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a new course on Responsive Web Design, taught by Spanish-speaking software engineer David Choi. This course will teach you how to set up your developer environment, structure your web pages using HTML, and define CSS styles for both mobile and desktop viewport sizes. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-responsive-website-with-html-and-css-full-course-in-spanish/

Quote of the Week: "The word SEQUEL turned out to be somebody’s trademark. So I took all the vowels out of it and turned it into SQL. That didn’t do too much damage to the acronym. It could still be the Structured Query Language." — Donald Chamberlin, Co-Creator of SQL

Apr 19, 2024

1. Learn statistics for Data Science and AI Machine Learning. freeCodeCamp just published this handbook that will help you learn key concepts like Bayes' Theorem, Confidence Intervals, and the Central Limit Theorem. It covers both the classical math notation and Python implementations of these concepts. This is a broad primer for developers who are getting into stats, and it's also a helpful reference you can bookmark and pull up as needed. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/statistics-for-data-scientce-machine-learning-and-ai-handbook/

2. And if you want to dig even further into applied Data Science, freeCodeCamp also published this in-depth Python course on A/B Testing and optimization. It will teach you core concepts like Hypothesis Testing, Statistical Significance Levels, Pooled Estimates, and P-values. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/applied-data-science-a-b-testing/

3. One of the most exciting areas of AI at the moment is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). This freeCodeCamp Python course will teach you how to combine your own custom data with the power of Large Language Models (LLMs). You'll learn straight from a software engineer who works on the popular LangChain open source project, Dr. Lance Martin. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-rag-from-scratch/

4. This week I interviewed software engineer and visual artist Kass Moreno about her photo-realistic CSS art. Frankly you have to see her art to believe it. She painstakingly recreates manufactured objects like cameras, gameboys, and synthesizers using nothing but CSS. We talk about her childhood in Mexico and Texas, dropping out of architecture school, her listless years of working in retail, and how she ultimately learned to code using freeCodeCamp and got her first developer role. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/css-artist-kass-moreno-freecodecamp-podcast-119/

5. Learn how to build your own movie recommendation engine using Python. You'll use powerful data libraries like scikit-learn, Pandas, and the Natural Language Toolkit. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have a tool that can recommend movies to you based on content and genre. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-movie-recommendation-system-with-python/

Quote of the Week: "Python is everywhere at Industrial Light & Magic. It's used to extend the capabilities of our applications, as well as providing the glue between them. Every computer-generated image we create has involved Python somewhere in the process." — Philip Peterson, Principal Engineer at ILM, the special effects company behind Star Wars and so many other Hollywood movies

Apr 12, 2024

1. Learn Backend development by coding 3 full-stack projects with Python. Prolific freeCodeCamp teacher Tomi Tokko will take you step-by-step through building: an AI blog tool, a functional clone of Netflix, and a Spotify-like music platform. You'll learn how to use the powerful Django webdev framework, along with PostgreSQL databases and Tailwind CSS. This course is a big undertaking. But Tomi makes it enjoyable and accessible for beginners. If you can put in the time to complete this, you'll gain experience with an entire stack of relevant tools. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/backend-web-development-three-projects

2. Jabrils is an experienced game developer who makes hilarious videos about his projects. He's also taught a popular programming course on freeCodeCamp. I interviewed him on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast about AI, anime, and his new turn-based fighting game. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/indie-game-dev-jabrils-freecodecamp-podcast-118/

3. Learn how to turn your Figma designs into working code. Ania Kubów is one of freeCodeCamp's most beloved teachers. And in this course, she showcases the power of generative AI. She'll walk you through taking a Figma design of an Airbnb-style website and converting it into a fully-functional app. She'll also show you how to add authentication and deploy it to the cloud. (90-minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-web-development-tutorial-figma-designs

4. GitHub recently launched 4 professional certifications. And this comprehensive guide will help you prepare to pass first of these – the GitHub Foundations exam. Chris Williams has used Git extensively over the decades while working as a software engineer and cloud architect. He breaks down key Git concepts and makes them much easier to learn. (2-hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/github-foundations-certified-exam-prep-guide/

5. And speaking of Git, if you have Spanish-speaking friends, tell them that freeCodeCamp just published a new Spanish-language Git course. It covers basic version control concepts like repositories, commits, and branches. And it even teaches you more advanced techniques like cherry picking. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-git-in-spanish-git-course-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "If you don't follow your curiosity, you won't end up where you deserve to be." — Jabrils on his journey into coding and gamedev, on this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast

Apr 5, 2024

1. In an era of powerful off-the-shelf AI tools, there's something to be said for building your own AI from scratch. And that's what you'll learn how to do in this beginner course. Dr. Radu teaches computer science at a university in Finland, and is one of freeCodeCamp's most popular instructors. He'll show you how to manually tweak neural network parameters so you can teach a car how to drive itself through a Grand Theft Auto-like sandbox playground. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/understand-ai-and-neural-networks-by-manually-adjusting-paramaters/

2. Learn how to code your own playable Super Nintendo-style developer portfolio website. Instead of just reading your résumé, visitors can walk around a Legend of Zelda-like cabin and explore your work. This tutorial includes all the sprites, tiles, and other pixel art assets you need to build the finished website. Practice your JavaScript skills while building an interactive experience you can share with friends and potential employers. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-developer-portfolio-as-a-2d-game/

3. Learn Git fundamentals. freeCodeCamp just published this new handbook that will teach you how to get things done with a version control system. You'll learn how to set up your first code repository, create branches, commit code, and push changes to production. You can code along at home with this book's many tutorials, and bookmark it for future reference. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-git-basics/

4. Learn the latest version of the popular React Router JavaScript library. This course will teach you how to build Single Page Apps where your users can navigate from one React view to another without the page refreshing. You'll also get practice defining routes, passing parameters, and managing state transitions. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-router-v6-course

5. On this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview 100Devs founder Leon Noel. Growing up, Leon felt he needed to become a doctor in order to be considered successful. But his interest in coding inspired him to drop out of Yale and build software tools for scientists. He went through a startup accelerator, taught coding in his community, and ultimately built a Discord server with 60,000 people learning to code together. We talk about the science behind learning, and what approaches have helped his students the most. We even talk about Jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, and Leon's love of the animated X-Men show. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/100devs-founder-leon-noel-freecodecamp-podcast-interview/

Quote of the Week: "I wrote nearly a thousand computer programs while preparing this material, because I find that I don't understand things unless I try to program them." — Donald Knuth on all the code he wrote from scratch in researching his classic book “The Art of Computer Programming”

Mar 29, 2024

1. Learn to build apps with the popular Nest.js full-stack JavaScript framework. In this intermediate course, you'll code your own back end for a Spotify-like app. You'll learn how to deploy a Node.js API to the web. And you'll build out all the necessary database and authentication features along the way. (Note that Nest.js is similar to Next.js, but Nest.js uses TypeScript and is heavily inspired by Angular. freeCodeCamp also has comprehensive Next.js courses if you want to learn that as well.) (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/comprehensive-nestjs-course/

2. You may have heard the term “no-code” before. Essentially these types of tools are “not only code” because you can still write custom code to run on top of them. This said, these tools do make it dramatically easier for both developers and non-developers to get things done. This new course is taught by one of freeCodeCamp's most popular instructors, Ania Kubów. She'll teach you how to automate boring tasks by leveraging AI tools and creating efficient automation pipelines. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/automate-boring-tasks-no-code-automation-course

3. Kanban task management boards were invented at Toyota way back in the 1940s. I speak Chinese and a little Japanese, and I can tell you that the Chinese characters in the word “Kanban” translate to “look board” – something you can look at to quickly understand what's going on with a project. You may have used popular Kanban tools like Trello. But have you ever coded your own Kanban? Well, today's the day. This project-oriented tutorial will teach you how to use React, Next.js, Firebase, Tailwind CSS, and other modern webdev tools. (90 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-full-stack-app-with-typescript-nextjs-redux-toolkit-firebase/

4. Learn how to do hard-core data analysis and visualization using Google's stack of freely available tools: Sheets, BigQuery, Colab, and Looker Studio. This beginner-friendly course is taught by a seasoned data analyst. He'll walk you through each of these tools, and show you how to pipe your data from one place to the other. You'll walk away with insights you can apply to accomplish your practical day-to-day goals. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-analytics-with-google-stack/

5. In this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Jessica Lord – AKA JLord. You may not have heard of her, but you probably use her code every day. She's worked as a software engineer for more than a decade at companies like GitHub and Glitch. Among her many accomplishments, she created the Electron team at GitHub. Electron is a library for building desktop apps using browser technologies. If you've used the desktop version of Slack, Figma, or VS Code, you've used Electron. We had such a fun time talking about her journey from architecture student to city hall to working at the highest levels of tech. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-jlord-jessica-lord/

Joke of the Week: "Me: I'm afraid of JavaScript keywords. Therapist: tell me about THIS. Me: Aghhh!" — Carla Notarobot, Software Engineer and Bad Joke Sharer

Mar 22, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a massive TypeScript course to help you learn the art of statically-typed JavaScript. Most scripting languages like JavaScript and Python are dynamically-typed. But this causes so many additional coding errors. By sticking with static types – like Java and C++ do – JavaScript developers can save so much headache. This beginner course is taught by legendary coding instructor John Smilga. I love his no-nonsense teaching style and the way he makes even advanced concepts easier to understand. And you can apply what you're learning by coding along at home and building your own ecommerce platform project in TypeScript. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-typescript-for-practical-projects

2. On this week's podcast, I interview Phoebe Voong-Fadel about her childhood as the daughter of refugees, and how she self-studied coding and became a professional developer at the age of 36. Phoebe worked from age 12 at her parent's Chinese take-out restaurant. After college, the high cost of childcare forced her to leave her career so she could raise her two kids. After two years of teaching herself to code using freeCodeCamp, she got her first job as a developer. (1 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/stay-at-home-mom-to-developer-podcast/

3. How can two people communicate securely through an insecure channel? That is a fundamental challenge in cryptography. One approach is by using the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange algorithm. freeCodeCamp just published a handbook that will teach you how to leverage Diffie-Hellman to protect your data in transit, as it moves from between clients and servers. This handbook dives deep into the math that makes this possible, and uses tons of diagrams to explain the theory. It also explores older solutions, such as Hash-based Message Authentication Code. And you'll immediately put all this new knowledge to use by building a secure messaging project. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/hmac-diffie-hellman-in-node/

4. Spring Boot is a popular web development framework for Java, and it's used by tons of big companies like Walmart, General Motors, and Chase. Dan Vega is a prolific teacher of Java. He developed this new course to help more people learn the latest version of Spring Boot so they can build enterprise-grade apps. His passion for Java really comes through in this course. (3.5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-app-development-with-spring-boot-3/

5. Learn Microsoft's ASP.NET web development framework by building 3 projects. You'll start off this course by learning some C# and .NET fundamentals while coding a menu app. Then you'll dive into some advanced features while building your own clone of Google Docs. Finally, you'll bring everything together by building a payment app. Along the way, you'll get familiar with Microsoft's powerful Visual Studio coding environment. (2.5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-asp-net-core-by-building-three-projects/

Quote of the Week: "‘TypeScript is silly because it just gets turned back into typeless code when you hit compile.’ Oh man do I have some upsetting news about C++ for you." — Jules Glegg, Game Developer

Mar 15, 2024

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive roadmap for learning Back-End Development. You'll start off by learning full-stack JavaScript with Node.js. Then you'll learn how to use Django to build a Python back end. After building several mini-projects, you'll dive deep into database administration with SQL. You'll then build your own APIs, write tests for them, and secure them using OWASP best practices. This roadmap will also teach you Architecture and DevOps concepts, Docker, Redis, and the mighty NGINX. (70 hour roadmap of YouTube courses): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/back-end-developer

2. Learn the algorithms that come up most frequently in employers' coding interviews. This new course will teach you how to use JavaScript to solve interview questions like Spiral Matrix, the Pyramid String Pattern, and the infamous Fizz-Buzz. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/top-10-javascript-algorithms-for-coding-challenges/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast I interview Cassidy Williams about her climb from Microsoft intern to Amazon software engineer to startup CTO. Cassidy's famous for her many developer memes and funny coding videos. In this blunt, un-edited conversation, she shares a ton of career tips – including some that will be especially helpful for women entering the field. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-cassidy-williams-cassidoo/

4. Learn how to localize your websites and apps into many world languages. Of course, anyone can just drop in a translation plugin. But if you want your users to have a good experience, you should create bespoke translations that resonate with native speakers of those languages. This course will introduce you to a powerful translation crowdsourcing tool used by many websites and apps – including freeCodeCamp. You'll learn how to combine machine translation with the intuition of native speakers to quickly craft translations that sound natural. Then you'll learn how to use the front-end libraries necessary to get those translations in front of the right users. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/localize-websites-with-crowdin/

5. And speaking of localization, tell your Spanish-speaking friends: freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Tailwind CSS course taught by David Ruiz, a Front-End Developer and native Spanish speaker. We've been publishing tons of Spanish-language courses to help Spanish speakers around the world, and this is just the beginning. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-tailwind-css-in-spanish-full-course/

Quote of the Week: "In the particular is contained the universal." — James Joyce, Irish novelist and poet

Mar 8, 2024

1. Learn the C# programming language. This course will teach you C# syntax, data structures, Object Oriented Programming concepts, and more. Then you'll apply this knowledge by coding a variety of mini-projects throughout the course. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-c-sharp-programming/

2. Prolific freeCodeCamp author Nathan Sebhastian just published his React for Beginners Handbook. You can read the full book and learn how to code React-powered JavaScript apps. Along the way you'll learn about Components, Props, States, Events, and even Network Requests. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-for-beginners-handbook/

3. This new Machine Learning course will give you a clear roadmap toward building your own AIs. Data Scientist Tatev Aslanyan teaches this Python course. She covers key statistical concepts like Logistic Regression, Outlier Detection, Correlation Analysis, and the Bias-Variance Trade-Off. She also shares some common career paths for working in the field of Machine Learning. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-machine-learning-in-2024/

4. But you don't have to learn a ton of Statistics and Machine Learning to get more out of AI. You can first focus on just getting better at talking to AI. This new Prompt Engineering Handbook will give you practical tips for getting better images, text, and code out of Large Language Models like GPT-4. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/advanced-prompt-engineering-handbook/

5. In this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview education charity founder Seth Goldin. He's a computer science student at Yale and has taught several popular freeCodeCamp courses. We talk about the future of education, and the risks and opportunities presented by powerful AI systems like ChatGPT. During this fun, casual conversation, we make sure to explain all the specialized terminology as it comes up. And like most of our episodes, this podcast is 100% OK to listen to around kids. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-ai-and-the-future-of-education-with-seth-goldin/

Joke of the Week: *"Why do Java developers wear glasses? Because they can't C#."

Mar 1, 2024

1. Generative AI is a type of Artificial Intelligence that creates new content based on its training data, rather than just returning a pre-programmed response. You may have tried creating text or images using models like GPT-4, Gemini, or the open source Llama 2. But how do these models actually work? This in-depth freeCodeCamp course will teach you the underlying Machine Learning concepts that you can use to create your own models. And it'll show you how to leverage popular tools like Langchain, Vector Databases, Hugging Face, and more. (30 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-generative-ai-in/

2. One Generative AI model that just came out is Google's new Gemini model. And freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubów just finished her comprehensive course showcasing Gemini's many features. You'll learn how Gemini works under the hood, and about its "multimodal" functionalities like image-to-text, sound-to-text, and even text-to-video. The course culminates in grabbing an API key and coding along with Ania to build your own AI Code Buddy chatbot project. (1.5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/google-gemini-course-for-beginners/

3. And if that wasn't enough AI courses for you, Microsoft recently started offering a professional certification in AI fundamentals. This course – taught by CTO and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor Andrew Brown – will help prepare you for the exam. You'll learn about classical AI models, Machine Learning pipelines, Azure Cognitive Services, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/azure-data-fundamentals-certification-ai-900-pass-the-exam-with-this-free-4-hour-course/

4. freeCodeCamp just published another full-length handbook – this time on Regular Expressions. RegEx are one of the most powerful – and most confusing – features of modern programming languages. You can use RegEx to search through data, validate user input, and even find complex patterns within text. This handbook will teach you key concepts like anchors, grouping, metacharacters, and lookahead. And you'll learn a lot of advanced JavaScript RegEx techniques, too. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/regex-in-javascript/

5. Serverless Architecture is a popular approach toward building apps in 2024. Despite the name, there are still servers in a data center somewhere. This isn't magic. But the tools abstract the servers away for you. In this intermediate JavaScript course, Software Engineer Justin Mitchel will teach you how to take a simple Node.js app and run it on AWS Lambda with a serverless Postgres database. He'll even show you how to automate deployment using GitHub Actions and Vercel. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/serverless-node-js-tutorial/

Also, on this week's podcast I interviewed an emerging star in the Machine Learning community: Logan Kilpatrick. The day he started working at Open AI, ChatGPT was brand new and hit its first 1 million users. We talk about Logan's journey from the suburbs of Chicago to the heart of Silicon Valley, his work at NASA, and his many freeCodeCamp tutorials on the Julia programming language. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-chatgpt-open-ai-logan-kilpatrick/

Quote of the Week: "The plural of regex is regrets." — Steve, a Brooklyn-based Golang developer and reluctant user of Regular Expressions

Feb 23, 2024

1. Data Structures and Algorithms are tools that developers use to solve problems. DS&A are a huge chunk of what you learn in a computer science degree program. And they come up all the time in developer job interviews. This in-depth course is taught by a Google engineer, and will teach you the key concepts of Time Complexity, Space Complexity, and Asymptotic Notation. Then you'll get tons of practice by coding dozens of the most common DS&A using the popular Java programming language. (48 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-data-structures-and-algorithms-2/

2. Many of the recent breakthroughs in AI are thanks to advances in Deep Learning. In this intermediate-level handbook, Data Scientist Tatev Aslanyan will teach you the fundamentals of Deep Learning and Artificial Neural Networks. She'll give you a solid foundation that you can use as a springboard into the more advanced areas of machine learning. You'll learn about Optimization Algorithms, Vanishing Gradient Problems, Sequence Modeling, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/deep-learning-fundamentals-handbook-start-a-career-in-ai/

3. The Document Object Model (DOM) is like a big Christmas tree that you hang ornament-like HTML elements on. This front-end development handbook will teach you how the DOM works, and how you can use it to make interactive web pages. You'll learn about DOM Traversal, Class Manipulation, Event Bubbling, and other key concepts. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-in-the-browser-dom-and-events/

4. On this week's episode of the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Jessica Wilkins, an orchestral musician from Los Angeles turned software engineer. We talk about how ridiculously competitive the world of classical music is, and how it gave her the mental toughness that she needed to learn to code. Jessica ultimately turned down contracts from Disney and other music industry titans so that she could focus on transitioning into tech. She was a prolific volunteer contributor to the freeCodeCamp codebase and core curriculum, and now works on our team. I think you'll dig our conversation – especially if you're interested in the overlap between music and technology. (2.5 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-jessica-wilkins-classical-music-learning-to-code/

5. Finally, if you have Spanish-speaking friends, tell them about this new CSS Flexbox course that we just published. freeCodeCamp now has tons of courses in Spanish, along with a weekly Spanish podcast – all available on our freeCodeCamp Español channel. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-css-flexbox-in-spanish-course-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "Less than 10% of code has to do with the ostensible purpose of a system. The rest deals with input-output, data validation, data structure maintenance, and other housekeeping." — Mary Shaw, Software Engineer and Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor

Feb 16, 2024

1. Learn how to use JavaScript to create art with code. More and more contemporary artists are using math and programming to create digital art and interactive experiences. This course is taught by artist and software engineer Patt Vira. She'll show you how to use the popular p5.js library. You can code along at home and build 5 beginner art projects. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/art-of-coding-with-p5js/

2. It's hard to predict the exact order in which things will happen in life. That's certainly the case in software. Thankfully, developers have pioneered a more flexible approach called Asynchronous Programming. And JavaScript is especially well-equipped for async programming thanks to its special Promise objects. freeCodeCamp just published this JavaScript Promises handbook to teach you common async patterns. You'll also learn about error handling, promise chaining, and async anti-patterns to avoid. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-javascript-promises-handbook/

3. Code your own product landing page using SveltKit. Software Engineer James McArthur will teach you all about Svelt, SveltKit, Tailwind CSS, and the benefits of Server-Side Rendering. He'll even show you how to deploy your site to the web, and add a modern CI/CD pipeline. This course will give you a good mix of theory and practice. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sveltekit-full-course/

4. Learn how to code your own video player that runs right in your browser. This in-depth tutorial will teach you how to use powerful tools like Tailwind CSS and Vite. You'll also learn some good old-fashioned JavaScript. This is an excellent project-oriented tutorial for intermediate learners. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-custom-video-player-using-javascript-and-tailwind-css/

5. On this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview developer and Scrimba CEO Per Borgen. We talk about Europe's tech startup scene and the emerging field of AI Engineering. Per is a fellow founder whom I've known for nearly a decade, and we had a fun time catching up. I hope you're enjoying the podcast and learning a lot from these thoughtful devs I'm having as guests. (1 hour YouTube video or you can listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-ai-engineering-scrimba-ceo-per-borgan/

Quote of the Week: "I think we'd all feel much better if we instead saw bad code as a form of contemporary art. Unused functions? Surrealism. Mixing tabs and spaces? Postmodern. My code isn't spaghetti, it's avant-garde." — Cain Maddox, Game Developer

Feb 9, 2024

1. This new freeCodeCamp course will walk you step-by-step through coding 25 different front-end React projects. I've always said: the best way to improve your coding skills is to code a lot. Well, this course will build up your JavaScript muscle memory, and help you internalize key concepts through repetition. Projects include: the classic Tic Tac Toe game, a recipe app, an image slider, an expense tracker, and even a full-blown blog. Dive in and get some reps. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-react-by-building-25-projects/

2. freeCodeCamp alum Zubin Pratap worked as a corporate lawyer for years. But deep down inside, he knew he wanted to get into software development. After years of starting – and stopping – learning to code, he eventually became a developer. He even worked as a software engineer at Google. Zubin created this career change course to help other folks learn how to transition into tech as well. In this course, he busts common myths around learning to program. He also shares open industry secrets, and gives you a framework for mapping out your path into tech. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/career-change-to-code-guide/

3. Gavin Lon has been a C# developer for two decades, writing software for companies around London. And now he's distilled his C# wisdom and his love of the programming language into this comprehensive book. Over the past few years, freeCodeCamp Press has published more than 100 freely available books that you can read and bookmark as a reference. And this is one of our most ambitious books. It explores C# data types, operators, classes, structs, inheritance, abstraction, events, reflection, and even asynchronous programming. In short, if you want to learn C#, read Gavin's book. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-csharp-book/

4. Roughly 1 out of every 7 Americans lives with a disability. As developers, we should keep these folks in mind when building our apps. Thankfully, there's a well-established field called Accessibility (sometimes shortened to “a11y” because there are 11 letters in the word that fall between the A and the Y). This nuts-and-bolts freeCodeCamp course will teach you about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Accessible Rich Internet Applications, Semantic HTML, and other tools for your toolbox. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-your-web-sites-accessible/

5. On this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview the creator of one of the most successful open source projects ever. Robby Russell first released the Oh My Zsh command line tool 15 years ago. We talk about his web development consultancy, which has built projects for Nike and other Portland-area companies. We also talk about his career-long obsession with code maintainability, and his post-rock band. (2 hour watch on YouTube, or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-oh-my-zsh-creator-and-ceo-robby-russell/

Quote of the Week: "I tried to teach myself to code THREE times. In 2014, in 2015, and in 2017. And all three times I quit because I tried to jump too high, set myself up for failure, and then assumed I was not smart enough. But actually, I had just tried to run before I’d learned to walk." — Zubin Pratap, freeCodeCamp alum who went on to become a software engineer at Google

Feb 2, 2024

1. My friend Andrew Brown is a CTO who has passed practically every cloud certification exam under the sun. Within weeks of GitHub publishing their new official certs, Andrew has already studied, passed the exam, and prepared this course to help you do the same. If you're considering earning a professional cert to demonstrate your proficiency in Git and GitHub, this course is for you. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/pass-the-github-foundations-certification-course/

2. Among many of my web developer friends, a new set of tools is emerging as a standard: Tailwind CSS, Next.js, React, and TypeScript. And you can learn all of these by coding along at home with this beginner course. You'll use each of these tools to build your own weather app. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginner-web-dev-tutorial-build-a-weather-app-with-next-js-typescript/

3. And if you want even more JavaScript practice, this tutorial is for you. You'll code your own browser-playable version of the 1991 classic "Gorillas" game, where two gorillas throw explosive bananas at one another. You'll use JavaScript for the game logic and core gameplay loop. And you'll use CSS and HTML Canvas for the graphics and animation. (2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/gorillas-game-in-javascript/

4. Deep Learning is a profoundly useful approach to training AI. And if you want to work in the field of Machine Learning, this course will teach you how to answer 50 of the most common Deep Learning developer job interview questions. You'll learn about Neural Network Architecture, Activation Functions, Backpropogation, Gradient Descent, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ace-your-deep-learning-job-interview/

5. My friends Jess and Ramón are starting a new cohort of their freely available bootcamp on Friday, February 9. You can join them and work through freeCodeCamp's new project-oriented JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures certification. This is a great way to expand your skills alongside a kind, supportive community. (8 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-webdev-and-js-bootcamps/

Quote of the Week: "Git and I are in a committed relationship but it pushes me sometimes." — Cassidy Williams, Software Engineer

Jan 26, 2024

1. Learn Python data analysis by working with astronomical data. In this course, you'll start by learning some basic Python coding skills. Then you'll use measurements from the stars to learn how to work with tabular data and visual data. You'll pick up tools like Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Jupyter Notebook. You'll even apply some advanced image processing techniques. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-data-analysis-and-visualization-with-python-using-astrongomical-data/

2. And if you want to learn even more Python, freeCodeCamp just published an entire handbook on the art and science of Python debugging. You'll learn how to interpret common Python error messages. You'll also learn common debugging techniques like Logging, Assertions, Exception Handling, and Unit Testing. Along the way, you'll use Code Linters, Analyzers, and other powerful code editor tools. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/python-debugging-handbook/

3. OpenAI just released their new Assistants API to help you build your own personal AI assistants. And this project-oriented course will show you how to code up some minions that can do your bidding. You'll learn how to use Python, Streamlit, and the Assistants API to code your own news summarizer project and your own study buddy app. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-ai-assistants-with-openais-assistants-api/

4. Learn LangChain by coding and deploying 6 AI projects. You'll use 3 popular Large Language Models: GPT-4, Google Gemini, and the open source Llama 2. Along the way, you'll build a blog post generator, a multilingual invoice extractor, and a chatbot that can summarize PDFs for you. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-langchain-and-gen-ai-by-building-6-projects/

5. This week on the freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Beau Carnes, who oversees the freeCodeCamp community YouTube channel. Over the past 5 years, Beau has taught dozens of coding tutorials and helped curate more than 1,000 courses. We talk about his transition from high school special education teacher to software engineer. He shares the story of how he earned his second degree in just 6 months while raising 3 kids and running a stilt-walking service. This is my first video podcast, so you can actually watch me and Beau talk while you listen. Or you can just listen the old-fashioned way in your browser or podcast app of choice. (1 hour listen): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-biggest-youtube-programming-channel-beau-carnes

Quote of the Week: "Thanks to advances in hardware and software, our computational capability to model and interpret this deluge of [astronomical] data has grown tremendously... The confluence of ideas and instruments is stronger than ever." — Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan, Yale professor, on the growing importance of data analysis in her field of Astronomy

Jan 19, 2024

1. Many people who are learning to code have the goal of eventually working as a developer. But landing that first developer role is not an easy task. Luckily, my friend Lane Wagner created this course to help guide you through the process. It's jam-packed with tips from me and a lot of other developers. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-get-a-developer-job

2. For years, people have asked for an in-depth course on Data Engineering. And I'm thrilled to say freeCodeCamp just published one, and it's a banger. Data Engineers design systems to collect, store, and analyze data – systems that Data Scientists and Data Analysts rely on. This course will teach you key concepts like Data Pipelines and ETL (Extract-Transform-Load). And you'll learn how to use tools like Docker, CRON, and Apache Airflow. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-essentials-of-data-engineering/

3. freeCodeCamp also just published a full-length book on Advanced Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in Java. It will teach you Java Design Patterns, File Handling, I/O, Concurrent Data Structures, and more. And freeCodeCamp published a more beginner-friendly Java OOP book by the same author a while back, too. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/object-oriented-programming-in-java/

4. freeCodeCamp uses the open source NGINX web server, and more than one third of all other websites do, too. NGINX uses an asynchronous, event-driven architecture so you can handle a ton of concurrent users with fewer servers. We just published a crash course on using NGINX for back-end development. You'll learn how to use it for load balancing, reverse proxying, data streaming, and even as a Microservice Architecture. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/nginx/

5. You may have heard the term “ACID database”. It refers to a database that guarantees transactions with Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. MySQL and PostgreSQL are fully ACID-compliant. Other databases like MongoDB and Cassandra have partial ACID guarantees. So what are these properties and why are they so important? This article by Daniel Adetunji will explain everything using helpful analogies and some of his own artwork. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/acid-databases-explained/

Quote of the Week: "Data engineers are the plumbers building a data pipeline, while data scientists are the painters and storytellers, giving the data a voice." — Steven Levy, author of many excellent books about developers and tech companies

Jan 12, 2024

1. This week freeCodeCamp published a massive book on Git. Git was invented by the same programmer who created Linux. It's a powerful Version Control System that virtually all new software projects use. This said, even experienced developers can struggle to understand Git. So my friend Omer Rosenbaum – the CTO of an AI company – wrote this intermediate book. It will teach you how Git works under the hood, and how you can use it to collaborate with other devs around the world. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/gitting-things-done-book/

2. Learn Data Analysis with Python. This comprehensive course will teach you how to analyze data using Excel, SQL, and even specialized industry tools like Power BI and Tableau. Along the way, you'll improve your Python and build several real-world projects you can show off to your friends. The instructor, Alex Freberg, has worked as a data analyst in a variety of industries. He's adept at explaining advanced topics. I think you'll enjoy this course and learn a lot. (19 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-data-analysis-with-comprehensive-19-hour-bootcamp/

3. If you're new to coding but still want to quickly build prototype apps, AI tools can definitely help. ChatGPT is no substitute for programming skills, but it's reasonably good at creating code. This course will teach you some prompt engineering techniques. It will also give you a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of AI-assisted coding. Along the way, you'll build a drum set app and even a Whac-a-Mole game. This course is a great starting point for absolute beginners, and can serve as a gateway into full-blown software development. Be sure to tell your non-programmer friends about it. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-without-being-a-coder/

4. A String is one of the most primordial of data types. You can find String variables in almost every programming language. Strings are just a sequence of characters, usually between two quote marks, like this: "banana". And yet there are so many things you can do with Strings: Concatenation, Comparison, Encoding, and even String Searching with Regular Expressions. Joan Ayebola wrote this in-depth handbook that will teach you everything you need to know about JavaScript Strings. (full handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-string-handbook/

5. Hugging Face is not just what happens in the 1979 movie “Alien”. It's also a "GitHub of AI" platform where machine learning enthusiasts share models and datasets. This tutorial will show you how to set up the Hugging Face command line tools, browse pretrained models, and run a few AI tasks such as sentiment analysis. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/get-started-with-hugging-face/

Quote of the Week: "Duct tape programmers don’t give a damn what you think about them. They stick to simple, basic, and easy to use tools. Then they use the extra brain power that these tools leave them to write more useful features for their customers." — Joel Spolsky, developer and founder of Stack Overflow and Trello

Jan 5, 2024

1. Learn modern Front-End Development with the powerful React JavaScript library. This in-depth course is taught by software engineer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor, Hitesh Choudhary. He'll teach you the fundamental structure of React apps, including Hooks, Virtual DOM, React Router, Redux Toolkit, the Context API, and more. You'll also apply these tools by building several projects along the way. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/comprehensive-full-stack-react-with-appwrite-tutorial/

2. And if you want to go beyond React and learn full-stack JavaScript, freeCodeCamp contributor Chris Blakely has created an entire roadmap for skills you should learn. This roadmap focuses on the MERN Stack: MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js, which many popular web apps use – including freeCodeCamp itself. If you're new to web dev, this will give you a broad overview of what you'll want to prioritize learning. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mern-stack-roadmap-what-you-need-to-know-to-build-full-stack-apps/

3. Software Development as a field is always changing. I like to say that the key skill developers possess is not coding itself, but rather the ability to learn quickly. This book will help you think like a developer, so you can pick up new tools, solve new problems, and keep blazing forward as a dev. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/creators-guide-to-innovation-book/

4. Developer job interviews are not just about coding. There's a significant portion dedicated to the “behavioral interview.” This course will show you what to expect and how to prepare for it – through example questions and case studies. It's a time-efficient way to gear up for a successful run of interviews. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-behavioral-interviews-for-software-developers/

5. The #100DaysOfCode challenge is an ideal New Year's Resolution for anyone wanting to expand their developer skills. Each year, thousands of ambitious people commit to this simple challenge: code at least 1 hour each day for 100 days in a row, and support other people who are doing the same. I've written this guide to how you can get started and make some serious gains in 2024. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/100daysofcode-challenge-2024-discord/

Finally, my friends Jess and Ramón are starting a new cohort of their freely available bootcamp on Monday, January 8. You can join them and work through both freeCodeCamp's Responsive Web Design certification and our new project-oriented JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures certification. This is a great way to expand your skills alongside a kind, supportive community. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-webdev-and-js-bootcamps/

Quote of the Week: "A year ago I had no idea how to write code, and now I'm building my own stuff and learning how to do things I never thought I'd be capable of. If your new year's resolution is to become a developer, start now! You will never regret it." — Jack Forge, software developer

Dec 22, 2023

1. I'm proud to announce that after 2 years of development, freeCodeCamp's new upgraded JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures certification is now live. You can learn JavaScript step-by-step by coding 21 different projects – right in your browser. You'll build your own fantasy role playing game, mp3 player app, spreadsheet tool, and even a Pokémon Pokédex app. (300-hour interactive curriculum): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-javascript-with-new-data-structures-and-algorithms-certification-projects/

2. And that's just one of the many upgrades freeCodeCamp rolled out this week. We also published an interactive Python certification. It's 15 projects that you can complete right in your browser. And that's not all. We published our English for Developers curriculum to help non-native English speakers improve their English so they can work in tech. Here's my full year-end breakdown. You can read along and unwrap the many Christmas presents that the freeCodeCamp community has stuffed under your tree. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-very-freecodecamp-christmas/

3. Learn full-stack web development with this comprehensive project-based course. You'll build and deploy your own hotel management dashboard. Along the way, you'll learn advanced tools like Next.js, React, Sanity, and Tailwind CSS. This is an excellent course to solidify your coding fundamentals. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-and-deploy-a-hotel-management-site/

4. Figma is a popular design and app prototyping tool. And they recently introduced a powerful feature that lets you declare variables, then use them throughout your projects. A lot of designers think this is a big deal. And freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive handbook that will teach you how to leverage these Figma variables, so you can use them in your designs. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/variables-in-figma-handbook/

5. On this week's freeCodeCamp Podcast, I interview Kylie Ying, a software engineer and AI researcher. We talk about her 5 years at MIT and her time at CERN working on the Large Hadron Collider. We also talk about competitive figure skating, poker-playing AIs, and the many courses she's published on freeCodeCamp over the years. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-kylie-ying-mit-cern/

Joke of the Week: "Why do programmers always mix up Christmas and Halloween? Because Dec 25 = Oct 31." In programming, Dec stands for Decimal, meaning a base-10 number system. And Oct stands for Octal, meaning a base-8 number system. So Dec 25 really does equal Oct 31. I know – this isn't the funniest programmer joke ever, but it is fun to think about.

Dec 15, 2023

1. Learn to code your own mini Grand Theft Auto game with self-driving cars. Dr. Radu Mariescu-Istodor teaches this intermediate JavaScript course. He's already taught several freeCodeCamp courses on No Black Box AI development and self-driving cars. And now he'll teach you how to build an entire virtual world and populate it with those cars. You'll learn about spatial graphs, 3D geometry, road marking recognition, and how to incorporate real-world road data from OpenStreetMap. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-virtual-world-with-javascript/

2. And if you want to learn even more hardcore AI skills, freeCodeCamp teacher Beau Carnes just published an in-depth course on Vector Embeddings, Vector Search, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation. You'll be able to augment off-the-shelf Large Language Models by using Semantic Similarity Search with your own in-house data. At freeCodeCamp we pride ourselves on teaching programming fundamentals. And yet we also teach emerging practices that only a few thousand people on earth know how to leverage. We'll help you become one of those people. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/vector-search-and-rag-tutorial-using-llms-with-your-data/

3. If you're just starting your coding journey, don't let all these advanced topics intimidate you. freeCodeCamp just published a book that should be right up your alley. My friend Fatos authored “How to Start Learning to Code – a Handbook for Beginners.” It will teach you about developer careers and how you can join the ranks of more than 30 million professional developers on Earth. Learning to code is a marathon – not a sprint. And Fatos will give you lots of practical tips to help you power through the checkpoints. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-coding-for-everyone-handbook/

4. And another friend, Andrew Brown, just published a complete refresh of his Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification course. It will help you learn cloud engineering fundamentals and prepare for Microsoft's AZ-900 exam. Andrew is a former CTO who has passed every cloud certification under the sun. He is the most qualified person imaginable to help you earn these résumé-reinforcing cloud certs. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/azure-fundamentals-certification-az-900-exam-course/

5. Finally, I had the privilege of touring the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. And while I was there I interviewed my long-time friend and fellow founder Dhawal Shah. He has run the popular Class Central website for more than a decade, and is a historian of Massive Open Online Courses. We talk about his childhood in India, how he won his first computer from a Cartoon Network sweepstakes, and how he moved to the US as an engineer and ultimately became a US citizen. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-history-of-online-courses-dhawal-shah/

Quote of the Week: "Open world games are fun not because NPCs (non-player characters) have their own stories, but because the player can affect those stories in significant ways." — Tony Li, Unity forum user back in 2015

Dec 8, 2023

1. Machine Learning Operations – or MLOps – is an emerging field where developers use DevOps principles to build AI. You can learn all about it by coding along with this intermediate course. You'll use Python, Pandas, and several Machine Learning libraries such as ZenML. By the time you finish, you will have built and deployed your own production-grade AI project. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mlops-course-learn-to-build-machine-learning-production-grade-projects/

2. And if you're looking for a more beginner-friendly path into DevOps, earning an AWS certification may be the way to go. freeCodeCamp just published a course to help you prepare for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. This course is newly updated for 2024. You'll learn cloud computing concepts, architecture, deployment models, and more. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-certified-cloud-practitioner-study-course-pass-the-exam-with-this-free-13-hour-course/

3. There's a way to represent images with code, and I use it all the time. SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics, and it's one of the most efficient ways to store images for icons or other simple patterns. It's so efficient because it stores the literal coordinates of all the lines and colors of your image. In this tutorial, freeCodeCamp contributor Hunor Márton Borbély will teach you how to work with SVG files by coding your own Christmas tree, gingerbread man, and snowflake art. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/svg-tutorial-learn-to-code-images/

4. Remember that game Snake that came preloaded on all those indestructible Nokia phones? You're going to learn how to code that classic game where the snake keeps eating and getting longer until it collides with itself. Along the way, you'll get hands-on practice with JavaScript. You'll also learn how to give your game a retro design using HTML and CSS. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-beginners-project-snake-game

5. Developers sometimes encode data as raw text using Base64, even though it takes up 33% more storage than binary. Why do they do this? Well, Base64 is just a combination of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and two symbols: + and /. Just to check my math, that's 26 + 26 + 10 + 2 = 64 characters, right? This tutorial will teach you all the things you never knew you wanted to know about Base64. And it will solve the mystery of why developers continue to use this even today. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-base64-encoding/

Poem of the Week:

"Roses are red, Violets are blue, The Base64 of I love you, Is SSBsb3ZlIHlvdQ=="

— Netsecfocus on Twitter

Dec 1, 2023

1. The subject line wasn't a typo. freeCodeCamp really did just publish a 4-day-long course. This is a full cloud engineering bootcamp developed by my friend Andrew Brown. He's a former CTO who has passed every single cloud certification exam under the sun. This hands-on project-oriented course will teach you all about serverless architecture, containerization, databases, pipelines, and enterprise cloud strategies. Clear your calendar. 😉 (107 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-107-hour-aws-cloud-project-bootcamp/

2. Learn how to code your own Instagram clone. You're going to reverse engineer the entire app, using contemporary tools like React and Firebase. You'll learn about authentication, post creation, real-time interaction, and more. By the end of this course, you'll have built a sophisticated social media app from scratch. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-and-deploy-an-instagram-clone-with-react-and-firebase/

3. And if you want to focus on your fundamental programming skills, this tutorial is for you. Joan Ayebola explains JavaScript's famously tricky logic operators. She'll teach you about conditional statements that form the core of day-to-day programming. You'll also learn about Switch Statements, Short-Circuit Evaluation, the Ternary Operator, and how to apply these to real world projects. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/logic-in-javascript/

4. I hung out with hardware engineer Bruno Haid at his studio in NYC. We talked about his childhood in the European countryside, designing custom printed circuit boards, Retrocomputing, and founding companies in the US. It's a fun, breezy conversation. And we do philosophize a bit about Star Trek. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-hardware-engineering-bruno-haid/

5. Tell your Spanish speaking friends that freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive web development course, taught by software engineer and native speaker Manuel Basanta. You'll learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript by coding along at home and building 7 projects. Over the years, freeCodeCamp has published many courses on these topics in English. And now we're proud to teach them in Spanish as well. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/practice-html-css-and-javascript-by-building-7-projects/

Quote of the Week: "The cloud is just someone else’s computer." — Graham Cluley, Developer and Security Expert back in 2013

Nov 24, 2023

1. Learn how to build AIs with Machine Learning. This new intermediate course assumes you have some basic knowledge of statistics and Python. You'll learn how to use the powerful scikit-learn library to implement Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forests, Gradient-Boosting Machines, and other building blocks of AI. This is a serious course, with all the rigor you've come to expect from the freeCodeCamp engineering community. I don't blame anyone for wanting to just chill this Thanksgiving weekend. But if you want to build some hard skills, freeCodeCamp's gobble gobble got you. (18 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-with-python-and-scikit-learn/

2. And if you want even more AI insight, learn how to use the popular LangChain framework to link your Large Language Models to your own external data. You'll learn about Vectorizing, Embedding, Piping, and other important concepts for building a chatbot that can talk about your specific data. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-langchain-to-link-llms-with-external-data/

3. Speaking of data, I met up in New York City with one of the foremost experts in the field of Data Visualization: Dr. Curran Kelleher. I interviewed him about Computer Science, how humans process visual information, and even the 5 years he spent in India after grad school. Curran is a prolific contributor to the freeCodeCamp community, having taught several Data Visualization courses. So it's an honor to have him on the freeCodeCamp Podcast. (1 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-data-visualization-curran-kelleher/

4. My friend Tapas has spent much of this past year thinking about developer career progressions. We just published his collection of common mistakes he sees developers make, and how to best avoid them. You can lean back with a hot beverage and learn what not to do. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/career-mistakes-to-avoid-as-a-dev/

5. A lot of my friends are using the holidays to prepare for the coding interview process as they apply for new roles. Don't let this process intimidate you. In this tutorial, freeCodeCamp developer Jessica Wilkins will walk you through solving a popular Leetcode problem called Two Sum. You'll learn how she thinks and solves the challenge step-by-step. You'll also get to check out her resulting data visualizations. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-visualization-for-leetcode-two-sum-problem/

Quote of the Week: "The best software developers I know spend the holidays the way they are meant to be spent: doing basic tech support for blood relatives." — Maciej Cegłowski, Developer and founder of Pinboard

Nov 17, 2023

1. This Java book will help you build a solid foundation in Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). You can read this full book right in your browser, and bookmark it to serve as a reference down the road. It covers Java fundamentals like Data Types, Operators, and Control Flow. Then it dives into OOP concepts like Constructors, Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Encapsulation. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-java-object-oriented-programming/

2. My friend Andrew is a former CTO. Over the past 5 years, he's earned every single AWS and Azure cloud certification under the sun. Now he's back with a comprehensive course to prepare you for the Azure Solutions Architect exam. If you want to work in DevOps or Site Reliability Engineering, then this is an excellent certification to earn. And Andrew will show you the way. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/become-an-azure-solutions-architect-expert-pass-the-az-305-exam/

3. Learn how to ace developer job interviews. This course will break down common coding interview topics like data structures and algorithms. Parth is an experienced software engineer who's worked at a number of tech companies including Microsoft. Along the way, he's learned several interviewing strategies that work, and he'll teach you all of them. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-technical-interviews/

4. PaLM 2 is a powerful new Large Language Model from Google. And we're bringing you an in-depth course on how to harness its power. In this course, popular freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kúbow will walk you through building your own AI chatbot using the PaLM 2 API. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-the-palm-2-api/

5. I met up with MIT-trained engineer Arian Agrawal in New York City to interview her about her journey into tech. She was working on Wall Street when she had an idea to rent out her friends' Indian dresses for weddings. What followed was a crazy journey into entrepreneurship. I had a blast recording this podcast interview, and I hope you enjoy listening to it. (2 hour listen in your browser or favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/podcast-arian-agrawal-from-mit-to-startup-land/

Quote of the Week: "After I drink my coffee, I show my empty mug to the IT guy and tell him that I've successfully installed Java. He hates me." — A joke first told in an elevator at the Goldman Sachs building in 2013

Nov 10, 2023

1. Learn the basics of hardware coding with the popular Arduino microcontroller. You'll learn how to control LEDs, motors, and even household objects like window blinds. You'll also learn how to hook up sensors for light, sound, and temperature. This is the ultimate DIY electronics tool, and this project-oriented course will teach you all about it. You can enjoy this course and learn these concepts even if you don't own an Arduino. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/arduino-for-everybody/

2. I hung out in New York City with legendary programmer Joel Spolsky, who co-founded Stack Overflow and Trello. I got to interview him about his thoughts on software engineering, building companies, and how new AI tools represent a “third age of programming”. (2 hour listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/trello-stack-overflow-founder-joel-spolsky-podcast-interview/

3. Learn Python and the powerful Tkinter library by coding your own desktop app. In this quick tutorial, you'll learn Tkinter basics by building a whiteboard app with a Graphical User Interface. You'll code the window's navigation, buttons, and even a color picker. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-whiteboard-app/

4. Learn how to build your own e-commerce sticker shop with AI-generated stickers. In this WordPress crash course, freeCodeCamp teacher Beau Carnes will walk you through coding and deploying your own site. He'll show you how to use AI tools to procedurally generate merchandise to stock your virtual shelves. This is a fun, breezy watch. (1 hour watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-wordpress-store-that-sells-real-ai-generated-products/

5. Next.js is a popular JavaScript web development framework. And one of the trickiest parts of building an app is Authentication. This course will teach you how to use the latest version of Next.js together with several OAuth providers to sign your users in. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/secure-next-js-applications-with-role-based-authentication-using-nextauth/

Quote of the Week: "We’re programmers. Programmers are, in their hearts, architects, and the first thing they want to do when they get to a site is to bulldoze the place flat and build something grand. We’re not excited by incremental renovation: tinkering, improving, planting flower beds." — Joel Spolsky

Nov 3, 2023

1. As you may know, each week I host The freeCodeCamp Podcast where I interview software developers. Well, I decided to do something special for our 100th episode. I recorded a full-length audiobook version of my 2023 book “How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job.” If you've been meaning to read my book, you can now listen to it on the go – in its entirety. I consider podcasts to be my own personal “University of the Commute.” I listen to them every day while I'm getting around town. And I encourage you to do the same. Just search for The freeCodeCamp Podcast in whichever podcast app you use, or listen right in your browser. (full audiobook – 4 hour listen): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/

2. This in-depth course will teach you Web Development for beginners. You'll learn key tools like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You'll even learn how to commit your code with Git and deploy it to the cloud. My friend Akash teaches this course. He's not only a developer – he's also the CEO of a machine learning startup. This man knows webdev like the back of his hand, and he's stellar at teaching it. (20 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-web-development-with-this-free-20-hour-course

3. If you're already comfortable with web development, and want to learn mobile app development, this course will teach you how to code your own Android quiz app – and from scratch. You'll build on top of your webdev knowledge by learning Android Components and the Kotlin programming language. Then you'll get some practice applying design principles and app logic concepts. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/kotlin-and-android-development-build-a-chat-app/

4. If you're building a large website or app, you're going to want a Design System. This is a set of reusable components that helps get everyone on the same page. Developers can then use these components to build User Interfaces that are more consistent and harmonious. In this case study, Faith will show you how one startup uses a Design System to simplify collaboration. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-a-design-system/

5. Manually deploying your codebase to the cloud several times a day can get tedious. If you learn how to use Infrastructure as Code (IaC), you can automate this process. And with improvements in AI, you can simplify this even further. Beau Carnes teaches this course, and he'll show you IaC concepts in action. You'll learn how to use natural language – plain English – to describe what you want your infrastructure to look like. Through a combination of tools like GPT-4 and Pulumi, you'll build out your architecture. You'll even learn about Serverless Function Chaining. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-and-deploy-iac-by-chatting-with-ai/

Quote of the Week: “The most disastrous thing that you can ever learn is your first programming language.” — Alan Kay, programmer, Turing Award winner, and pioneer of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

Oct 27, 2023

1. Harvard's CS50 course is the most popular course at Harvard and the most-watched Computer Science course in history. Through freeCodeCamp's partnership with Harvard, I present to you the brand new 2023 edition of this course. You'll learn CS fundamentals like Data Structures and Algorithms. You'll also learn C programming, Python, SQL, and other key tools of the trade. I know learning to code is a big undertaking. Ease into it with this fun, beginner-friendly course. (26 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-university-cs50-computer-science-course-2023/

2. If you have some Python experience and want to get into Machine Learning, start with this freely available book we just published through freeCodeCamp Press. You'll learn how to harness the power of ML algorithms including Least Squares, Naive Bayes, Logistic Regression, and Random Forest. You'll also learn a variety of optimization techniques like Gradient Descent. You can read the book, tinker with the code examples, and bookmark it for future reference. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/machine-learning-handbook/

3. freeCodeCamp also published a MySQL for Beginners course this week. You'll learn Relational Database concepts and SQL basics. This is a practical, jargon-free, no-nonsense course. I think you'll enjoy Josh's straightforward teaching style. It's clear to me that he's spent a large portion of his waking life using MySQL. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-mysql-beginners-course/

4. Learn how to write tests for your Python code. This comprehensive Pytest course will introduce you to testing concepts like Mocking, Fixtures, and Parameterization. You'll even learn some prompt engineering tips for using GPT-4 to help create Python tests for your code. This is a handy way to speed up your test creation workflow. (90-minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/testing-in-python-with-pytest/

5. Finally, if you're interested in finance, freeCodeCamp just published a course on Algorithmic Trading with Python. You'll learn how to design an Unsupervised Machine Learning Trading Strategy. You'll also learn how to leverage Sentiment Analysis and intraday trading strategies using the GARCH Model. Proof that freeCodeCamp is truly a multi-disciplinary learning resource. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-algorithmic-trading-using-python

Quote of the Week: "What ultimately matters is not so much where you end up relative to your classmates, but where you end up relative to yourself when you began." — Harvard CS50 Professor David J. Malan

Oct 20, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published this comprehensive Front End Developer Roadmap. If you're new to coding, Front End Development is a great skillset to build up first. freeCodeCamp teacher Beau Carnes will explain the core Front End concepts and tools you should prioritize learning first. You'll learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Next.js, VS Code, and even some AI Prompt Engineering. This roadmap is a big time commitment, but you can hop on and hop off as you see fit. Either way, you'll learn a ton of relevant skills and theory. (85 hour coding roadmap of YouTube courses): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/front-end-developer-roadmap

2. One powerful Front End Development technology that comes built-in to CSS is Flexbox. And freeCodeCamp just published an entire book on the subject. This Flexbox Handbook will teach you how to build responsive designs that look good on any sized device – from a smart watch to a jumbotron. You'll learn the key Flex and Align properties through a series of practical examples. If you're new to CSS, bookmark this and use it as a reference when you're coding. It will serve you well. (full length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-css-flexbox-handbook/

3. Learn to code your own AI chatbot using the popular MERN stack: MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. You'll build a full-stack web app that uses these contemporary tools. Then you'll integrate it with OpenAI's GPT-4 API for world-class AI chat responses. By the end of this course, you'll have built your own ChatGPT clone that you can show off to your friends. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-ai-chatbot-with-the-mern-stack/

4. PostgreSQL is the most popular SQL database for building new projects. It's open source, and extremely battle-tested, being used at companies like Apple, Instagram, and Spotify. NASA even uses it on some of their projects. This course will show you how to run Postgres on your local computer and run several types of SQL queries. You'll even learn some Relational Database concepts, and advanced features like Aggregate Functions. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/posgresql-course-for-beginners/

5. If you're anything like me, your browser probably has way too many tabs open right now. Not only are these eating up your computer's memory – they are also opening you up to a type of malicious attack called “Tabnabbing”. This may just sound like something PacMan does, but it can lead to some serious consequences. This quick tutorial by Juanita Washington will explain how Tabnabbing techniques work, so that you can defend yourself against bad actors who would use Tabnabbing to trick you. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-tabnabbing/

Quote of the Week: "Every time I think I'm doing some horrible front end code that ‘works’ I think back to when Fallout 3 wanted to animate a train, but objects can't move in their engine. So they gave an invisible guy a train-shaped-sized hat instead, and made him run the tracks. That's the spirit." — Front End Developer freezydorito on Twitter (And yes, that is really how Fallout 3's trains work)

Oct 13, 2023

1. Bun is hot out of the oven. The Node.js alternative JavaScript Runtime just released their version 1.0 last month, and already freeCodeCamp has this crash course for you. You'll learn how to set up a Bun web server, create routes, handle errors, add plugins, and wire everything to your front end. A lot of devs seem to dig Bun's superior performance and its built-in support for TypeScript and JSX. If you already know some Node.js, Bun shouldn't be too time-consuming to learn. This crash course is a good place to jump in. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-bun-a-faster-node-js-alternative

2. If you're building an AI system, please consider learning about AI ethics. freeCodeCamp just published our second primer on this important and potentially extinction-preventing topic. You don't need to know a lot about programming or about philosophy to enjoy this course. You'll learn about the current Black Box AI approach that many Large Language Models use, and its limitations. You'll also learn about some scenarios that were previously considered to be science fiction, such as The Singularity. freeCodeCamp is proud to help inform the discourse on developing AI tools responsibly. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ethics-of-ai-and-ml/

3. If you've experimented with Large Language Models like GPT-4, you may be somewhat disappointed by their capabilities. Well, getting good responses out of LLMs is a skill in itself. This course will teach you the art and the science of Prompt Engineering, and even introduce some AI-assisted coding concepts. Then you'll be able to write clearer prompts and get more helpful responses from AI. I spent some time learning these techniques myself, and was blown away by how much more useful they made ChatGPT for me. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prompt-engineering-for-web-developers/

4. You may have used Notion before to organize your thoughts or plan a project. What if I told you that you could code your own Notion clone using open source tools? This course will walk you through doing just that. You'll learn to use the popular Next.js web development framework, the DALL-E AI image creator, Tailwind CSS, and even some Object Relational Mappers to communicate with your databases. You'll code the User Interface, code the back end, then deploy your finished app to the cloud. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-and-deploy-a-full-stack-notion-clone-with-next-js-dall-e-vercel/

5. Put on your learning cap, because we're going to learn the many ways that computers talk to one another. This tutorial will whisk you through 6 key API integration patterns: REST APIs, Remote Procedure Calls, GraphQL, Polling, WebSockets, and WebHooks. By the end of this quick tutorial, you'll have a much better understanding of how the internet really works. This will make you a more well-rounded developer. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/api-integration-patterns/

Quote of the Week: "Perhaps we should all stop for a moment and focus not only on making our AI better and more successful, but also on the benefit of humanity." — Stephen Hawking, Astrophysicist and Science Author

Oct 6, 2023

1. VS Code is a powerful code editor used by pretty much every developer on freeCodeCamp's team, and most of the other developers I know, too. But much of its power is non-obvious. So freeCodeCamp published this comprehensive beginner-to-advanced VS Code course. It will help you navigate VS Code's Command Palette, customized themes, keyboard shortcuts, and its library of extensions for React, GitHub, and more. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/increase-your-vs-code-productivity/

2. Arduino is a popular open source hardware project. You can use Arduino microcontrollers to build musical instruments, automate your home, prototype your electronics, or even gather climate data for a farm. This week freeCodeCamp published our Arduino Handbook to help you learn the Arduino programming language and how to leverage its powerful ecosystem of tools. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-arduino-handbook

3. Learn how to build and deploy your own Ecommerce app using the latest version of the popular Next.js framework. You'll build a fully-functional shop complete with authentication and shopping cart functionality. You can code along at home and use the latest tools for everything: Tailwind CSS, the daisyUI component library, Prisma and MongoDB for data storage, and Vercel for deploying your shop to the cloud. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ecommerce-site-with-next-js-tailwind-daisyui-course

4. freeCodeCamp also published a course on coding your own developer portfolio page using the SvelteKit web development framework and Tailwind CSS. This course will teach you how to build user interfaces quickly without having to micro-manage your CSS. You'll even implement particle effects. Spend an hour of your week getting some exposure to these powerful tools. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sveltekit-and-tailwind-css-by-building-a-web-portfolio/

5. With all these recent breaches, API security has become a hot topic among developers. So, of course, freeCodeCamp is coming in clutch with this API security course. 20-year industry veteran Dan Barahona dives deep into PCI-DSS (the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). This set of rules governs online transactions. If your app or website does anything related to commerce, these best practices will help keep you and your customers secure. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/api-security-for-pci-compliance/

Quote of the Week: "Just like with everything else, tools won't give you good results unless you know how, when, and why to apply them. If you go out and you buy the most expensive frying pan on the market, it's still not going to make you a good chef." — Dr. Christin Wiedemann, Software Engineer and Physicist

Sep 29, 2023

1. Mojo is a programming language that combines the usability of Python with the performance of C. It just came out this month, and already the freeCodeCamp community has developed a course for it. You'll learn how to leverage Mojo's strengths for developing AI systems. This beginner's course will walk you through how Mojo works, and teach you its Data Types, Control Flow, Libraries, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/new-mojo-programming-language-for-ai-developers/

2. Another emerging AI development tool is LangChain. It's a framework for Python and JavaScript that makes it easier to build apps around Large Language Models like GPT4. LangChain can help you connect various data sources to your model – including your own databases. This project-based beginner's course will teach you how to get started with LangChain by coding your own pet name generator. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-langchain-for-llm-development/

3. But don't think that freeCodeCamp is just focused on cutting edge AI tools. This week we also published a comprehensive crash course on Java. Learn why Java is celebrated as a “write once, run anywhere” programming language. You'll get practice with Java fundamentals, and get exposure to the powerful Java Virtual Machine. The JVM handles memory management, garbage collection, multithreading, and even some of your application security. This course is a great place to get started with Java. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-the-basics-of-java-programming/

4. The 0/1 Knapsack Problem is an iconic optimization problem in computer science. Let's say you're in a hurry, and you need to pack your belongings into a knapsack that you can take with you. How do you maximize the value of your belongings given that you can only carry a certain amount of weight? To solve this problem, we're going to use C# and a coding approach called Dynamic Programming. freeCodeCamp instructor Gavin Lon teaches this course, and he even plays some electric guitar in the video. I think you'll dig it and learn a lot. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-dynamic-programming-to-solve-the-0-1-knapsack-problem/

5. September 30th is World Translation Day. And the freeCodeCamp community is celebrating by publishing this full-length Localization Handbook that will show you how to translate your website or app into many world languages. Over the years, freeCodeCamp has published more than 11,000 coding tutorials. And we're working to localize these into many languages, so everyone can benefit from them. If you or your friends grew up speaking a language other than English, I encourage you to get involved. We have powerful software to help you make the most of any time you're able to volunteer. (full book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/localization-book-how-to-translate-your-website

Quote of the Week: "Too many apparently “simple” technologies merely shift the complexity to other places: higher level tools, frameworks, package managers, wrappers, syntax extensions, etc. But well designed systems are simple to learn and use end-to-end, while permitting experts to build amazing things." — Chris Lattner, software engineer and designer of both the Mojo and Swift programming languages

Sep 22, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Python for Beginners course, taught by software engineer Dave Gray. You'll learn key Python concepts by building a series of mini projects. By the end of this course, you'll be familiar with Python Data Types, Loops, Modules, and even some Object-Oriented Programming. If you want to learn programming, or brush up on your fundamental skills, this course is an excellent place to start. (9 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ultimate-beginners-python-course/

2. Learn to build your own AI Software-as-a-Service platform. In this intermediate course, you'll code an app where your users can drag in a PDF and immediately start chatting with an AI about the document. Along the way, you'll learn how to use Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and OpenAI's API, and Stripe's API. And you'll even learn how to deploy your app using Vercel. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-and-deploy-an-ai-saas-with-paid-subscriptions/

3. And if you want to further improve your Front End Development skills, this course should do the trick. You'll code your own Search Engine-optimized blog, complete with custom fonts, light & dark themes, responsive design, and Markdown-based rendering. You'll learn modern tools like Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and Supabase. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-an-seo-optimized-blog-with-next-js

4. One of the most important design decisions you can make is picking the right font. This involves so many style and legibility considerations. But you also want to keep performance in mind. This guide will help you choose the right fonts for your next project, and ensure that they load as quickly as possible for your users. (16 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/things-to-consider-when-picking-fonts/

5. People often ask me: what's the best way to get practical experience as a developer? And I answer: contribute to open source projects. But that's easier said than done. Not only do you need to understand a project's codebase, but you also need to familiarize yourself with open source culture. This guide will help you learn how to communicate with project maintainers. That way you can succeed in getting your contributions merged, so you can get your code running in production. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-contribute-to-open-source/

Quote of the Week: "Good design's not about what medium you're working in. It's about thinking hard about what you want to do. And what you have to work with before you start." — Susan Kare, Designer of the fonts and icons for the first Apple Macintosh, and pixel art pioneer

Sep 15, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a beginner AI course where you can code your own assistant. You'll learn about vector embeddings and how you can use them on top of GPT-4 and other Large Language Models. This way you can code your own AI assistant with output customized by you. For example, you can throw all 11,000 tutorials freeCodeCamp has published into a database, embed them, and then your AI assistant can retrieve relevant tutorials when you ask it a question. This may sound pretty advanced, but modern tools make this a lot easier. You'll learn how to use OpenAI's GPT-4 API, LangChain, data from Hugging Face, and age-old Natural Language Processing techniques. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/vector-embeddings-course/

2. Dynamic Programming (DP) is a method for solving complicated problems by breaking them down into smaller bits. You then store the solutions to these sub-problems in a table, where they can be more efficiently accessed, so the computer doesn't need to recalculate them each time. This efficient DP approach comes up all the time in Algorithms & Data Structure coding interview questions. And this freeCodeCamp course will teach you how to ace those questions. We teach DP using Java. But if you know Python, C++, or JavaScript, you may be able to follow along as well. (3 hour YouTube Course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-dynamic-programming-in-java/

3. Terraform is a powerful Infrastructure-as-Code DevOps tool. You can write Terraform code that provisions infrastructure from multiple cloud service providers at the same time. For example Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. freeCodeCamp uses Terraform extensively to wrangle our 100+ servers around the world. Now you can learn to leverage this power, too. And earn a professional certification while you're at it. This Terraform Certified Associate guide will help you grok the advanced concepts, modules, and workflows necessary to pass the exam. It also includes a full-length Terraform course freeCodeCamp published a few weeks ago. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/terraform-certified-associate-003-study-notes/

4. CSS transitions are a high-performance way to animate a webpage directly – using its HTML elements. And this handbook will teach you how to harness their power. You'll learn about animation keyframes, timing, looping, and more. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/css-transition-vs-css-animation-handbook/

5. Finally, freeCodeCamp published a Fundamentals of Finance and Economics course. It covers a lot of key concepts you learn in business school, such as Time-Value of Money, Capital Budgeting, Financial Statements, and how Macroeconomic Forces shape industries. We plan to publish a lot more courses like this one in the future, to complement our already massive selection of math and computer science courses. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/fundamentals-of-finance-economics-for-businesses/

Quote of the Week: "If “Dynamic Programming” didn't have such a cool name, it would be known as “populating a table.”" — Mark Dominus, Software Engineer and Author of the book High Order Perl

Sep 8, 2023

1. The first time I used ChatGPT, I was impressed. But I didn't yet realize how useful it would become in my day-to-day work as a developer. Only after I learned some Prompt Engineering techniques did I get good at communicating with the AI. Now I'm much more effective at getting Large Language Models to do tasks for me. That's why I'm excited to share this new freeCodeCamp course on Prompt Engineering. Ania Kubów will teach you techniques like Few-Shot Prompting, Vectors, Embeddings, and how to reduce AI hallucinations. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-prompt-engineering-full-course/

2. If you're brand new to HTML and CSS, this is the book for you. You'll learn about HTML, the skeleton of a webpage. You'll learn about CSS, the skin of a webpage. You'll even learn a little about JavaScript, the muscles of a webpage. Sprinkle in some DevTools and HTTP requests. Now you've got a proper web dev primer. Enjoy the book, and bookmark it for future reference as well. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/html-css-handbook-for-beginners/

3. Code your own cloud storage app using contemporary web development tools. This course will teach you how to use TypeScript – a version of JavaScript where all your variables are statically typed. This reduces bugs. You'll also use Next.js, a powerful front end framework. Then you'll layer on Tailwind CSS, a popular library for styling your user interface components. Finally, you'll learn how to use Firebase 9 to store your data. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/full-stack-web-development-by-building-a-google-drive-clone-nextjs-firebase/

4. New developers often ask me how they can get some practical experience writing software. My answer: contribute to open source projects. There are thousands of software engineers out there who will review your work and give you feedback. Some of your code may even make it into production, where many people will benefit from it. Each open source contribution you make to a project like freeCodeCamp is a feather in your cap. And this book will show you how to get started with open source. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-contribute-to-open-source-handbook/

5. How do you filter the signal from the noise? Why, through Signal Processing. This is the set of techniques that engineers have used for decades to make clearer television signals, phone calls, and even medical diagnostic images. This tutorial will bring you up to speed on Signal Processing and Fast Fourier Transforms, which underpin many file compression algorithms. You'll also learn about Causality, Linearity, and Time-invariance. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/signal-processing-and-systems-in-programming/

Also be sure to tell your Spanish-speaking friends that freeCodeCamp has a ton of courses in Spanish, including this new web dev course for beginners where you code your own Pokémon pokédex: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/html-css-and-javascript-project-in-spanish-create-a-pokedex/

Quote of the Week: "Being good at prompt engineering in 2023 is like being good at Googling in 2003." — Matt Turck, Venture Capitalist

Sep 1, 2023

1. I'm excited to announce that freeCodeCamp has teamed up with Microsoft to bring you a freely available professional certification: the Foundational C# Certification. If you're interested in learning some C# and having a credential to put on your LinkedIn or CV, this program is for you. You'll complete 35 hours of training, then take an 80-question exam. We provide all the preparation materials, including a 90-minute video walk-through of the cert program. (free verified professional certification from Microsoft): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-microsoft-c-sharp-certification/

2. There are so many powerful AI tools out there, such as GPT-4. But what if you don't use tools. What if you build your own AI from scratch, using a “no black box” method? This course from Dr. Radu Mariescu-Istodor, who teaches computer science in Finland, will show you how to design such a system. You'll code an AI that can recognize and classify drawings. If you draw a fish, your AI will learn to recognize it as a fish. This is an excellent Machine Learning fundamentals course for any dev with some JavaScript knowledge and a bit of curiosity. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-machine-learning-and-neural-networks-without-frameworks/

3. This week, freeCodeCamp published The C Programming Handbook. It will teach you the basics of coding in C, one of the oldest and most important languages. You can read the entire book in your browser, and bookmark it for future reference. The book covers Data Types, Operators, Conditional Logic, Loops, and more fundamental coding concepts. Time spent improving your C is never wasted. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-c-programming-handbook-for-beginners/

4. And we also published a handbook on Agile Software Development methodologies. You'll learn about the Agile Manifesto and how it spawned a smörgåsbord of approaches to building projects. You'll read about Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming, and how to ship features at scale. If you want your team to benefit from some of these concepts, this book is an excellent place to get started. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/agile-software-development-handbook/

5. 20 years ago, a few developers sat down to catalog the most common security issues they were discovering on the web. And from that, the OWASP Top 10 emerged as a popular reference for devs. You can use OWASP as a checklist to ensure a baseline level of security in your apps. This course will teach you how to spot these common pitfalls and avoid them in your projects. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/owasp-api-security-top-10-secure-your-apis/

Finally, I'm thrilled to introduce you to freeCodeCamp Press. These past few months, we've worked with developers from around the world to publish dozens of full length books and handbooks. Our goal is to share these tomes of wisdom with devs everywhere. You can bookmark these books to serve as a reference as you continue to expand your programming skills: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-press-books-handbooks/

Quote of the Week: "A lot of people don’t realize how much work goes into making some thing look like it was no work at all." — Scott Hanselman, developer, teacher, and podcast host

Aug 25, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new book to help you learn Python programming. This book explains core Python concepts through more than 100 code examples. It also shows you how to install the latest version of Python and use it in both VS Code and PyCharm. You'll learn about loops, data types, conditional logic, modules, and more. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-python-code-example-handbook/

2. For more Python practice, you can develop your own game with Pygame. You'll code your own playable version of the 1970s arcade classic Pong. This is a great first project for a beginner Python developer. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/beginners-python-tutorial-pong/

3. And if you're ready for some more advanced Python, how about building an app on top of GPT-4, the powerful Large Language Model that powers ChatGPT? This course will show you how to use Python libraries, Vector Databases, and LLM APIs to create your own AI agents that can browse the web and carry out tasks for you. This is no longer science fiction – it's something anyone can sit down and learn how to do with some patience and good instruction. And freeCodeCamp has got good instruction in spades. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/development-with-large-language-models/

4. Steganography. It's not a dinosaur – it's a method of hiding information in plain sight. This tutorial will teach you how Steganography works. Then it will show you how to code your own algorithm that can encrypt data right into the pixels of an image. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-photo-encryption-app/

5. If you're feeling really ambitious, why not code your own Dropbox-like cloud storage app? This new freeCodeCamp course will teach you how to use the popular PHP Laravel web development framework. You can code along at home and build your own cloud locker app with a user-friendly web interface. This app will back up your files to Amazon's cloud, so you can conveniently share them with friends. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-google-drive-clone-with-laravel-php-vuejs/

Quote of the Week: "Only ugly languages become popular. Python is the one exception." — Donald Knuth, prolific computer science author and Turing Award recipient

Aug 18, 2023

1. The freeCodeCamp community loves JavaScript almost as much as we love Python. And we published several JavaScript tutorials for you this week. First and foremost, this tutorial by Kolade Chris will teach you some advanced JS concepts like Template Interpolation, Unary Plus, the Spread Operator, Destructuring, and Math Object methods. With tons of code examples, this tutorial should help you take your JS to the next level. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-tips-for-better-web-dev-projects/

2. Next you'll want to brush up on your JavaScript Operators. These are the valves that control how data flows through your app. This tutorial by freeCodeCamp contributor Nathan Sebhastian will walk you through Logical Operators, Comparison Operators, and even Bitwise Operators for extremely granular control. You'll even learn the ultra-concise Ternary Operator. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-operators/

3. And if you want to turn your JS skills all the way up to 11, you can learn JavaScript Promises. Unlike Python, JavaScript is famously an asynchronous programming language. If you're a beginner, this asynchronicity can really melt your brain. That's where Promises come in. They help you rein in your parallel-running code so you can harness its true high-performance power. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-promises-async-await-and-promise-methods/

4. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive website optimization course, taught by prolific teacher Beau Carnes. You'll learn about caching techniques, server configuration, monitoring, Domain Name Systems, Content Delivery Networks, and more. This course is focused on WordPress, but you can apply most of these concepts to your website regardless of which tools you're using. Beau also included a book-length optimization guide. You should be able to read it and find a few low-hanging fruit ways to speed up your site. (full book + 2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-ultimate-guide-to-high-performance-wordpress/

5. Terraform is a powerful Infrastructure-as-Code DevOps tool. You can write Terraform code that provisions infrastructure from multiple cloud service providers at the same time. For example Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. freeCodeCamp uses Terraform extensively to wrangle our 100+ servers around the world. And now you can learn to use it, too, and earn a professional certification as well. This Terraform cert prep course will help you grok the advanced concepts, modules, and workflows necessary to pass the exam. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/hashicorp-terraform-associate-certification-study-course-pass-the-exam-with-this-free-12-hour-course

Finally, I created a video of my own. Over the years, one of the most common questions people ask me is: "With freeCodeCamp and other self-teaching tools, do I still need to go to university?" I answer this question and many more about technology, higher education, and the labor market. If you're considering going to university or have college-age kids, I encourage you to watch this and share it with your friends. I'd welcome any feedback you have. (1 hour watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/is-college-worth-it

Quote of the Week: "Any application that can be written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript." — Atwood's Law, coined by Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood. I interviewed Jeff Atwood at his home in California. And I'm publishing my interview this week on The freeCodeCamp Podcast. Search for it in your podcast player of choice. And tell your friends.

Aug 11, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp has partnered with Harvard to bring you another mind-expanding CS50 course: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python. You'll get broad exposure to Machine Learning theory: Optimization, Classification, Graph Search Algorithms, Reinforcement Learning, and more. You can code along at home and implement your own basic AIs using Python. This is a full university course that's completely self-paced and freely available. Enjoy. (12 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/harvard-cs50s-ai-python-course

2. freeCodeCamp also published an end-to-end testing course. You'll learn QA Engineering with the powerful Cypress JavaScript library. Some of the concepts you'll pick up include Assertions, Command Chaining, Intercepts, and Multi-Page Testing. Every developer should be able to double as their own QA engineer, and to write their own tests. This course will show you how. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-end-to-end-testing-with-cypress-for-javascript-applications/

3. Like any good board game, JavaScript is easy to learn and hard to master. And in this advanced JS course, freeCodeCamp instructor Tapas Adhikary will teach you a wide range of function concepts. You'll learn about the Call Stack, Nested Functions, Callback Functions, Higher-Order Functions, Closures, and everyone's favorite: Immediately-Invoked Function Expressions – also known as IIFE's (pronounced "iffy"). Put on your learning cap. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mastering-javascript-functions-for-beginners/

4. Learn JavaScript by reverse-engineering your own JS utility library – like the ever-popular Lodash library. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to hand-implement more than a dozen array methods, object methods, and math methods. This is excellent practice for brushing up on your JavaScript knowledge. And a lot of the code you write may make it into your other codebases. (45 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-create-a-javascript-utility-library-like-lodash/

5. When it comes to deploying your apps to production, there are a ton of options – many of which don't cost a thing. freeCodeCamp contributor Ijeoma Igboagu compares several hosting platforms including Vercel and Netlify, and shares the strengths and weaknesses of each. She also shows you how to deploy to these services using Git. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-deploy-websites-and-applications/

Quote of the Week: "Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination." — widely attributed to Albert Einstein, as many profound quotes are

Aug 4, 2023

1. For decades, Hollywood has created nightmare scenarios around AI destroying humanity. The Terminator, The Matrix, and most recently Ex Machina. Of course, we've already been using primative forms of AI for decades. It already powers many of the systems we rely on as a society. So how can we make new AI systems as safe as possible? Well, this freeCodeCamp course taught by the founder of Safe.AI will walk you through key concepts like Anomaly Detection, Interpretable Uncertainty, Black Swan Robustness, and Detecting Emergent Behavior. If you're serious about working on AI as a developer, this course should be required viewing. Take lots of notes and share it with your friends. (8 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/building-safe-ai-reducing-existential-risks-in-machine-learning/

2. One unambiguously good way to use AI is to help doctors detect diseases like cancer. This course is taught by New York City physician and programmer Dr. Jason Adleberg. In it, he'll share how he uses Machine Learning to help identify diseases. He'll show you how to use Python TensorFlow to prepare data, train your model, and evaluate its performance. If you're interested in the overlap between AI and medicine, this course is for you. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/medical-ai-models-with-tensorflow-tutorial/

3. Computers have been able to add numbers for more than 100 years. But today we're going to add numbers the hard way: by training a neural network to do it. This tutorial will teach you some Python Machine Learning concepts in the context of a very simple problem: adding 1 plus 1. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-add-two-numbers-using-machine-learning/

4. Higher-Order Components are a powerful feature of the React JavaScript Library. You can use HOCs to take one React component and wrap it in another, returning a new component. These make your React code more flexible, more reusable, and easier to maintain. This tutorial will show you how to build your first HOC, and explain what's happening under the hood. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/higher-order-components-in-react/

5. I just published my sixth episode of The freeCodeCamp Podcast. This week I talked with Sasha Sheng about how she got laid off from a Big Tech company, then dusted herself off and won a bunch of AI hackathons around San Francisco. And last week I met with one-and-only Shawn “Swyx” Wang to talk about his new AI Engineering projects, and where he thinks all this is heading. Search freeCodeCamp in your podcast player of choice, download some of the episodes, and tell your friends. I'll keep these interviews coming every Friday.

Quote of the Week: "The genie is out of the bottle. We need to move forward on artificial intelligence development, but we also need to be mindful of its very real dangers." — Stephen Hawking, Theoretical Physicist, way back in 2017

July 28, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a full-length book on RegEx. Regular Expressions are one of the most powerful – and most confusing – features of programming languages. You'll learn concepts like flags, metacharacters, grouping, lookaround, and other advanced techniques. If you know even a little JavaScript, this book is for you. (full-length book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/regular-expressions-for-javascript-developers/

2. We also published an API development handbook. This book will walk you through setting up your own backend architecture using the powerful FastAPI Python framework. You'll learn how to structure your API, add a database, test it, and deploy it. Along the way, you'll code your own IMDB-like review aggregator site. Be sure to bookmark this and share it with your developer friends. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/fastapi-quickstart/

3. And if you want to go even deeper into full-stack web development, this next course is for you. You'll code your own Next.js front end, API backend, and secure JSON Web Token user authentication system. You'll also learn about Middleware Route Protection, Appwrite, and MongoDB databases. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/full-stack-with-nextjs-and-appwrite-course/

4. I'm going to attempt to explain 3 types of cloud storage in this single paragraph. Block Storage is like a book shelf that can hold a set number of pages – say 100. A 200 page book would take up 2 shelves. File Storage then adds abstractions on top of that, such as directories and hierarchy. Finally, Object Storage is the newest, most durable approach. It just uses flat files. And I'm just scratching the surface here. You should totally read more in Daniel's thoughtful tutorial. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cloud-storage-options/

5. Learn to build “markerless” Augmented Reality objects that effortlessly float in space without the need for QR codes or other markers. This freeCodeCamp course will show you how to render a solar system around you. You'll render jet turbine simulations, virtual gardens, and even figure out how much furniture you can fit in your room. This is some cool emerging tech and I think you'll enjoy playing with it. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/take-your-first-steps-into-the-world-of-augmented-reality/

Quote of the Week: "Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I'll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems." — Jamie Zawinski, Netscape Navigator Developer and reluctant RegEx user

July 21, 2023

1. Learn to code your own Threads clone. Oops. I mean Twitter clone. Mastodon, Blue Sky, everyone's building their own Twitter. And now you can, too. Of course, the real goal is to learn new tools. And learn you shall. You'll get hands-on practice with powerful new tools like Next.js, Supabase, and Tailwind.css. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-full-stack-development-with-next-js-and-supabase-by-building-a-twitter-clone/

2. Websites are fun. But sometimes you want a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that runs right on your user's operating system. That's where Python and the TKinter GUI library come in. This course is taught by software engineer and prolific freeCodeCamp contributor John Elder. You'll learn how to build ttkbootstrap widgets so your users can easily navigate and interact with your app. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/modern-python-app-design-with-ttkbootstrap/

3. If you've got an old computer lying around, why not breathe new life into it by loading up a high-performance Linux operating system. I've found that even decade-old laptops can run like new with a light-weight Linux distribution. This tutorial will guide you through several options you can use to learn Linux through tinkering, while also resurrecting an old PC. (16 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/lightweight-linux-distributions-for-your-pc/

4. You may have heard the term “Information Architecture”. Designers think in terms of how to structure information so it can be as digestible as possible for users. This tutorial will explain key IA and User-Centric Design concepts. Then it will walk you through the process of planning the Userflow for a website or app. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/information-architecture-userflow-sitemap/

5. I'm thrilled to announce that my friends Jess and Ramón are hosting another freely available coding bootcamp that uses freeCodeCamp's curriculum. This is the latest in their “Bad Website Club” series where people set their pride aside and just start coding for fun and practice. They'll host live streams throughout the month of August, and answer questions on the freeCodeCamp forum. If you have time, this is a fun way to make friends and learn about web development. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-webdev-bootcamp/

Quote of the Week: "There's a strand of the data viz world that argues that everything could be a bar chart. That's possibly true but also possibly a world without joy." — Amanda Cox, Developer and Data Journalist

July 14, 2023

1. TypeScript is a popular version of JavaScript that uses static types. This means that for each variable in your code, you specify whether it's a string, array, integer, or other data type. Why bother with this? Because it will dramatically reduce the number of bugs in your codebase. freeCodeCamp moved to TypeScript a few years ago, and we haven't looked back. If you know some basic JavaScript, you can quickly learn TypeScript and start reaping the benefits. This full-length handbook will teach you how to use React with TypeScript. You can code along at home and build your own type-safe To Do List app. (full-length handbook – 2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/typescript-tutorial-for-react-developers/

2. We also published a full-length book on Astro. It's a popular new User Interface framework that a lot of my friends are adopting. Astro is written in TypeScript, and built for speed. This book is structured as a series of projects. You can code along at home and build your own Component Island, then build React apps on top of it. Along the way, you'll get a feel for Server-Side Rendering. (full-length book - 8 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-the-astro-ui-framework/

3. Steganography is the art of hiding things in plain sight. It translates to “the study of hidden things” in Greek. You can hide data inside of other data. Then – if you did it right – people will be none the wiser. This tutorial will show you how to use Steganography to hide information in text, images, video, and even network traffic itself. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-steganography-hide-data-inside-data/

4. Deploying an app to the cloud can be a daunting task. Thankfully, we have Infrastructure-as-Code tools that make this process a lot simpler. This DevOps course will teach you how to use Terraform to configure your servers and domains. If you learn how to automate app deployment, you'll save a lot of time and headache down the line. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-terraform-to-deploy-a-site-on-google-cloud-platform

5. Postman is a powerful tool for testing your APIs, and making sure that new feature code doesn't break your existing codebase. This in-depth course will show you how to use Postman to debug your API endpoints, and ultimately automate deployment using Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery tools. You can code along at home, and do some CI/CD while listening to some AC/DC. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-api-testing-with-postman/

Finally, I'm excited to share that after a 4 year break, I've relaunched the freeCodeCamp Podcast. I spent several weeks in San Francisco interviewing developers in-person at public libraries across the city. And this week I'm heading to New York City to interview even more devs. I'll publish a new interview each week. The first 3 interviews are already live. (3 new 2-hour episodes + 85 older episodes): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-podcast-season-2-developer-interviews/

Quote of the Week: "I love working with smart people and being challenged. I also like working on stuff that's relevant. That's my adrenaline shot." — Anders Hejlsberg, Co-creator of TypeScript

July 7, 2023

1. Is that a hot dog or not a hot dog? This Python AI course will teach you how to build a Convolutional Neural Network that can classify images. You'll use a database of food photos to train your AI to spot the hot dogs. You can also use CNNs for natural language processing – think ChatGPT – and time series forecasting. This is an excellent beginner AI course taught by freeCodeCamp instructor and Google engineer Kylie Ying. (2 hour watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/convolutional-neural-networks-course-for-beginners/

2. Learn to create your own programming language. If you know some basic Python, you're all set to dive in. This freeCodeCamp course will teach you language design concepts and data structures. You'll learn about Object Oriented Programming, Binary Trees, Linear Programming, Tokenization, Lexing, Parsing, and more. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-your-own-programming-language-using-python/

3. freeCodeCamp just published this full-length handbook on JavaScript. It will teach you how to set up your computer for JavaScript development with tools like VS Code. Then it will walk you through many features of the programming language, including Variables, Data Types, Operators, and Control Flow. You can read this and bookmark it for future reference as you continue to expand your JS skills. (full handbook – 3 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-javascript-for-beginners/

4. Most developers learn how to use Git's merge feature to add new code to an existing codebase. Git Merge preserves the exact history of code contributions. But sometimes you need a more surgical tool. That's where Git Rebase comes in. This handbook by software engineer and CTO Omer Rosenbaum will teach you how to use Git Merge, Git Rebase, Cherry Picking, and more. (full handbook – 3 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-rebase-handbook/

5. What's the difference between Supervised Learning and Unsupervised Learning? This quick article will explain these two approaches to Machine Learning, and how each works. You'll also learn some AI techniques that each approach applies. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/supervised-vs-unsupervised-learning/

Joke of the Week: "It's only called a Neural Network if it comes from the Neuralè region of France. Otherwise you have to call it a logistic regression." — Vicki Boykis, Machine Learning Engineer

June 30, 2023

1. In this beginner course, you'll learn how to code your own 3D role-playing game. You'll use the open source Godot Game Engine to learn character creation, animation trees, inventory systems, and monster AI. This course includes all the 3D models and game environment assets you'll need to build the game. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-3d-rpg-game-with-godot/

2. And freeCodeCamp also published this advanced C# course. If you're already somewhat experienced with programming, and want to go deep on C#, this is the course for you. You'll learn about C# Delegates, Events, Generics, Asynchronous Programming, and Reflection. You'll also learn advanced LINQ and .NET concepts. (15 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-advanced-c-concepts/

3. Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4 are yet another tool developers can use to get things done. But one big limitation is that LLMs are pre-trained, and lack access to current information. That's where the new GPT Plugin ecosystem comes in. This tutorial will show you how plugins work so you can build one and fetch real-time data using APIs. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-chatgpt-plugin-case-study/

4. And if you're interested in LLMs, I encourage you to learn how to use LangChain. It's an open source Python library that breaks documents down into chunks and makes them easier for LLMs to search, analyze, and summarize. This tutorial will walk you through using LangChain and other libraries to create a Twitter bot that can generate text and reference up-to-date information, such as Wikipedia articles. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-an-ai-tweet-generator-openai-langchain/

5. Even if you don't have a computer science degree, you can still learn computer science. This article will give you a broad overview of the field, and share some books and courses you may find helpful. They cover algorithms, architecture, operating systems, databases, networks, and more. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-every-software-engineer-should-know/

Quote of the Week: "I try to make a game that has beautiful open spaces, gaps, room for players to enjoy it in ways that were not authored. I never want it to be where you have to follow the rules completely, where you have to do things exactly as the designers intended." — Hidetaka Miyazaki, developer, game designer, and creator of Dark Souls and Elden Ring

June 23, 2023

1. Pandas is a powerful data analysis library for Python. And in this course, freeCodeCamp instructor Santiago Basulto will teach you how to harness this power. You'll learn data analysis by categorizing Pokémon. You'll learn data cleaning with a Premier League Match soccer dataset. And you'll learn data wrangling with an NBA season dataset. I encourage you to code along at home and build some Pandas muscle memory as you progress through these projects. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-pandas-for-data-science/

2. Supabase is an open source alternative to Firebase. It's built on top of PostgreSQL, which makes it easier to learn if you're already familiar with SQL databases. This course will teach you how to use Supabase to streamline your back-end development. freeCodeCamp instructor Guillaume Duhan will teach you about real time databases and instant APIs. You'll learn about schemas, triggers, logs, webhooks, and tons of security features as well. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-supabase-open-source-firebase-alternative/

3. One of the key features of CSS is its Transform property. You can take any HTML element – such as an image – and stretch it, skew it, or flip it. Oluwatobi Sofela wrote this CSS Transform Handbook, which you can bookmark for the next time you want to alter an image right in your CSS. (full handbook – 1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/complete-guide-to-css-transform-functions-and-properties/

4. Learn how to incorporate AI tools into your web apps. Software engineer Tom Chant will walk you through coding your own “know it all” chatbot. If you already know some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you're all set to follow along with this intermediate tutorial. And if you enjoy it, Tom also created a full 5-hour course that expands upon it – also available on freeCodeCamp. (40 minute read + 5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-gpt-4-api-chatbot-turorial/

5. As you may know, the freeCodeCamp community has invested a ton of time and energy into making our courses available in other languages. Estefania has been creating Spanish-language programming courses, and she just released her newest one on JavaScript DOM Manipulation. Be sure to tell your Spanish-speaking friends. And Estefania has written this article in English if you're curious to learn more about our localization efforts. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-javascript-for-dom-manipulation-in-spanish-course-for-beginners/

Quote of the Week: "Numbers have an important story to tell. They rely on you to give them a voice." — Stephen Few, Author and Data Analyst

June 16, 2023

1. C is the most widely-used programming language in the world. Even when you're coding in Python or JavaScript, you're still using C under the hood. One key reason why C is still so popular 50 years after its creation is its high performance. C directly interacts with computer hardware. One way it does this is through Pointers, which point to the location of data in the computer's physical memory. In this beginner's freeCodeCamp course on C programming, you'll learn about Pointers and key concepts like Passing By Reference, Passing By Value, Void Pointers, Arrays, and more. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/finally-understand-pointers-in-c/

2. If you're wanting to earn professional certifications for your résumé or LinkedIn, this new freeCodeCamp course will help you pass the Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals Certification (PL-900) exam. You'll learn about Power BI, Power Virtual Agents, Power Automate, and other tools. freeCodeCamp now also has full-length courses on dozens of certifications from Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Terraform, and more. We've got you covered. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/microsoft-power-platform-fundamentals-certification-pl-900/

3. Did you know that – unlike other popular scripting languages – JavaScript is asynchronous? Thanks to non-blocking input/output, JavaScript engines can continue to receive instructions even when they're busy. But this is a double-edged sword. This in-depth tutorial will teach you how to use Promises and Async/Await techniques to harness the full power of JavaScript without creating a gigantic mess. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/guide-to-javascript-promises/

4. Not even spreadsheets are safe from Generative AI. You can now include prompts in Google Sheets and get GPT-4 responses right in the cells. This tutorial will show you how to generate boilerplate text, translations, and even code snippets. This is still the same old GPT-4, but you may find it convenient to access it right in your spreadsheets. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ai-in-google-sheets/

5. A wise developer once said that there are only 3 hard problems in programming: Cache Invalidation, naming things, and centering elements with CSS. Well, I can't help you with those first two, but this guide will teach you everything you need to know about CSS spacing. You'll learn about Margins, Padding, Borders, Flexbox, Gaps, and the CSS Box Model. With some practice, you'll develop a keen instinct for how to create CSS layouts, so you can design elegant websites and apps. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/css-spacing-guide-for-web-devs/

Quote of the Week: "Learning how to learn is life's most important skill." — Tony Buzan, who wrote books about Mind Mapping, Mnemonics, and other learning methods

June 9, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive Computer Vision course. In this course, you'll use Python and the powerful TensorFlow library to diagnose Malaria, generate original images, and even predict human emotions from facial expressions. You'll learn about Vision Transformers, Generative Adversarial Networks, Variational Autoencoders, and a ton of other cutting edge computer science concepts. The only prerequisite for this course is some beginner Python programming skills, which you can also learn from one of freeCodeCamp's many open courses. Don't let yourself be daunted by all of this. You can do it. (37 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-implement-computer-vision-with-deep-learning-and-tensorflow/

2. Rust is still one of the newer programming languages, but many codebases are already adopting it. Even the Linux Kernel now uses Rust. And Stack Overflow users have voted it the “most loved” programming language 7 years in a row. You can learn how to harness the raw performance power of Rust through this new freeCodeCamp Rust course. You'll learn about variables, functions, control flow, modules, and even closures. Enjoy. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rust-programming-course-for-beginners/

3. Learn the key Design Patterns that power massive distributed systems. This new book by an experienced back-end developer will teach you the fundamental challenges of distributing work across many data centers around the world. In this intermediate software engineering book, you'll learn more than a dozen Design Patterns including the Saga Pattern, the Split Brain Pattern, and my personal favorite, the Sidecar Pattern. Who doesn't love sidecars? (full book - 2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/design-patterns-for-distributed-systems/

4. This new book from the freeCodeCamp community will guide you through three popular JavaScript front-end development tools: Angular, Vue.js, and React. Each of these tools can be used to accomplish similar goals, but you only need one of them. So which one should you use for a given project? This book will help you decide. It will walk you through code examples for each of these tools, so you can understand their relative strengths and weaknesses. (full book - 2 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/front-end-javascript-development-react-angular-vue-compared/

5. When you're doing front-end development, there are so many ways you can style your React components. You could use CSS preprocessors, component libraries, or just plain-vanilla CSS. This quick tutorial will give you some code examples of the most common approaches, and share the pros and cons of each. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-style-a-react-app/

Quote of the Week: "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." — Marie Curie, Physicist, Chemist, and 2-time Nobel Prize winner

June 2, 2023

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published an in-depth course on how to incorporate AI tools into your web apps. Software engineer Tom Chant will walk you through coding your own Movie Pitch generator app – complete with movie summaries from GPT-4 and poster art from DALL-E. He'll also show you how to code your own drone delivery chatbot. If you already know some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you're all set to take this intermediate course. If not, don't worry – you can use freeCodeCamp's core curriculum to learn these web development fundamentals. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-ai-apps-with-chatgpt-dall-e-and-gpt-4/

2. Graph databases are a powerful category of NoSQL databases. By representing data through a system of nodes and edges, graph databases can store and quickly process the relationships between different data points. This makes graph databases a popular choice for building social networks, recommendation engines, and scientific research datasets. This freeCodeCamp course will teach how to use the popular Neo4j graph database to build a sophisticated Java Spring Boot app. Instructors Gavin and Farhan will guide you through using these tools step-by-step. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-neo4j-database-course/

3. Did you know that you can train an AI using the same graphics cards people use to play video games? Graphics cards have hundreds of inexpensive processors on them, making them ideal for machine learning. This tutorial by software engineer Fahim Bin Amin will show you how to set up an NVIDIA GPU so you can do parallel programming in a framework called CUDA. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-setup-windows-machine-for-ml-dl-using-nvidia-graphics-card-cuda/

4. How does JavaScript work behind the scenes, really? In this quick tutorial, Esther will explain how Google Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine works. You'll learn about runtimes, interpretation, just-in-time compilation, and more. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-javascript-works-behind-the-scenes/

5. Learn to code your own full-stack web app using Next.js. In this tutorial, you can follow along and build a trivia app based off of the popular comedy TV show Family Guy. You'll learn about Shared Layouts, Dynamic API routes, static page generation, and more. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have built your own quiz site that you can share with your friends. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-application-with-nextjs/

Quote of the Week: "Falling in love with code means falling in love with problem solving, and being a part of a forever ongoing conversation." — Kathryn Barrett, a software engineer who volunteers to teach kids how to code

May 26, 2023

1. 6 years ago, Brian Hough started using freeCodeCamp to learn coding. Today he is a professional software developer, and he just published his first freeCodeCamp course. This course will help you learn full-stack web development using the popular Next.js React framework, TypeScript, and AWS. You can code along at home and build your own full-stack quote app, which will share wise quotes from historical figures. (6 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/full-stack-development-with-next-js-typescript-and-aws/

2. Django is a powerful Python web development framework. And in this course by freeCodeCamp instructor Tomi Tokko, you'll learn how to use Django along with the OpenAI API to code your own ChatGPT-like chatbot interface. If you're new to Python, and you're excited about recent breakthroughs in AI, this course is for you. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-django-to-code-a-chatgpt-clone/

3. You may have heard of LeetCode, a site a lot of developers use to practice common coding interview questions. Well, you're about to code your own LeetCode-like website using cutting edge tools: TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and Firebase. Software Engineer Burak Orkmez will walk you through building the website step-by-step, teaching you how to implement lots of features like authentication, saving code submissions in local storage, and even challenge completion modals. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-and-deploy-a-leetcode-clone-with-react-next-js-typescript-tailwind-css-firebase

4. I don't know many developers who'd recommend using AI to write production code. But I know plenty of developers who use AI to help improve the quality of their code. This tutorial will give you some ideas for how AI can help you with bug detection, documenting parts of your code, and finding little tweaks to increase its performance. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-use-ai-to-improve-code-quality/

5. My friend Manoel compiled a list of the 120 freely available university math courses. He also did research to determine the top 3 universities in the world for mathematics, which by his metrics are MIT, Princeton, and Cambridge. His list includes lots of courses from these schools and many others. If you want to learn some Algebra, Statistics, or Calculus, this will help you choose the right course. (fully browsable list): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/math-online-courses-from-worlds-top-universities/

Quote of the Week: "What is mathematics? It is only a systematic effort of solving puzzles posed by nature." — Shakuntala Devi, who was hailed as a “Human Computer” for her ability to solve mathematical equations in her head

May 19, 2023

1. Learn how to speed up your software development by making use of ChatGPT. In this freeCodeCamp course, you'll watch an experienced software developer as she builds a full-stack app in just 2 hours, with the help of ChatGPT. Along the way, she'll explain a bit about how Large Language Models like GPT-4 work, so you can better judge the quality of their output. These AI tools are improving quickly. And to harness their full power, you'll want to put in the time to really learn your math, programming, and computer science concepts. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-full-stack-application-using-chatgpt/

2. Learn to code an iPhone app, Android app, and native desktop app – all with the same codebase. This course will teach you cross-platform development using the powerful Ionic and Capacitor JavaScript libraries. You'll learn about Responsive UI, the Gesture API, Data storage, and more. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-native-apps-with-ionic-and-capacitor/

3. You may have heard of "Clean Code" before. It's a collection of coding best practices. You can read this handbook, then bookmark it so you can refer to it when you need to understand key Clean Code concepts. You'll learn about Modularization, The Single Responsibility Principle, Naming Conventions, and more. (Full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-write-clean-code/

4. Can you spot the bug? This JavaScript course will teach you about common JavaScript security vulnerabilities and how to fix them. You'll look at code samples from JS, MongoDB, and Docker. Be sure to write me back and let me know how many of these you managed to get right. (30 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/can-you-find-the-bug-javascript-security-vulnerabilities-course/

5. Learn GameDev with... Google Sheets? This tutorial will walk you through coding your own Tic Tac Toe game using Apps Script – right in a spreadsheet. (12 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-google-apps-script-basics-by-building-tic-tac-toe/

Quote of the Week: "Debugging is like being the detective in a crime movie where you are also the murderer." — Filipe Fortes, Software Engineer

May 12, 2023

1. Learn the basics of Relational Databases. This SQL course for beginners will give you a strong conceptual foundation. You'll learn how to create Tables and how to drop them. You'll learn about Aggregation, Grouping, and Pagination. We've even included several SQL technical interview questions and answers that you may encounter during the developer job search. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-sql-full-course/

2. Go is a fast, statically-typed programming language. Over the past decade, it's gained somewhat of a cult following among developers. And we're proud to bring you this in-depth Go course. You'll code real-world projects like an RSS aggregator and an API key authenticator. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/go-programming-video-course/

3. If you're interested in Back-End Development, you should familiarize yourself with these powerful software Design Patterns. This primer will introduce you to the Observer Pattern, the Decorator Pattern, Model-View-Controller, and more. You'll then learn how to use each of these approaches by examining real-world examples. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/design-pattern-for-modern-backend-development-and-use-cases/

4. This tutorial will walk you through how to build your own chatbot powered by OpenAI's GPT API. You'll start by coding a simple command-line chat app using Node.js. Then you'll use React to build a web interface for your chatbot. Finally, you'll combine the two together. After a few hours of coding, you'll have your own custom chat interface. You can then expand upon it or incorporate it into other apps. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-chatbot-with-openai-chatgpt-nodejs-and-react/

5. Many of the recent breakthroughs in AI are powered by Artificial Neural Networks. These work in surprisingly similar ways to how we think the human brain works. This article will explore the brain-inspired approach to building AI systems. You'll learn about Distributed Representations, Recurrent Feedback, Parallel Processing, and more. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-brain-inspired-approach-to-ai/

Quote of the Week: "Don't ask SQL developers to help you move furniture. They drop tables." — Carla Notarobot, Software Engineer and Bad Joke Sharer

May 5, 2023

1. Learn to code in Python from one of the greatest living Computer Science professors, Harvard's David J. Malan. This is the newest course in freeCodeCamp's partnership with Harvard. It will teach you Python programming fundamentals like functions, conditionals, loops, libraries, file I/O, and more. If you are new to Python, or to coding in general, this is an excellent place to start. (16 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-python-from-harvard-university/

2. And if you want to use your Python for data science, this course on Regression Analysis will help you understand relationships in your data. You'll learn concepts that underpin many machine learning algorithms, such as Linear Regression, Polynomial Regression, Feature Engineering, and more. And you'll reinforce your understanding along the way by coding several Python projects. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/master-regression-analysis-for-machine-learning/

3. There's not a public API for everything. Sometimes developers have to resort to scraping. Scraping is a technique where you extract data directly from a webpage. And Python makes scraping so much easier. This course will teach you how to code your own Scrapy spider to crawl websites. Then you'll learn how to clean your data, build pipelines, and ultimately automate the entire process in the cloud. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-scrapy-for-web-scraping-in-python/

4. But if you have a website of your own and you don't want people to scrape it, you can provide an API for them instead. This freely available REST API Handbook will teach you how to code your own API using Node.js and Express. You'll also learn how to write tests for your API to ensure it works reliably. This is very important if you don't like waking up late at night to fix outages. You'll even learn how to document your API using a tool called Swagger. (full book): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-consume-and-document-a-rest-api

5. You may have run Git's Merge command before. You may even have messed up a Git Merge before, resulting in a lot of extra work for yourself. To many, Git Merge is a mystery. But to you, no more. This definitive guide to Git's Merge feature will finally put those ambiguities to rest. And for the rest of your life, when you do a Git Merge, you'll do so with confidence that you actually understand what the heck is going on. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-definitive-guide-to-git-merge/

It's been an amazing week for open learning resources. And these are just some of the books and courses the freeCodeCamp community published this week.

If you haven't read my book yet, you should. It's called "How to Learn to Code and Get a Developer Job" and it's fully available on freeCodeCamp. It's really long, so you can bookmark it and read it at your own pace: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-code-book/

Quote of the Week: "Python is a truly wonderful language. When somebody comes up with a good idea, it takes about 1 minute and five lines to program something that almost does what you want. Then it takes only an hour to extend the script to 300 lines, after which it still does almost what you want." — Jack Jansen, Scientific Programmer and Software Engineer

Apr 28, 2023

1. If you're new to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, this freeCodeCamp course is for you. Jess, AKA CoderCoder, will walk you through building your own social media dashboard app step-by-step. You'll build a simple website, then optimize it for different device sizes. You'll learn how to use hover states for your interactive elements, and even add a day-night mode toggle. This course touches on so many key skills, including how to create a GitHub repository for your code, how to approach basic web design, and how to keep accessibility top of mind. (7 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-simple-website-with-html-css-javascript/

2. React is a powerful front end development JavaScript library. And one of its key components is React Router. This tool helps you pipe all your different React elements together into a sophisticated app. In this course, you'll learn on React Router 6 from renowned JavaScript instructor Bob Ziroll. He'll guide you through coding your own production-grade dynamic web app. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-router-6-full-course/

3. We've been talking a lot about the impact of Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4. These are impacting software development in a lot of profound ways. And they're also making a splash in the field of cybersecurity. It turns out you can use LLMs to analyze threat patterns, write incident reports, and even debug your code. But this comes with its own set of risks, writes Daniel Iwugo. His primer will give you a higher fidelity lens through which you can look at AI and its implications for security. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/large-language-models-and-cybersecurity/

4. Even with all the recent AI breakthroughs, code still doesn't deploy itself. DevOps engineers and even regular devs need to know how to push their code to the internet. This beginner tutorial will explain common strategies you can use to deploy your code to production. You'll learn about Rolling Deployment, Blue/Green Deployment, and my personal favorite, Canary Deployment. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/application-deployment-strategies/

5. I'm obsessed with learning. I'm constantly looking for ways to learn more efficiently so I can cram more into the 30-watt computer that is my brain. Which is why I was jazzed to read this guide by Otavio Ehrenberger. He shows you how to use tools like Python, Anki, and ChatGPT to automate your flashcard workflows and turbo-charge your learning. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/supercharged-studying-with-python-anki-chatgpt/

Quote of the Week: "In a relatively short time we've taken a system built to resist destruction by nuclear weapons and made it vulnerable to toasters." — Jeff Jarmoc, cybersecurity researcher, speaking of the World Wide Web and the Internet of Things

Apr 21, 2023

1. The freeCodeCamp community just published a comprehensive project-based course on ChatGPT and the OpenAI API. This cutting-edge course will help you harness the power of Generative AI and Large Language Models. You'll learn from legendary programming teacher Ania Kubów. She'll walk you through building 5 projects that leverage OpenAI's APIs: a SQL query generator, a custom ChatGPT React app, a DALL-E image creator, and more. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/chatgpt-course-use-the-openai-api-to-create-five-projects/

2. And if you want to better understand the machine learning that powers AI tools like ChatGPT, this JavaScript Machine Learning course will most definitely be your jam. This "No Black Box" ML course is taught by Dr. Radu Mariescu-Istodor, one of the most popular computer science professors in the freeCodeCamp community. He'll show you how to build AI applications, implement classifiers, and explore data visualization – all without relying on libraries. This is a great way to grok what's really running under the hood of AI systems. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-machine-leaning-without-libraries-or-frameworks/

3. Functional Programming is hard. But it comes up all the time in developer coding interviews. This advanced JavaScript course will teach you key FP concepts like lexical scope, time optimization, hoisting, callbacks, and closures. You'll also gain a deeper understanding of currying and its practical applications in JavaScript. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/prepare-for-your-javascript-interview/

4. And if you really want to nail your coding interviews, take the advice of competitive programming world finalist Alberto Gonzalez. Instead of just memorizing the solutions to common interview questions, he recommends collaborating with your interviewer to talk through your coding assignment. He walks you through 3 mock interview questions, and gives you strategies for looking really smart while showcasing your problem-solving skills. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/collaborative-problem-solving-with-python/

5. Unleash your inner game developer with this new Godot Game Engine course. This beginner-friendly tutorial will guide you through coding your own platformer game. You'll design your game's User Interface, enemies, and 2D background scenes. Along the way, you'll also learn skills like event scripting, animation, and camera movement. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-godot-for-game-development/

Quote of the Week: "Everything that civilisation has to offer is a product of human intelligence. We cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools that AI may provide, but the eradication of war, disease, and poverty would be high on anyone’s list. Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last." — Stephen Hawking, Cosmologist, Theoretical Physicist, and my childhood hero

Apr 14, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published an in-depth course on React Native. You can use this framework to code your own native mobile apps using JavaScript. You'll learn how to structure your app and set up your developer environment. Then you'll learn about React Components, Props, Styles, and more. By the end of the course, you'll have your own weather app you can run right on your phone. (5 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/react-native-full-course-android-ios-development/

2. Learn to automate tasks and get Linux servers to do your bidding. This Bash course will teach you powerful command line skills you can use on Mac, Linux, and even Windows (using Subsystem for Linux). You'll learn about input redirection, logic operators, control flow, exit codes, and even text manipulation with AWK and SED. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-bash-scripting-tutorial/

3. Firebase is a powerful database that runs in the cloud. This course will teach you how to use Firebase along with HTML, CSS, and React to develop your own simple shopping cart app. You can code along at home in your browser, and even deploy your finished app to the cloud. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/firebase-course-html-css-javascript/

4. Linting is not just when you clean out your pockets. It's also a term for tools that can spot errors in your source code before you even run it. This tutorial will walk you through the history of linting tools stretching all the way back to the 1970s. It will also teach you about Code Formatters like Prettier, Beautify, and ESLint. This is an excellent primer for JavaScript devs. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/using-prettier-and-jslint/

5. Keeping up with all this year's AI breakthroughs can feel overwhelming. Which is why I'm thrilled to share Edem Gold's History of AI, which stretches all the way back to the 1950s. You'll learn about Perceptrons, Hidden Markov Models, Deep learning, and more. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-history-of-ai/

Quote of the Week: "Early AI was mainly based on logic. You're trying to make computers that reason like people. The second route is from biology: You're trying to make computers that can perceive and act and adapt like animals." — Geoffrey Hinton, Computer Scientist, Cognitive Psychologist, and the “Godfather of Artificial Intelligence”, talking about the increasingly successful neural network approach to Machine Learning

Apr 7, 2023

1. freeCodeCamp just published a new Front End Development course. You can code along at home and build your own game in raw HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Then you'll learn how to refactor your game to make use of the Model-View-Controller design pattern. You'll then add TypeScript to improve the reliability of your code, and React to make your game more dynamic. This is an excellent project-oriented course for beginners. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/frontend-web-development-in-depth-project-tutorial/

2. And if you want even more web development practice, here's another beginner's course. It will teach you how to build a personal website using a lot of contemporary tools, including Next.js, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript, and Sanity. Kapehe has taught a lot of courses with freeCodeCamp, and I think you'll dig her friendly teaching style. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-personal-website-with-next-js-13-sanity-io-tailwindcss-and-typescript/

3. You may have heard the terms “Symmetric Encryption” and “Asymmetric Encryption”. But what do they mean? This primer will teach you about these concepts, and how they power both the SSL protocol and its successor, TLS. Encryption makes the World Wide Web go ‘round. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/encryption-explained-in-plain-english/

4. And on the topic of encryption, it turns out that even something as basic as storing something safely on your computer requires quite a bit of applied mathematics. This tutorial on “encryption at rest” will walk you through some of the cryptography techniques developers use – including hashing and salting. Just thinking about those makes me hungry for some hash browns. (8 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/encryption-at-rest/

5. My friend Dhawal created this comprehensive list of 850 university courses that are freely available, which you can convert into college credit. There are a ton of different subjects to choose from, including Computer Science, Data Science, Math, and Information Security. (fully browsable list): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/370-online-courses-with-real-college-credit-that-you-can-access-for-free-4fec5a28646/

A quick note on GPT-4 and other Large Language Model (LLM) tools: I'm spending several hours each week practicing with these tools, and learning how to use them more effectively.

I still do all my writing the old fashion way. But I'm finding LLMs to be helpful in a lot of other ways, including simplifying my code.

Quote of the Week: "The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius to be." — Ada Lovelace, mathematician and the world's first computer programmer

Mar 31, 2023

1. The most dreaded part of the developer job search is the “coding interview”. This is where a software engineer asks you to solve programming challenges right there on the spot – often by writing code on a whiteboard.

Well, freeCodeCamp has hundreds of hours of practice challenges to help prepare you for this. And even better – we just published a course taught by my friends Kylie and Keith, who are both experienced software engineers.

This “Mock Interview” will give you a much better idea of what a typical coding interview process is like. Kylie takes on the role of coding interview candidate, and answers Keith's questions about Object-Oriented Programming, Dynamic Programming, and more. (75-minute hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/real-world-coding-interview-for-software-engineering/

2. Learn how to build a 3D animation that runs right inside a browser. You'll use React, WebGi, Three.js, and GSAP. You'll learn how to display 3D models on a website, animate them, and even optimize those 3D animations for mobile devices. Even though this may sound advanced, we made this course as beginner-accessible as possible. By the end of the course, you'll deploy your own 3D-animated website to the web. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/3d-react-webgi-threejs-course/

3. Regular Expressions are a powerful – but notoriously tricky – programming tool. Luckily, ChatGPT is surprisingly good at creating these “RegEx” for you. In this course, freeCodeCamp instructor Ania Kubow will teach you how to build your very own RegEx-generating dashboard using the OpenAI API and Retool. (30-minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/use-chatgpt-to-build-a-regex-generator/

4. When I first learned Git, I struggled a bit with the concepts of local repository, remote repository, and how to sync code changes between the two. But you don't have to struggle. Deborah Kurata has created this detailed Git tutorial that walks you through Git's key syncing features. She also included lots of short video demonstrations. If you're new to Git, this is a good place to start. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-and-sync-git-and-github-repositories/

5. freeCodeCamp just rolled out a major update to our Android app. You can now complete coding challenges right on your phone, with our smooth mobile coding user experience. And yes – we are working on an iOS version of the mobile app for iPhone, too. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-mobile-app-curriculum-update/

Quote of the Week: "A lot of developers don’t realize that the interviewer is there to help you. It’s their job to bring out the best in you. You should always be working with your interviewer to show them your skills, and make sure you’re going down the right path. When they ask you a coding question, here’s what you should do: clarify the problem with them, articulate your plan, and then talk them through your code as you’re writing it." — Alex Chiou, Software Engineer and founder of Taro

Mar 24, 2023

1. Legendary programming teacher and frequent freeCodeCamp contributor Tim Ruscica will teach you how to code your own Mario-style platformer game in Python. You can code along at home and learn how to implement pixel-perfect collision detection, fully-animated character sprites, jump physics, and even double jump physics. (Don't try this last one in real life.) This course will also teach you some PyGame basics, and how to incorporate adorable pixel art assets. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/create-a-platformer-game-with-python/

2. Django is a popular web development framework for Python. And in this course, you'll learn how to use Django by coding your own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Software Engineer John Elder will walk you through building this web app step-by-step. You'll also learn some Git, MySQL, and the Bootstrap CSS library. CRM tools can help with your client work, job searches, and everyday tasks like keeping track of friends' birthdays. By the end of this course, you'll have built your own tool that you can use long-term. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/crm-app-development-with-django-python-and-mysql/

3. Linux is an incredibly powerful automation tool. And this tutorial will show you how to harness that power through the magical art of shell scripting. Zaira Hira is a developer at freeCodeCamp and a Linux superfan. She'll teach you Bash commands, data types, conditional logic, loops, cron jobs, and more. And yes, you can try all this without installing Linux on your computer. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/bash-scripting-tutorial-linux-shell-script-and-command-line-for-beginners/

4. Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. That's the sentence kids memorize in the US, so that they can remember the mathematical Order of Operations: Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. And JavaScript has something similar: Operator Precedence. This in-depth tutorial by Franklin Okolie will teach you about these JavaScript operators and more. Enjoy greatest hits like Modulus, Increment, and Decrement. If you take the time to learn these, you'll save yourself a ton of headache down the road when you're debugging your code. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-operators-and-operator-precedence/

5. If you want to get into Data Analytics, I have good news. Jeremiah Oluseye is a data scientist, and he created this roadmap to guide you in your journey. You'll learn which tools to focus your time on, which math you should brush up on, and how to build your network in the data community. (25 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/data-analytics-roadmap/

A big thanks to all 8,289 of you all who are now supporting freeCodeCamp. If you aren't yet donating to our charity, I encourage you to get involved. You can join us in our mission to create open learning resources for everyone, everywhere on Earth: https://www.freecodecamp.org/donate

Quote of the Week: *"I think that in life, as in game design, you have to find the fun. There is joy out there waiting to be discovered, but it might not be where you expected.

You can’t decide what something’s going to be before you embark on it, and you shouldn’t stick with a bad idea just because you’re fond of it. Take action as quickly and repeatedly as possible. Take advantage of what you already know. And take liberties with tradition.

But most importantly, take the time to appreciate the possibilities, and make sure all of your decisions are interesting ones."* — Sid Meier, game developer and creator of the Civilization game series

Mar 17, 2023

1. React is a powerful JavaScript library for coding web apps and mobile apps. This course will teach you the newest version of React – React 18 – along with the popular Redux Toolkit. This freeCodeCamp course is taught by legendary programming teacher John Smilga. You can code along at home as he teaches you all about Events, Props, Hooks, Data Flow, and more. (13 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-react-18-with-redux-toolkit/

2. And if you just can't get enough React, my fellow black-framed glasses enthusiast Germán Cocca has got you covered. The Argentinian software engineer wrote a detailed tutorial that shows you several ways of building the same React app, using a rainbow of React tools including Gatsby, Astro, Vite, Next, and Remix. Prepare to expand your mind. (1 hour read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-react-app-different-ways/

3. Ever wonder what it takes to land a Data Scientist role? No, you don't necessarily need a Ph.D. But you do need to be able to ace the technical interview. That's where my friends Kylie and Keith come in. They are both accomplished Data Scientists and prolific programming teachers. And they've designed this Data Science “Mock Interview” to give you a better idea of what this process will be like for you. (90-minute watch): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/mock-data-science-job-interview/

4. Flutter is a much-loved mobile app development framework. freeCodeCamp uses Flutter for our own Android app, and we swear by it. If you want to get into mobile development, Flutter is a great place to start, and this is a good first tutorial. You'll build your own mobile user experience using Flutter, Dart, and VS Code. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-simple-login-app-with-flutter/

5. My friend Dhawal uncovered more than 1,700 Coursera courses that are still freely available. If you just want to learn, and don't care about claiming the certificates at the end, this is for you. There are a ton of math, software engineering, and design courses – many taught by prominent university professors. This should be plenty to keep you learning new concepts and expanding your skills. (fully browsable list): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coursera-free-online-courses-6d84cdb30da/

Quote of the Week: "The reason an experienced engineer moves so much faster than a beginner is because they've opened most of the “doors” they encounter in code thousands of times before. They stop to think, but so much is done purely by recall. This is why you need to practice, practice, practice." — Dan Abramov, JavaScript Developer and Creator of Redux

Mar 10, 2023

1. The freeCodeCamp community is proud to bring you this latest computer science course in our partnership with Harvard. You'll learn Web Development with Python and the popular Django framework. You'll start by learning some HTML, CSS, and Git. Then you'll learn about user interface design, testing, scalability, and security. I hope you are able to code along at home, expand your skills, and enjoy some top-notch teaching. (14 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-web-development-from-harvard-university-cs50/

2. One of our most requested courses over the past few years: LaTeX – the powerful typesetting system used to design academic papers, scientific publications, and books. You'll learn these tools and concepts from Michelle Krummel. She has more than 20 years of teaching experience. You'll learn about mathematical notation, TexMaker, Overleaf, and the many packages available in the LaTeX ecosystem. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-latex-full-course/

3. One of the most critical concepts you should understand about Git is Branching. We've got you covered. In this tutorial, Deborah Kurata will teach you how to create a local Git repository with a main branch, then branch off of it. She'll show you how to commit your code changes, then merge those files back into the main branch. This is what I like to call the "core gameplay loop" of software development. Enjoy. (40 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-branching-commands-explained/

4. You may have heard about REST APIs. But have you heard about its predecessor, SOAP? Or cutting edge GraphQL APIs? This tutorial by software engineer Germán Cocca will teach you about the Client-Server Model, and how each of these API paradigms work. At the end of the day, an API is just "a set of defined rules that establishes how one application can communicate with another." By the end, you'll have a better appreciation for how all these computers around the world communicate with one another. (30 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rest-vs-graphql-apis/

5. If you're a Linux enthusiast like I am, you may appreciate the sheer power Linux gives you. But only if you're willing to take the time to learn how to wield that power. The find command is one of those powerful tools. This tutorial will show you how to search through file systems by owner, type, permissions, recency, and even regex search. This is some SysAdmin-level stuff. And we'll keep these Linux tutorials coming. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-search-files-effectively-in-linux/

Quote of the Week: "We build our computers the way we build our cities: over time, without a plan, on top of ruins." — Ellen Ullman, Programmer and Author

Mar 3, 2023

1. You may have heard about AIs that can beat the world's best Chess players, Go players, and even Starcraft players. Many of these AIs use a game-playing algorithm called AlphaZero. The AI starts out by playing a game against itself to learn the rules and discover strategies. After a few hours of training, it's often able to play the game at a superhuman level. This Python course will teach you how to code your own AlphaZero algorithm from scratch that can win at both Tic Tac Toe and Connect 4. You'll learn about Monte Carlo Tree Search, Neural Networks, and more. This is an ideal course for anyone who wants to learn more about Machine Learning. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-alphazero-machine-learning-algorithm/

2. Security Researcher and freeCodeCamp contributor Sonya Moisset just made her Open Source Security Handbook freely available. If you're planning to open-source some of your code, this should be a helpful read. You'll learn about Static Analysis, Supply Chain Attacks, Secret Sprawl, and other s words. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/oss-security-best-practices/

3. Excel is a surprisingly powerful tool for doing data analysis. And you can get even more mileage out of Excel if you meld it with Python and the popular Pandas library. This tutorial will teach you how to merge spreadsheets, clean and filter them, and import them into datasets. You'll even learn how to turn spreadsheet data into Matplotlib data visualizations. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/automate-excel-tasks-with-python/

4. If you're just starting your developer journey, you may hear a lot about APIs and how to use them in your projects. Well, this tutorial will give you a ton of examples of public APIs you can play around with. Weather APIs, News APIs, even an API to help you identify different breeds of dogs. This is a good place to get started. (16 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/public-apis-for-developers/

5. My friends Jess and Ramón have taught thousands of people how to code using the freeCodeCamp curriculum. And this week they're launching a new cohort program called the Bad Website Club. The pressure is off. Your website doesn't have to look perfect. You can instead just relax and enjoy the process of building websites with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Everything is freely available. You can join us at the launch party live stream on March 6. (5 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-bad-website-club-and-more-free-bootcamps/

Quote of the Week: *"AlphaGo's way is not to make territory here or ther