Codecademy

Codecademy is a great resource if you want to learn programming as a complete beginner. I used it years ago to learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It helped me a lot.

Now that I'm getting back into programming, I've been reading up some books on C# and have had a good time learning it. Decided to try CodeCademy again as an added resource to learn.

The explanations on everything are fairly simple, and the path of topics to learn is very digestible. The problem is every time you try to submit your code, CodeCademy is looking for very specific things.

On one of the earlier lessons, it wanted me to use\n to write a new line.

I used\n in the same line, in only one Console. WriteLine(); method.

It printed out exactly what the lesson wanted in the console. But still gave me a big red X. I struggled to find what the problem was for a few minutes until finally checking for the solution.

Turns out, it wanted me to write three different Console. WriteLine(); statements. How frustrating. Not nearly as efficient.

And honestly that is just one example. Every other lesson this would happen, I would understand the material, write my code, it would say it didn't work even when it did, and then I would have to guess what the computer wanted. It really messed with the pacing of my learning.

CodeCademy is like having an incredibly nitpicky teacher. It will slow down your progress. Even if the material is good stuff, but it feels like pulling teeth trying to figure out what exactly the computer who's grading you wants.