Everyone Needs to Learn to Code

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Programming and development is a hectic job, and we have tried our best to enhance the overall coding productivity by picking up the top 16 code editors for programmers and developers. We would love to know your take on this topic and would be glad if you want to contribute something through your comments below. Read next: Complete guide to coding and programming on a Mac If you're looking to learn to program, then JavaScript is a great choice. Unlike Python or C, it's a scripting language and works in.

It just showed the actual program code on the net. The program code wasn't run in effect. Is there a way around this as I use a Mac 90% of the time and would like to program Javascript on it.

Coding is a critical skill these days, and not just for web developers. Whether you're building a personal website, assembling a professional portfolio, creating a blog, or contributing to an online publication, knowing even the basics of coding can go a long way. Of course, if you've ever tried to learn how to code—and I've taken many a course over the years—you know that it can be a frustrating and overwhelming process. Online learning programs can make the education process less intimidating, enabling you to move at your own pace, seek help when you need it, and repeat lessons as needed until you have a real grasp on how and why your code is working the way it does.

We looked at a wide variety of online schools aimed at different age groups and skill sets to find the best coding classes. Here's how to find the best online coding class for you.

Look at the Price Tag

Price is always a concern, no matter what you're buying. There are subscription-based programs such as Code Avengers, Treehouse, Safari Books Online, CodeHS, Code School, and SitePoint (formerly Learnable) that offer access to all classes in the course catalog for a monthly or annual fee. Check to see if the program lets you pause your membership, which is helpful if you want to save your progress without racking up fees while you're away on a trip or too busy to access the classes.

Lynda.com features classes on every topic under the sun, as do similar general education services not featured here such as Coursera, edX, and Udemy, and there are more than enough coding options to make a subscription or individual purchase worthwhile. But if all you care about is coding, you might be better served by a program specifically tailored to your needs, especially if you're willing to pay.

Codecademy, on the other hand, offers all of its courses and materials for free, though it charges a monthly fee if you want to access quizzes and other learning tools. Paid classes generally offer more in the way of course depth, breadth, and presentation, but if you're determined and resourceful, you may find that free classes are sufficient for your needs.

Variety of Courses Offered

After price, the most important thing to consider is how many courses are offered and the variety of topics covered. Some offer straight HTML, CSS, and other Web technologies, while others offer classes in advanced languages like Python and C++, mobile app and video game development, and working with APIs. In terms of the sheer number of courses, paid classes usually have the edge over free ones. But a huge library can also be overwhelming, so starting off with a smaller, more-focused program is also a good option.

The course format is worth paying attention to as well. All you really need to code is a functional text editor, and most of these programs feature one of those. Depending on your learning style, you might appreciate the more-polished video tutorials of services like Khan Academy and CodeHS.

Many of these online coding schools, including Lynda, SitePoint, Code Avengers, Codecademy, and Treehouse have started offering curriculums, so you can choose a broad topic—similar to choosing a major in college—and then access all the necessary courses you'll need to master the topic. This serves to both organize your studies and enable you to skip ahead if you've already mastered some skills. Treehouse even offers a structured certification program.

Ease of Getting Started

If you're a beginner, you need a program that's easy to dive into and keep up with as the material becomes more complex. Actually, that's something that's ideal for learners at all levels. You'll also need encouragement to keep you going. Most of these services offer badges or other rewards when you hit milestones, and show your progress on your dashboard. The best services offer quizzes and challenges so you can test your skills. Testing isn't just for beginners—even experienced programmers want feedback on how they are doing. Newer programs also like to treat progress like a game, rewarding students with shiny badges as they level up their skills. You won't find these features in all programs, though.

However, if you're serious about pursuing coding as a career, eventually you'll need to ditch the easy stuff and take on some more challenging material. Consider switching to a paid program like Code School, Code Avengers, or Treehouse to continue your coding education. On the other hand, Free Code Camp will help you take the knowledge you've learned and use it to help a real-life nonprofit organization.

Something for the Kids

If you're a parent or teacher, getting kids to code also makes sense. Programming teaches kids to think logically, develops problem-solving skills, and improves how they interact with technology. And it can prepare them for the workforce of tomorrow. CodeHS has special features educators can use in the classroom and a wonderful sandbox mode that students can use to express their coding creativity.

Other programs like CodeCombat treat coding more like a video game, so kids will definitely stay interested. Coding is just another way to make cool things they can show off, which means kids of any age can learn to code. CodeCombat and Treehouse offer special pricing and curricula for teachers and students.

Moving beyond the scope of this particular roundup, Youth Digital goes even further with gaming, teaching coding (and animation) as an important part of its game-design curriculum. Youth Digital's tutorials are pricey, but the lessons are robust and teach kids how to make everything from 3D platformers to 2D sidescrollers to animated movies to Minecraft mods.

Speaking of gaming and kids, Hopscotch, Scratch, Move the Turtle, Daisy the Dinosaur, and similar apps treat coding like a video game, keeping the interest of even very young kids. With coding, as with any kind of language, the younger you can start learning, the better.

If you're an educator interested in other ways technology can help your school, check out our list of the best learning management systems.

This is surprisingly time-saving rather than having to manually align and adjust shapes. Best house design program for mac. The other really clever thing about SmartDraw is that it automatically snaps objects and shapes into place to keep floor plans neat and symmetrical.

Help and Support

Finally, you need help when you get stuck on an exercise or a quiz. We like services such as Treehouse and Codecademy, which offer active student forums to help you work through problems and get a second eye on long blocks of code. Code Avengers now has live chat available, and an exclusive Slack channel. Support for bugs and website problems, which most of these services offer in some way, is also key. Some communities encourage you to create a GitHub account, so you can easily collaborate on code with fellow students. While Lynda and Khan Academy are excellent generalist services, they can't offer this level of coding-specific help and support.

All of these considerations depend on your level of skill. You may not need a lot of handholding, in which case you can download eBooks and teach yourself by signing up with SitePoint, or you can dive right into a new language with Codecademy.

Not sure where to start? Most of the paid services here offer a free or low-cost trial or even a money back guarantee. You may try several online coding classes before you find the right fit. For more check out 7 Cool Programming Tricks Inside Microsoft Notepad and 9 Cheap and Easy Ways to Learn How to Code.

Featured Coding Program Reviews:

• Lynda.com From LinkedIn Review

  
  MSRP: $19.99
  

  Pros: Amazing library of more than 3,000 online learning courses. Deep training for advanced software, particularly Adobe products. Well-structured site. Excellent video and audio quality. Well-vetted instructors.

  Cons: No per-video or per-course access. Equally helpful training videos sometimes available for free online.

  Bottom Line: Lynda.com is an outstanding resource for video-based, online learning, particularly if multimedia software or coding skills are what you need. The price is attractive, considering you get unfettered access to all the courses in Lynda.com's catalog.

  Read Review

• Treehouse Review

  
  MSRP: $25.00
  

  Pros: A large variety of coding classes. Curriculums are easy to understand. Free seven-day trial. Can pause and renew enrollment at any time. Supports major mobile platforms.

  Cons: Monthly fees can add up. Free trial requires a credit card.

  Bottom Line: Treehouse is fun to use and easy to follow for budding coders. Just keep an eye on costs, since you're paying month-to-month.

  Read Review

• Safari Books Online by O'Reilly Media Review

  
  MSRP: $39.00
  

  Pros: Huge video library. Classes are easy to follow.

  Cons: No forums or other help resources. Lacks built-in tools or quizzes.

  Bottom Line: Safari Books Online offers hundreds of quality courses, but it's pricey and doesn't have robust support.

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• Codecademy Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Courses are free. Exercises include building real websites. Dedicated, active forums for each class.

  Cons: No video instruction.

  Bottom Line: Codecademy makes learning to code fun and rewarding, and offers plenty of help along the way.

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• Khan Academy Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Completely Free. No account necessary to start learning. Generally helpful tutorials paired with large database of machine-graded assessments. Wide-ranging partners. Impressive college and test-prep resources. Generous language support and video subtitles. Inoffensive gamification.

  Cons: Video markup can be onerous. Assessment is impressive in scale, but ill suited to some subjects. Catalog has gaps. Mobile apps only play videos.

  Bottom Line: With a growing repository of free tutorials and exercises, Khan Academy enables tech-savvy learners, particularly U.S. K-12 students interested in STEM fields, to supplement existing knowledge and to explore new topics.

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• CodeHS Review

  
  MSRP: $25.00
  

  Pros: Helpful video tutorials. Covers a wide range of coding topics. Easily integrates with school lesson plans. Create programs in coding sandbox.

  Cons: Strange pricing tiers. Limited free material.

  Bottom Line: Whether you choose to pay for it or not, CodeHS is a great place to start your coding education, and a great tool for schools to integrate into their curricula, too.

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• Code School Review

  
  MSRP: $29.00
  

  Pros: Video tutorials. Deep, extensive library of courses. Screencast shows offer insight from industry professionals.

  Cons: Limited free content. Most courses require preexisting coding knowledge.

  Bottom Line: If you're willing to pay to take your coding education to the next level, Code School is an excellent choice.

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• SitePoint Review

  
  MSRP: $99.00
  

  Pros: Offers ebooks in addition to classes. Free two-week trial. Closed captioning available on videos.

  Cons: Forums not very active. Stilted coursework.

  Bottom Line: SitePoint has a wide range of classes and ebooks about coding, but it's not as fun as competing services.

  Read Review

• Code Avengers Review

  
  MSRP: $29.00
  

  Pros: Built-in text editor and quizzes. Responsive customer support. Live chat support.

  Cons: Pricier than the competition.

  Bottom Line: Code Avengers is a great tool for learning programming, and its wide selection of courses make a subscription worthwhile.

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• Free Code Camp Review

  
  MSRP: $0.00
  

  Pros: Hundreds of hours of coding lessons. Integrates with GitHub. Connects users to nonprofit groups in need of coding volunteers. Offline meetups.

  Cons: Online community more overwhelming than helpful. Presentation could be stronger.

  Bottom Line: Free Code Camp offers a plethora of coding lessons along with opportunities for actually applying those lessons in the real world.

  Read Review

We have evaluated over 20 free HTML editors for Macintosh against over 40 different criteria relevant to professional web designers and developers. The following applications are the best free HTML editors for Macintosh, both WYSIWYG and text editors, rated from best to worst. Each editor listed will have a score, percentage, and a link to more information.

Best Value: Komodo Edit

What We Like

• Lots of add-ons available.

• Built-in FTP client.

• Auto-complete and syntax checking features.

What We Don't Like

• Slow to load.

• Feels cluttered.

• Difficult to install color schemes.

Komodo Edit is hands down the best free XML editor available. It includes a lot of great features for HTML and CSS development. Plus, if that isn't enough, you can get extensions for it to add on languages or other helpful features (like special characters).

Komodo Edit is not the best HTML editor out there, but it is great for the price, especially if you build in XML. I use Komodo Edit every day for my work in XML, and I use it a lot for basic HTML editing as well. This is one editor I'd be lost without.

There are two versions of Komodo: Komodo Edit and Komodo IDE.

Best for JavaScript Developers: Aptana Studio

What We Like

• Integrated debugger.

• Build-in Code Assist feature for tags.

• Built-in terminal emulator.

What We Don't Like

• No longer in development.

• Minimal support for PHP.

• Some dependencies.

Aptana Studio offers an interesting take on website development. Instead of focusing on HTML, Aptana focuses on the JavaScript and other elements that allow you to create rich internet applications.

One thing I really like is the outline view that makes it really easy to visualize the document object model (DOM). This makes for easier CSS and JavaScript development.

If you are a developer creating web applications, Aptana Studio is a good choice.

A Full Featured Java IDE: NetBeans

What We Like

• Version 9.0 released by Apache after acquisition.

• Supports the Jigsaw Module system.

• Supports Java Shell, new in JDK 9.

What We Don't Like

• Needs high-memory computer to run quickly.

• Not many plug-ins.

• Auto-completion is buggy.

NetBeans IDE is a Java IDE that can help you build robust web applications. Like most IDEs, it has a steep learning curve because they don’t often work in the same way that web editors do. But once you get used to it you’ll be hooked.

One nice feature is the version control included in the IDE which is really useful for people working in large development environments. If you write Java and web pages this is a great tool.

Best for LAMP Developers: Bluefish

What We Like

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• Auto-completion and auto-tag closing.

• Powerful search and replace.

• Quick to start and load files.

What We Don't Like

• Not for novice programmers.

• User interface looks intimidating.

• Too many tabs and toolbars.

Bluefish is a full-featured web editor for Linux. There are also native executables for Windows and Macintosh. There is code-sensitive spell check, autocomplete of many different languages (HTML, PHP, CSS, etc.), snippets, project management, and auto-save.

It is primarily a code editor, not specifically a web editor. This means that it has a lot of flexibility for web developers writing in more than just HTML, but if you’re a designer by nature you might not like it as much.

A Powerful Multi-Language IDE: Eclipse

What We Like

• Robust debugging and profiling profile.

• Code-completion feature.

• Fast deployment and implementation.

What We Don't Like

• Slow when working with large files.

• Not recommended for large businesses.

• Steep learning curve for novice programmers.

Eclipse is a complex, Open Source development environment that is perfect for people who do a lot of coding on a variety of platforms and with different languages.

Eclipse is structured as plug-ins, so if you need to edit something just find the appropriate plug-in and go.

If you are creating complex web applications, Eclipse has a lot of features to help make your application easier to build. There are Java, JavaScript, and PHP plugins, as well as a plugin for mobile developers.

A Swiss Army Knife IDE from Mozilla: SeaMonkey

What We Like

• Tabs for WISIWYG editing, HTML tags, HTML code, and browser views.

• Suitable for building simple, basic websites.

What We Don't Like

• Composer element no longer being maintained.

• Generates HTML 4.01 Transitional code.

SeaMonkey is the Mozilla project all-in-one internet application suite. It includes a web browser, email and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and Composer, the web page editor.

One of the nice things about using SeaMonkey is that the browser is built-in, so testing is a breeze. Plus it's a free WYSIWYG editor with an embedded FTP client to publish your web pages.

A Basic HTML Writer: Amaya

What We Like

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• Useful for up to HTML 4.01.

• Supports SVG and MathML.

What We Don't Like

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• Last updated in 2012.

• No longer in development.

Amaya is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) web editor and web browser. It validates the HTML as you build your page and displays your Web documents in a tree structure, which is useful for learning to understand the DOM.

Amaya has a lot of features that most web designers won’t ever use, but if you want to be certain that your pages follow the W3C standards, this is a great editor to use.

Straightforward and Stable: BBEdit 12

What We Like

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• Supports HTML5.

• Opens large files.

• Great customer support.

• Rock-solid software.

What We Don't Like

• Advanced features require paid version after 30-day free trial.

• Must search menus for features and options.

BBEdit is a paid program that has a set of free capabilities (the same capabilities that the now-defunct TextWranger had. While Bare Bones Software, the makers of BBEdit do offer a paid version, you may find the free version does everything you need. You can review a feature comparison here.

Note

Best Coding Program For Mac

If you're using TextWrangler, it is not compatible with macOS 10.13 (High Sierra). However, the free (and paid) version of BBEdit is.