Tag Archives: featured

Longform Reflections

Why startup founders should learn code

This post was originally featured on The Coder Factory by Dan Siepan. They’re about evangelizing code just like we are, and they’re awesome.

If this inspires you, join our mailing list to get resources to code.

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It has been evident after building my own startup and reading so many resources that learning to code is an important skill to learn. Many people learn programming as a means of becoming a programmer, but I am going to tell you that learning to code isn’t just important for any web developer, but should be learnt by any person who wants to run a successful business.

Here are the three main reasons why learning code is vital for any business venture.

1. Save Money, Save Time

How much work is required to change the whole template of the website?

How much will it cost to re-do the men’s clothing page of the site?

These are all too common questions when someone wants to run a business. Such a big part of any success is the ability to have a great website application. Often startups hire a contractor in the aim to save time for the entrepreneur and say, ‘someone is covering all my technological bases’. This is a trend that needs to be re-evaluated. The power of being able to make any adjustments from slight to a big re-development of the site, costs big time and big money, for which you would need to pay your developer. And soon you will realise you have very little capital for anything else. Learning code, won’t just save you time and money, but will help you better understand your product or service.

Learn code with code(love)

Learn code with code(love)

2. Better problem solving skills and approaches

“The Programmers of Tomorrow are the Wizards of the Future” – Gabe Newell (Valve)

Whilst learning to program is very similar to learning a foreign language for the first time, it will soon become a universal language. Knowing how to code will not only enhance your skills but will make yourself the problem solver of tomorrow. It will put you ahead of the game.

I have come such a long way in learning to code. This was done through the process of building a social network for DJs (my startup) and loving every bit of learning and being in control of doing it. It’s so exciting to know that this little thing could go on to potentially change the world of DJs booking gigs and growing a fan base.

I have already been faced with a few challenges but knowing code helped immensely. I have implemented some changes, and do you know what the best part is? I didn’t pay anyone to solve the problem. The skills that you gain are yours. I will most certainly keep you guys updated with my startup and coding progress.

Learn code with code(love)

Learn code with code(love)

3. The ease and increased chance of raising capital

You won’t believe the amount of startup accelerator programs or investors asking whether or not you have programmers as co-founders of the business. If you don’t believe me, look up any startup accelerator programs or even network investors and they will most likely raise the question whether or not you know how to program.

Now that you’re thinking that you should learn code, or at least give it a shot, you should try out free online resources like CodeAcademy.

Whilst CodeAcademy is a great platform, to run a successful startup business you need to enrol in either a bootcamp or code intensive course.

Keep calm and learn code with code(love)

Keep calm and learn code with code(love)

You should enquire at The Coder Factory where we run part-time courses, 6 hours a week, where it can fit around your schedule at any time, where you don’t have to put your social life or startup on hold just to learn code.

Until next time my rad viewers, Peace ☺

Longform Reflections

How to found a startup when you don’t know a line of code

As a non-technical founder, I did the worst thing possible. I created a founding team composed of other non-technical founders.

I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the death knell for my startup. It wasn’t because we got into arguments or we essentially had overlapping roles: no, it was simply the fact that none of us knew what we were doing.

It’s a problem that resonates often with people who are struggling to get into the startup scene as I once was. I’ve seen so many startups drift because their founders had no clue of what to do. All of these drifters tend to search relentlessly for the programmer of their dreams, as if in one fell swoop their inability to understand technology will be okay because, from the first grunt they hire, a team of grunts will be able to replicate out and do all of the work for them—forever until some imagined IPO for their technology startup.

It’s a problem. 90% of all small businesses fail in the first two years, and I’d wager the high failure rate with technology startups is based on the fact that so many who start these companies don’t properly appreciate their role in building out their idea.

Having lived through the experience myself, I’ve managed to snag some insights that can  change the situation for the better.

1– There is no programmer who will save you from ignorance.

The wunderkind who will take on your idea and do everything for you? You’re never going to be able to attract that type if you have no idea what you’re talking about. Engineers are highly attuned to the sort of “let’s change the fields for the registration process, it should only take ten seconds!” talk that implies you know little about technology.

Even if you do somehow find somebody who is good enough to understand your idea figments and is able to translate them into crisp, actionable code, your work process will be affected because you won’t really know how to communicate efficiently with them and vice versa. You’ll never get exactly what you wanted if you don’t understand the rudiments of what your engineer is working with.

You don’t have to become an expert overnight, but there’s no excuse for not trying to cover the basics. Here’s a list of 31 free resources to get you started, and a newsletter focused on learning code. Start now, it’ll help!

Learn code with code(love)

No, he’s not coming to save you.

2-You don’t even need a programmer to start testing your idea.

Surprise surprise! People get hung up on this notion that they need a bells-and-whistle online platform with all of the amenities for them to test their idea. That’s totally false. Lean and agile development have smashed that notion, and entrepreneurs have been testing their ideas out shoestring even before all that. Netflix started as a mailing service for DVDs that shipped your content physically—they only started to get on the Internet because they knew it was coming, but by then, they had already garnered a huge amount of subscriptions, so they knew their original hypothesis was correct: people would be willing to pay to access content on-demand and avoid dealing with video shops.

They didn’t need a web platform to do that. Figure out what your idea is actually testing, and test it yourself. Do you think people need an easier way to order dog food? Find forums where dog owners congregate, and ask them.

You don’t even have to mail them goods by mail. You can use a service like Unbounce: create a great landing page, and then collect emails to show that people care about what you’re selling.

A mailing list of thousands of people will help you spread your idea that much faster, and convince the star programmers you want to work with that you are their man. It will be the first sign of social proof and traction that your idea works. You’ll be the business man that can convince people to buy into an idea online, an invaluable trait engineers will be looking for.

An Unbounce-made landing page with code(love)

An Unbounce-made landing page with code(love)

3-Get involved with the startup scene. Read, connect, and collaborate.

While you work on how to get a digital following, you should also increase your value as a startup founder by devouring as much as you can about startups and technology. Read through The Next Web and similar outlets, follow tech influencers such as Tim O’Reilly, read through Startup CommunitiesLean Startup and Lean Analytics and other books on startups, just swallow it all up, and immerse yourself in this world. Go to the next meetup, meet the people in your startup community, and start building out a network.

The startup community works on the principle of “pay it forward”, so don’t be shy asking for help, and coffees from established influencers: more likely than not, they’ll say yes, in the hopes that you’ll do the same when you are faced with someone seeking advice. This is how a community grows strong: through collaboration. Embrace it.

Startup community with code(love)

Startup community with code(love)

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Founding a startup is already difficult. You can make it easier for yourself by learning what I have struggled through failure to appreciate. We all have the capacity to build something meaningful, with or without technical knowledge: now it’s up to you to step up, and prove you can build, while embracing the new knowledge and people who will form an integral part of your new venture.

If this inspired you to learn code, and build something great, join our mailing list.

Open News

A Million Meals Free for Children

The following is an interview with I Can Go Without‘s Paul Rowland on their collaboration with OnexOne for the Million Meals Campaign.

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I can go without with code(love)

I can go without with code(love)

1-Give me a short summary of Million Meals Campaign and the OneXOne Foundation.

The Million Meals Campaign has been created to raise awareness about food insecurity in North America—there’s a lot of kids going to school without the necessary nutrition for them to start the day. In the Northern Territories of Canada, food prices are ridiculously high: bottled water can cost around $88 and a cabbage comes in at $28.

Onexone managed to create a solution to help solve this problem. They pulled together various sponsors that supply food and logistics, the money they raise goes towards this, so the actual cost to deliver a healthy breakfast to one child is one dollar

2-What I Can Go Without do, and how are you helping with the campaign? What sort of impact do you see yourselves making?

I Can Go Without has been chosen as the official partner and fund-raising platform for the event and subsequent fundraising after the event.

We are the only organization that gives 100% of donations to the charity, no strings , no gimmicks.

We believe in projecting positive messages of success stories via our mobile application and web platform. We provide transparency and explain how your dollars are spent, keeping donors informed with updates. We strive to monitor and share open source knowledge about charities’ fundraising activities so we can gauge how efficiently they spend their money.

Our key message is that you can make a difference with tiny acts, like skipping a coffee or sharing a lunch. That small act can actually provide around one week of health breakfasts for a school kid who needs it most.

Our network amplifies the message via friends and colleagues, so that a solitary act of charity suddenly gets pushed by the micro-donation (butterfly) effect.

We hope to build positive habits into the every day lives of conscious consumers who wish to make a difference in the world, but had previously struggled to feel that their efforts made a difference.

I Can Go Without App with code(love)

I Can Go Without App with code(love)

3-What sort of engagement have you already gotten? How did you get Simple Plan and Kardinal to sign on?

Onexone have had support from major stars at their shows over the years including the likes of Larren HIll and Bono. Kardinal is a regular supporter of Onexone and their great causes.

For Simple Plan, we just reached out to friends and family around the music industry to search for possible acts and since I used to be in the music industry for many years, I was able to contact Simple Plan and pitch the Million Meals concept. So far we have had great support from Kardinal and Simple Plan, they are really doing their bit to talk about the cause. They have reached out to their fan bases and the excitement is building, tickets are getting few and far between, but we do have some special tickets available for your readers who are from Ontario. They can claim some at www.icgw.io/millionmeals.

Simple Plan with code(love)

Simple Plan with code(love)

4-Is this something you’re looking to replicate—any future plans along a similar vein?

Yes, we are currently in talks and actively working on some big concepts that are planned for 2014 and 2015, these shows will be major scale shows with crowds of up to 200,000 people. The main thing is you wont be able to attend the party unless you’re giving back or helping in some way—we’ll keep you posted on that.

5-Leave me with why I must read about this campaign.

You must read about this because the future of giving is evolving, and there will come a time when giving back is like doing recycling—it’s gonna be in our daily habits. We will be informed, empowered, and connected, these types of communities will be mobilized to solved problems via various forms of actions like advocacy, donations or volunteering.

We can no longer rely on governments or massive NGO’s to take on the challenge themselves, its our turn to all take responsibility, and I Can Go Without is the new wave of that conscious consumer action!

Open Stories

A Founder’s Story of Solving His Own Pain

Open stories are a new section of code(love) that focus on the personal stories of entrepreneurs as they build. This is genuine truth and insight from entrepreneurs on the ground. If you have a similar story, let us know at [email protected], and join our mailing list for more!

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This story is that of Tamer Rafla, the founder of Hironomy.

Hironomy was born out of my frustration of the broken hiring process. Existing mainstream job boards (e.g. Monster, CareerBuilder, etc.) had proven to be ineffective in finding my dream job.

I had to go through endless pages of job postings to only apply to a few where I felt that I had the necessary skills/experience to make a difference. Unfortunately, that was often the end of the road for my candidacy as I was never called for an interview.

When following-up with one of these employers, I was surprised to hear that my application had fallen through the cracks due to the large volume of applications received.

Long story short, I ended up getting that job once my application was looked at in more detail. I am convinced that I am not the only one suffering from this and there must a better way to ensure a win/win for both parties.

Hironomy is that better way. It is a recruiting system that assesses employers’ corporate culture and  also helps in capturing the behavioral abilities and cognitive abilities they are seeking in a candidate. This ensures that employers don’t wade through mounds of applications – only the ones that fit; while jobseekers only see the jobs where they have the highest chances of being called for an interview and eventually hired.

It prevents what happened to me happening to anybody else.

Open News

O’Reilly Solid discusses building the future with 3D printing

O’Reilly Solid hosted a discussion on 3D printing as part of its IoTChat, an informative sometimes quirky, and always hilarious discussion on where technology is going, and what it means for all of us.

One of the first topics was how 3D printers were able to print ever more-complicated forms. The following figurines were printed: the level of detail on all of these is stunning, and representative of a 3D printing movement that is embracing art as much as it is embracing science.

3D figurines from @polysculpture with code(love)

3D figurines from @polysculpture with code(love)

The entire conversation resonated with potential. Applications ranging as wide as printing out houses, to the possibility of printing out biological organs, were discussed.

The intersection between technology and society, ever more potent, was facing one of its most challenging clashes, with the concept of intellectual property holding quite a bit of time in the discussion.  With templates for many basic products already circulating around the Internet,, there was a sense that the future of 3D printing would be based on openness, though some pointed out digital rights management systems that could rein the potential of 3D printing back for the sake of monetization.

This discussion sparked for me a vision of a 3D printing economy that worked similarly to the economy revolving around web components: great, free open-source templates, but you would have to pay a bit if you weren’t able to build things yourself: you’d pay for somebody else to ease the process for you or to build something perfectly tailored for your needs instead of the general open-source templates.

Ideas bounced around freely in this vein. There were a lot of really cool 3D printing applications, including a father who had 3D printed out a hand for his son without fingers, to custom-printed tracheas (windpipes) that were CT-scanned and could be used for customized medicine.

A new 3D printed hand with code(love)

A new 3D printed hand with code(love)

It gave me some inspiration to envision a Skype-like platform where instead of just sending emoticons, one could click a button and send a friend a gift printed out of their 3D printer: a future way to share on the Internet.

The next IoTChat is going to be May 15th, at 1 PM PST/4 PM EST with a live stream of O’Reilly Solid’s keynote livestream, and it promises to be as inspiring as this one was. Check the tag #IoTChat for the full conversation.

Life Hacking

Get Shit Done

I’ve come to realize that the best way to evaluate people in the startup scene, and maybe in life, is their ability to get shit done.

In school, we’re taught that the number of words we put into an essay somehow makes it more work, and therefore, better. This has led to something I’ve noticed where new graduates will send you emails that could be printed out, and used as mini-tables.

Getting shit done for the sake of getting shit done is probably the worst way to go about it.

What I’ve noticed works really well is focusing on one meaningful metric, and making it something so audacious and ambitious that you and those around you direct all of their efforts to doing so: and when it starts demonstrating results, that carries you all forward with momentum.

World Bank President Jim Kim recently targeted the World Bank’s resources and energies to one difficult but very clear goal: reduce the global poverty rate to 9% in less than seven years, lifting about 510 million people out of poverty around the world.  His rationale for doing so was simple, as he explained in this video: he wanted to get everybody to carry forward their energy into one productive, focused direction.

It didn’t matter what you wore, how many hours you spent chatting on Facebook, how many people you called, or annoyed: what mattered was how much the poverty rate was going to be reduced—and in consequence, the huge number of people who would be able to live fuller lives.

Getting shit done isn’t the end-all, be-all: you still have to do the right shit, at the right time, for the right reasons—but your ability to move the needle, whether you consider it a failure or a success, should matter much more than what shirt you happened to pick out the day of.

Worry about getting meaningful shit done. The rest will follow.

Learning Lists

31 Free, Brilliant Resources to Learn Code

This was written by Mufaddal, and was originally posted on LearnRev

At code(love), we’re all about compiling resources like this, so it was our pleasure to help spread this great content. If you have content like this don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We have a weekly newsletter centred around the best resource to learn code.

If that sounds awesome, join our mailing list.

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Software is eating up the world’ , Marc Andreessen wrote this article in 2011, almost 3 years on and this statement is still relevant, and will probably be relevant for the foreseeable future. From Jack Dorsey to Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg, everyone is encouraging people to learn how to code. The software industry is growing, every single industry is affected by it. There could not be a better time to learn how to code.

Learning how to code is difficult but its not impossible. It’s never been easier to dive right into it. There are countless resources available to help you learn how to code. From simple tutorials to full-fledged courses with tasks and projects. In this post I’ll list the free resources that I think are the best places to dive right in and get started.

Different people learn in different ways, some prefer to read a book first, others like to start coding straight away. There is something for everyone here. I’ve divided the resources into different sections, with number of resources in each section. The below categories are not set in stone, as you will notice that a number of the blogs have courses, and one of the books is interactive.

None of the following are in any particular order, they all have different strengths and weaknesses.

Mainly for Kids

The following five options are great for kids. From JavaScript to simple block-based languages that can teach logic, moving on to Ruby, which is a widely used language in Web Development right now.

1. Khan Academy

Khan Academy-smallSal Khan is Bill Gates’ favourite teacher. Khan Academy has grown from a guy with a graphic tablet putting videos on YouTube, to an education institute. The computer programming section in Khan Academy goes through the basics and is great for kids or grownups to get an idea about how a computer works to what programming is. If you’re just looking to understand the basics of computers and programming, then this is the best place to start.

The focus of the programming course is on JavaScript. Concepts are taught through coding talk-throughs. In these talk throughs, the teacher writes the code and explains what she is doing and the results show up straight away. After the talk-through you can play around with the code that the teacher wrote and modify it.

Once you get a a good hang of how JavaScript works. You can create your own program and publish it to Khan Academy. Other people can see what you’ve build and if they like it, they can modify it and create a spin-off. You can browse the programs that other people have built and create Spin-offs as well!

2. Hour of Code

Code.org - Hour of Code

Founded by Hadi and Ali Partovi, Code.org had the goal to make programming accessible to everyone. They launched the Hour of Code challenge in December 2013, to entice students to give coding a shot. Having partnered with different companies(Khan Academy, Tynker etc), they have developed coding challenges. Starting from some of the simpler ones such as this blocks based drag and dropchallenge. Moving on to this challenge, that will allow you build flappy bird on the iPhone in your Browser!

You can also learn about Python from Grok learning and how to draw using code from Processing Foundation.

3. Scratch

ScratchMITSmaller

A product of MIT Media Lab, Scratch was developed for kids, but even adults can use it to learn the basics of programming. It has an easy to use drag and drop interface, that focuses on teaching logic, which is essential to learning any programming language.

Besides the block-based drag and drop components, the Scratch interface also allows you to import your own images and creating your own images inside the browser using their built in drawing program. Like Khan Academy, you can explore what others have created and remix them or come up with your own projects that others can remix as well.

4. Alice

Alice_ProgrammingAlice is another software program that uses a drag and drop environment. Its focus is towards computer animations using 3D models. Initially produced at University of Virginia and  then at Carnegie Mellon after 1998. You can place objects from Alice’s gallery into the virtual world, and program them by dragging and dropping tiles that represent logical structures. Additionally, you can manipulate Alice’s camera and lighting to make further enhancements.

5. Hackety Hack (Ruby)

Hackety_HackThis is a great little tool to learn about Ruby. It has a built in Integrated Development Environment(IDE) which allows you to run a piece of code that you have written. The learning is structured around going through a series of lessons that are accompanied by programming assignments that can be attempted in the IDE.

Unlike Khan Academy and Scratch, you can download the Hackety Hack software, and learn while offline as well. Once you have accustomed to the Ruby programming language, you can create your own programs from scratch and upload them to the Hackety Hack website. You can also check out what others have created although the community isn’t active like Khan Academy or Scratch and it looks like nothing has been uploaded onto the website since 2011.

University level Courses

If you are looking to learn from professors teaching at some of the top Universities in the world, then the following options are the best for you. The Courses found here range from ‘Introduction to Computer Science’ to some of the advanced Machine Learning and A.I. courses that you can take at Stanford or MIT. I have also included the MongoDB University courses in this section, as they follow the same curriculum and timeline as a normal University course.

6. MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT-OpenCourseWare-smallMIT started the OpenCourseWare movement about a decade ago, since then online courses have evolved and have a completely different look. If you are looking to get your foundation and basics strong, then there is no better place to start then the Introduction to Computer Science and Programming course. It will start from the basics and give you a good understanding of how computers work. Once you have gotten your basics strong, you can jump into some of the other courses found in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science section.

7. Coursera

Coursera-smaller

Founded by Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, Coursera is the largest MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) provider in the world right now. With courses from over 108 institutions(at current count) from all over the world. The courses have a start and end date, although once enrolled you can view the content at your own pace if you don’t wish to follow the course schedule.

The only problem with Coursera is that you have to join the course at the right time. You can enrol into a course after it has started, but with that you will not be able to earn a course certficate for most of the courses. But like most MOOCs, you can view the content at your own pace at any time, even after the course gets done. I would recommend that you try out Machine Learning, the course that started it all. At the time of posting this blog post, they are already halfway through the current session, but you can enrol and get access to the course content.

Besides that there are over 100+ courses on Computer Engineering at Coursera. All of them available for free.

8. Udacity (Python + others)

Udacity-smaller

Another startup founded by an ex-Stanford professor. 160,000 students enrolled into the ‘Introduction to Artificial Intelligence‘ course  by Sebastian Thrun that started it all. That course is for advanced students. If you’re a beginner, then the ’Intro to Computer Engineering‘ course is the place to start. Udacity offers courses focused towards specific fields in computer science such as ‘Web Development‘, ‘Data Science‘ and ‘Machine Learning(coming soon)’. Most of the courseware on Udacity is accessible for free and you can learn at your own pace. If you pay for the monthly subscription you get access to your own personal tutor that will guide you through the course.

9. MongoDB University (NoSQL, MongoDB)

MongoDB_University-small

NoSQL databases are all the rage right now. Databases have remained the same since Oracle came up with the Relational databases in the late 70′s. Hard disks have become cheaper since those days. Internet and networking speeds have increased. This has lead to innovations in databases. MongoDB inc. (Formerly 10gen) has been at the forefront of this innovation.

What better place to learn about these new databases then MongoDB University. Powered by the edx platform, they have 7 different courses targeting different languages and use cases. Two of the courses lead to certifications.

Interactive Browser-based

The following websites, offer an interactive browser based IDE to teach how to code. You can learn by doing a number of projects and exercises in the browser. The advantage to using the examples below is that you would not need to setup anything on your computer, and can learn everything through the browser. Eventually when you’re more comfortable you can always download the right software and get your development environment ready.

10. Codecademy (HTML, CSS, Python, Ruby, PHP, JavaScript)

Codecademy-small

Founded in NYC by Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski. Codecademy was one of the first startups to focus on teaching you how to code with project-based assignments that taught you simple concepts through a browser based editor. They started with just JavaScript, and now offer a number of server side languages that you can learn as well.

Once you have mastered a skill, you can create your own lessons and teach.

Check out the Projects page, which contains 10 web-based projects. You can build a Blackjack game or Animate your name using HTML, CSS & JavaScript. The lessons are brief and engaging, and keep you coming back for more.

11. Code Racer (By Team Treehouse) (HTML, CSS)

Code_Racer-small

Code Racer adds a competitive element to learning how to code. It is aimed towards teaching you basic HTML and CSS.  Beginners can learn at their own pace and advanced users can test their coding speed and agility. Players race against each other and the clock to complete coding challenges, unlocking weapons and rewards along the way. Built by Team Treehouse it offers video tutorials with the same production values found on their main website. The challenges are easy to start with but become harder as you progress.

12. Code Avengers (HTML/CSS/Javascript)

Code-Avengers

Offering a browser based text editor, Code Avengers offers step by step task based interactive tutorials. The tutorials are there to help you learn how to code games, apps and websites with HTML, CSS and Javascript. The interface is easy to use and the tasks are easy to follow. If you need help you can also ask questions.

13. Code School (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, iOS)

Code-School-small

Code School has courses in a range of different languages. Most of the courses are not available unless you sign up for the monthly subscription service at $29 per month, you can end the subscription at any time. But all the different languages that they offer offer at least one free course. All the courses follow a theme, and you get a different user interface and look. This keeps things fresh as you’re learning. The courses is conducted through video screencasts with great production values. After every screencast you can attempt a coding exercise.

Some of the free courses that I recommend you to take are the  JavaScript Road Trip part 1Try JQueryTry RubyTry Objective-C & Try iOS. All of these are fairly basic courses that will teach you the fundamentals and will give you a good flavour of what to expect in each language.

14. The CodePlayer (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

Code-Player

This is a slightly different concept, it doesn’t have a video player with a guy showing you whats being built. The player is similar to the Khan Academy JavaScript lessons, where you get to see how the code is written. Unlike the Khan Academy lessons, there isn’t any audio. The commented out portions in the code explains how a certain effect was achieved.

The great part is that you can increase the speed to watch it quicker, and just like Khan Academy you can play around with the code at any point by pausing the player or right at the end.

15. Ruby Koans

Ruby-Koans-small

This is a different way of learning Ruby through unit testing. The word Koan, is used to represent story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen-practice to provoke the “great doubt”, and test a student’s progress in Zen practice. This is the same philosophy that is used in Ruby Koans, by teaching a user about the Ruby programming language through testing.

Normally you would be required to install Ruby and download the Koans on to your computer to get you started, but a browser-based version has also been developed, so you can get started straight away.

16. Programmr (C++, Java, C#, Ruby, AJAX, HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, Flash and plenty more!)

programmr-small

Programmr has a broad catalogue of lessons teaching many languages. You can attempt exercises in their browser-based editor, and it gives you an answer straight away. The exercises start with the basics, teaching variables, operators, methods and strings and then moving on to some of the more advanced concepts. There are quite a few free courses, and a number of paid courses as well.

The thing that makes Programmr good is the ability to create your own projects, and attempt projects created by others. The projects range from simple games to iOS and Android apps. They also host contests through which you can win various prizes.

Video Screencasts

The below are screencasts recorded by experts showing you how to do a certain task. You would have to setup your development environment on your computer to get started with these.

17. NodeTuts (Node.js)

Node-Tuts-small

We’re using Node.js for our backend. When Zaid our co-founder/CTO was deciding to switch from Python, these were the tutorials he used to learn more about Node.js. The tutorials are developed by Pedro Teixeira, who has contributed a lot in the node.js open source community. These are video-based tutorials, but Pedro has a great teaching style and explains simple concepts in an easy to understand way.

We liked these so much that we combined these screencasts together and curated them into one place.

18. Stanford CS139P iPhone Development (iOS)

CS139P-iPhone-small

Follow the same curriculum and lectures that the students at Stanford are following to learn iOS development. The videos are recorded in the lecture theatre while the class is being conducted. You will get access to different course work ad exercises, but its fairly self-paced and you will need to take the initiative. You can download all the videos and then try to attempt the assignments at your own pace.

You also have the ability of downloading these on iTunes U.

Tutorials, Guides & Blogs

19. AppCoda iOS Programming (iOS)

AppCoda-small

AppCoda has 60+ tutorials to teach you how iOS development. You don’t require any previous programming experience to get started. The tutorials will help you get Setup and build your first Hello World! app in Xcode.

They are adding a new tutorial every week. So if you’re interested in learning iOS, have no programming experience and prefer reading to watching videos, then this is the best place to start.

They constantly update any old tutorials that are not relevant anymore with Xcode 5 and iOS7.

20. Tutsplus

Tutsplus-small

Tutsplus has net a great network of blogs on various subjects, from Design to Music to Business. The three blogs that I recommend you to follow are the CodingGame Development and Web Design blogs.

Part of the Envato network, which also includes a number of marketplaces, Tutsplus also offers a number of Free Courses on various topics. They offer 2 free courses inWeb Design and 10 free courses on Coding. To get started in Front-end Web Development and Design, I recommend that you check out the 30 Days to learn HTML & CSS & 30 Days to learn JQuery. You should also check out either Let’s learn Emberor Hands-on Angular which allow you to augment Web Application with Modular-View-Controller(MVC) capabilities, allowing you to build single page applications. Deciding which one to use requires another blog post on its own!

21. CSS Tricks

CSS-Tricks-small

While I was learning CSS, one of the best resources that I found to learn some cool tricks was here. There is a great community on the forums as well. Most of your CSS related questions will be answerd in no time. If you’re looking at a specific problem, this is the best place to look. Most CSS related issues and problems have been tackled on the forums and in the tutorials.

Like Tutsplus, this website also has a number of Video Screencasts.

Some of the text-based tutorials that I found really helpful, tackled specific CSS use cases, such as Pop HoversRibbons & Transition. Showing some of the cool things that can now be done with CSS.

22. Webmonkey

Webmonkey-small

Part of Wired magazine, Webmonkey is a great blog to follow if you’re interested in anything to do with Web Development. They cover various topics from whats currently trending in User Interface(UI) Design to what the latest web frameworks are.

They offer a number of tutorials, a cheat sheet to help you with HTML & CSS and acolour chart to help you easily get the Hex code of a colour.

23. HTML5 Rocks

HTML5-Rocks-small

HTML5 is supposed to change everything in Web Development. Modern browsers have started to support most of the HTML5 web standards that W3C has finalised. With HTML5 browser based apps are finally able to compete with Native apps in terms of functionality and also User Interface and User Experience.

The best place to learn everything about HTML5 besides the W3C portal is HTML5 Rocks. There are a number of great blog posts that highlight some of the best features and functionality that are found in HTML5, and also show you how to implement them in the right way.

Referencing

Not even the best programmer in the world will know about every obscure function or class. With practice you will get better at remembering them, but when starting out you need to have access to some good reference documents. Below I’ll list the ones that I think are great when starting out.

24.  Dash (Covering 148 different languages and API Docsets)

Dash  I discovered this only recently and can’t image going back to using web-based reference documents. Developed by Kapeli, this is an indispensable tool with support for 148 different API Docsets. You can download the ones that you require. You also have the ability to integrate it with a number of different IDEs(integrated development environment) such as Sublime Text EditorCoda and many more. Besides being a great reference tool, it also comes packed with a Code snipper manager, allowing you to easily store snippets of code that can be tagged and easily re-used in multiple projects. The free version for this app

25. iOS Developer Center

iOS-Dev-Center-small

When it comes to developing apps for the iPhone, there is no where better to start the Apple’s own Developer center. This is where you will get the latest updates for any changes that apple has made to their API documentation. Its a good idea to register yourself as a developer  as you’ll get access to the discussion forums. The forums are a great place to ask questions about a specific issue you are having. Once you’re ready to distribute your app, you will have to join the iOS developer program. You will pay $99/year to join this program, and this is the only way you will be able to publish your app to the App Store.

The same goes for developing apps for OSX, you can join the Mac developer program for $99/year. You can access most of the other resources without having to pay anything.

26. Android Developer Center

Android-Dev-Center

Just like with iOS, when it comes to Android, the best place to start is the Android Developer center. Google has built this place to help out Android developers in any way possible. You can learn all about the right style and design patterns to use in the design section.

In the develop section you can go through the training to help you get started with the Android SDK. Once you have a good idea about what you are doing, you can check outreference when you’re not sure about something, or the API guide to help you connect your app with different Google services.

Finally you can check out the distribute section when you’re ready to publish your app.

27. w3schools (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, PHP, JQuery, ASP.NET)

w3SchoolsThis is where I started when it came to looking up anything to do with CSS or JavaScript. The great thing about w3schools is that it shows you browser support and also gives you a little example of how a certain property or function should be used. The browser based text editor allows you to play around with the example code and run any changes that you need to make; they call them ‘Try it Yourself’ examples. The focus is mainly towards web-based languages, so this would be a great place to start if you are looking to develop a browser-based application.

Online Books

28. Learn Code the Hard Way

The-Hard-Way-books-small

If you still prefer learning by reading a book, then this is where you need to start. Written by Zed. A Shaw, who started with the ‘Learn Python the Hard Way‘ book. They are great for beginners and advanced users alike. The books themselves are free as long you view the online versions.

The books are structured like a course and you are advised to follow them and practice coding for 2 hours every day. The author has also developed a number of webcasts that can help you out as well.

He has also written books on RubyCRegexSQL & Command Line. Each of them structured in a similar way to the Python book.

29. Eloquent JavaScript

Eloquent-JS-small

This is a great book for beginners to pick up to learn more about JavaScript or programming in general. Written by Marijn Haverbeke, the book starts from the basics and quickly get into the advanced topics.

Even if you have never written a computer program before, this is a great book to go through. You can try out the programs that the author has written in the books, which should also help you understand the basic concepts of a programming language. The HTML version of the book allows you to pull up a console at the bottom of the page (If you are using a modern browser). Allowing you to run a program and get a result straight away. To start learning, you will not need anything except for a modern browser.

30. Wikibooks

Wikibooks-small

There are a number of relevant books listed on this page that you can use for free. From basic ones all the way to some of the advanced books. There are books on almost every subject in Computer Engineering. You can download the books in a printable or PDF format.

I recommend checking out the books on C Programming and Algorithms.

Great place for discussion

31. stackoverflow

StackOverflow-small

This is the best place to ask questions about computer engineering. If you run into an issue or a problem, you can paste your code into a question and there is a great community of developers that will try and help you out. Best thing to do before asking a question is to try and see if someone has faced the same problem before. In most cases you will find the solution to your problem just by searching through questions that have been asked in the past. Some times you might have to ask a question, and if thats the case, as long as you follow the rules and have a detailed question, you will get an answer.

Conclusion

I hope you found this guide helpful. In this day and age, there are so many free resources to help you learn how to code, all it takes is the right mindset and habits to get started. Once you’ve picked the right language to focus on, its all about practice and trying to build something with what you have learned.

Defining the Future

The Future of Advice: Filtered, Real-Time, On-Demand.

This is a short excerpt of Build, a book on several extraordinary entrepreneurs and technologists building the future, and what they’ve learned doing so.

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Sometimes, for a given problem, there are only a handful of people who have exactly the right advice. In a networked world where information can be spread effortlessly, the problem isn’t access to information: it is the filter to what solves your problem, and what doesn’t that really matters.

Dan Martell of Clarity.FM aims to be that filter. His platform allows you to instantly access  the individual you need who has lived through your problems before you. Imagine a real-time Jeopardy call-your-friend function, if your friends were million-dollar entrepreneurs, and billion-dollar investors.

Welcome to the future of advice.

It looks a lot like a curated index of experts that are ready to answer your questions for a nominal fee, on-demand—and that’s because that’s what it has to be. Nowadays, to collect opinions is almost trivial. Posting a link anywhere is an open invitation for many on the web to openly question your sanity, and plenty more.

What most people need now is not information—there is too much of that around. What they need is qualified advice: communication that has more barriers than Yahoo Answers, in other words. People will spend immense amounts of time and effort to find those qualified answers, because quality matters more than quantity.

This can be seen in the success of Quora—which has managed to gather a community of very intelligent and connected contributors, who more often than not, know exactly what it is like to work with Elon Musk or Sergey Brin—because they are working with them right now.

The future of advice-giving to Dan isn’t about making it easier for advisor and advisee to connect with one another: it’s about creating a level of friction so that both sides know exactly what they’re getting into, and both sides know exactly how much they’d be willing to give up to meet one another.

The future of advice-giving isn’t about making it easier for advisor and advisee to connect with one another: it’s about creating a level of friction so that both sides know exactly what they’re getting into, and both sides know exactly how much they’d be willing to give up to meet one another.

Longform Reflections

Building Gender Inclusiveness into Startups

If there was a Godwin’s law for technology, it would go something like this: go to a startup event. Hear or be the person pitching a dating application. Stop—you’ve lost.

Entrepreneurs are trained to solve real pain points—their own, especially. The truth of the matter is that when you’re with a bunch of single, young men, this is one of the first problems they will encounter: the lack of single, young women. The solution that comes to mind? Yet another application. If it can solve the broken hospitality, and taxi industries, surely it can solve the lack of gender inclusiveness in the startup scene.

The Internet is being shaped by males to be comfortable for other males. For those of us fighting for an open, and inclusive web, this is something that should change, and it’ll certainly take more than a new application.

Only about 5 to 10 percent of the venture capital devoted to early-stage ventures goes to females. This isn’t through blind luck, or through lack of trying. A double-blind study delivered the exact same startup pitch with both a male and female voice, and found that the pitch delivered by the male voice was preferred 68% of the time by investors, with no change other than the voice delivering the words.

Three out of ten entrepreneurs starting their own business are female. It gets even worse in Silicon Valley, where only one out of ten people starting technology startups are women.

Part of this has to do with factors external to the community itself. The ratio of women studying in computer science, one of the most valuable traits to have in a technology startup, has decreased from 37% of degree holders in 1985 to 14% in 2010. This is a societal issue, and there are no silver bullets.

Nevertheless, there is a feedback loop that links the startups that hire computer science majors with those who choose to major in the field. Women can and should feel comfortable working with technology, and carving out space in the Internet.

Building Gender Inclusiveness into Startups with code(love)

Building Gender Inclusiveness into Startups with code(love)

They should because women are very successful with technology. While there is selection bias (to be a female founder in Silicon Valley is to be an extraordinary person), the fact that women-led technology companies have achieved 35 percent higher return, and bring in 12 percent more revenue when venture-backed, all while running their companies on two-thirds of the funds allocated to their male counterparts—all of this adds up to data that can only seek to encourage the inclusion of women in the startup world because it makes economic sense to do so.

It also makes intuitive sense. Successful communities are built on being open, and diverse. Everybody suffers when a perspective that could enhance the community goes under-represented or ignored.

The goal of technologists should be to build their technologies to be open and accessible to all: how can that goal be achieved when the community it is built with doesn’t reflect those values?

This isn’t just an existential problem for the startup community, it is one for society at large. With median real wages constantly decreasing, and investment in startups constantly increasing, the reality is that those who are able to run their own business will be the ones who thrive in this new digital age.

All of the work achieving gender inclusiveness in the material economy of the past may fall by the wayside in the digital economy of the future.

There are ways to reduce this risk. Here are some:

1-Build an inclusive community

Easily said, hardly done: thus the crucible of the problem.

Etsy is a uniquely female-led internet community, an enclave for a group of mostly women selling to a group of other women. The problem Etsy faced is that the engineers responsible for fleshing out this community was, like most startups, dominated by males.

It was only by switching  from poaching male senior engineers to training female junior engineers, that Etsy was able to change its internal culture. Etsy encouraged women to join its’ ranks, and created a sense of belonging for female engineers. In doing so, the company was able to attract high-level engineering talent, both male and female, who were inspired by the initiative.

There are no silver bullets, but change only comes when people move towards it.

Building an Inclusive Tech Community with code(love)

Building an Inclusive Tech Community with code(love)

2-Highlight the leaders that emerge

The role of female leaders that emerge from an inclusive community cannot be understated in a world where storytelling wields immense power. Sheryl Sandberg is able to inspire a generation of women to consider technology, and future leaders that step into her shoes will have a powerful narrative for which they will be contributors: the narrative that anybody that deserves to be a leader can become a leader in Silicon Valley.

The next generation will need leaders to look up to in the future, and it is up to technologists in the present to ensure that those leaders have the right platforms to tell their stories.

Highlight leaders in technology with code(love)

Highlight leaders in technology with code(love)

3-Reach out to the next generation

The next generation will need more than female leaders in technology. Technology needs to be relevant and cool for girls for there to be significant change going forward. Stressing how technology is a means to an end can help immensely: the applications of code in fields ranging as far as fashion to film-making can help girls realize that code is interweaved with every aspect of their lives.

Initiatives like Girls Learning Code and the Chic Geek which seek to educate girls about how they can build the future will help immensely. We need them to succeed, and for there to be further initiatives in order to break the loop that prevents women from entering technology because they don’t feel like they belong in the field.

Reaching out to the Next Generation with code(love)

Reaching out to the Next Generation with code(love)

A startup is built upon a viewpoint that is different: that it alone can succeed where so many others have failed. This is the birth of innovation: the belief that we must think differently to build differently. Silicon Valley was built on thinking differently—it was built on the premise that it doesn’t matter who you are—what matters is what you do.

In order to fully live out that promise, technologists should strive to include as many people as possible and judge them on the fruits of their labour. They should embrace inclusiveness as a key value, and see to it that they mean what they say. Change only comes when people move towards it.  It can start with women, but it will never end. There is no end to the iteration of the products the Valley builds: why should there be any when it comes to its community of builders?

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kylie Toh of the Chic Geek for giving suggestions, reading this over, and providing pictures from Ladies Learning Code, and Girls Learning Code

Research Sources

VC money tilting towards males: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/03/22/292467848/need-money-for-your-startup-being-an-attractive-male-may-help

1 in 10 of those starting businesses in the Valley are women. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232090

Decline in women holding CS degrees: http://www.ncwit.org/sites/default/files/legacy/pdf/BytheNumbers09.pdf

How women-led startups have impressive economic metrics: http://www.eweek.com/it-management/google-encouraging-more-women-led-startups.html

How real wages are declining: http://www.businessinsider.com/real-wages-decline-literally-no-one-notices-2013-6

How Etsy Attracted 500% more female engineers: http://www.fastcolabs.com/3005681/how-hack-broken-gender-dynamics-workplace

For more:

Check out http://geekfeminism.org/

Julie Ann Horvath’s departure from Github

Julie Pagano’s blog

Shanley’s post on how to work towards solving systematic sexism

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