Playing with friends on Facebook, earning badges, and progressing ranks: it’s not what most people do when learning a programming language like JavaScript. But, thanks to the people over at Codecademy, a new tech startup based out of NY, becoming proficient with JavaScript is easy, social, and as it turns out, fun.
In fact, it’s so easy that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his New Year’s resolution to learn JavaScript with Codecademy (read more about that here via Mashable). In fact, the site caters towards learning JavaScript as part of a New Year’s resolution – which led to a social media frenzy.
170,000 have already signed up with the site, so I decided to try it out myself – since I’m not exactly proficient with JS – and since the courses are all free.
A quick look at a typical Codecademy tutorial.
What makes the huge tutorial interesting is how it tracks your progress. When registering an account, you can choose to just sign in Facebook – where you’ll be able to track your friends’ progress (while they’re able to do the same). As you complete tutorials and fulfill certain requirements, you’ll earn badges and points.
I’ve gone through tons of different tutorials online, ranging from learning new Photoshop techniques to Social Media HTML/CSS app building guides – and this was easily the most enjoyable. JavaScript is frequently used to develop anything from web apps and websites to games and mobile applications – so there’s never been a better time to learn it.