Sweden is a country that has many successful startups whose main business consists of programming for example onlinepizza.se, Spotify and not least Minecraft. Knowing basic programming can lead to you being one of the people in the next successful startup.
Check out the film created by Code.org. It’s a campaign to get more people to learn basic programming as it is required to cover all the needs that will arise in the technological revolution. Steve Jobs’ quote from the film “The lost interview” is a telling example. “I think everybody in this country should learn how to programme a computer because it teaches you how to think.” This is relevant everywhere and not just in America. Learning to programme also leads to being able to turn your creativity into reality and share it with the world.
Link tips
Here are some links to help you get started with programming.
Tutsplus
On tutsplus, there are a lot of tutorials and a lot of good courses where they are available at different levels that you can benefit from throughout your learning process in programming. Courses that can be worth starting with to learn programming and share with your friends.
Free courses
30 days to learn html and css – Course that goes through very basic html and css to create simple websites.
30 days to learn jQuery – Course that goes through how to work with the popular javascript library jQuery.
Premium courses worth mentioning
HTML5 Basics – Course that goes through what’s new in and with HTML5.
Basic javascript – Course that goes through basic Javascript, I think you can start by working with jQuery but you should have an understanding of Javascript to take that step further and not be limited by working in a library. Being able to program in Javascript will make programming in jQuery easier too.
Codeacademy
Codeacademy is a platform for learning programming while getting achievements for what you have created. There are plenty of courses here that are at a basic level and it is a fun way to learn programming. You can easily log in with your Facebook account and share your achievements with your friends.
Codeschool
Codeschool is a service that costs money but has very good courses both at a basic level and at a higher level. At Codeschool, you first get to see a film that goes through what you will then be able to apply through the built-in text editor. You also get achievements when you have learnt new things and you can create groups to work together.
Lynda
Lynda is another service that costs money but has a lot of courses at both basic and higher levels. There is no built-in editor in the service, but you can download exercise files when you watch the films available. To access the various exercise files, you need to have the slightly more expensive subscription.
Personally, I have never used this service but I know it is useful and worth mentioning.
Sitepoint
Sitepoint is a site that contains a lot of guides to get started and learn more about most things related to web development and web programming. On Sitepoint you can also buy books related to the subject if you prefer to read books to learn more.