Code Your Own Holiday Card with Codecademy Code Cards | Hacker News Reader

Code Your Own Holiday Card with Codecademy Code Cards

cards.codecademy.com

48 pointsbinarydreams21 comments

Weird because I couldn't figure out how to change the Javascript of a card. Not to be that guy, but I don't really consider fiddling with HTML+CSS "coding" as they call it. Other than that pretty cool.

I think if you write a code that the computer interprets and does something with that code, that is by any definition "coding". I know there's often a "code" vs. "design" distinction, but HTML/CSS are by their very definition codes.

HTML/CSS are markup languages, not programming languages. One is a way of defining what something is, the other is a way of defining what something does. Think Markdown vs. Python, for a more dramatic example.

I understand that, but they're written with code. Maybe I'm wrong but that pretty clearly makes the writing of them "coding".

You're taking a word too literally and conflating it with something it doesn't mean.

HTML/CSS is not coding/programming.

I'm amenable to that argument, I can't find an alternate definition that disputes my use of the word and there are dozens of uses of the word "coding" to mean writing html/css, so I don't know what alternate definition I'm supposed to be using.

Popular use doesn't define reality.

omg HN people always the same argument with you. HTML/CSS is coding and if you want me to take it an extra step and call it CSS programming I will, because it turns out it's turing complete. BOOM! http://jsfiddle.net/Camilo/eQyBa/

Does anyone have any stories about learning with Codecademy? I have a few friends that are very interested in learning to program (mainly web dev stuff - HTML/CSS/JS) and are looking to use Codecademy. I personally learned in high school by ripping apart existing websites, inspecting tons of lines of code, and trying to make things happen in the browser, so I don't know if Codecademy is the right route. Thoughts? Does it help with fundamentals?

We have a lot of examples of people learning with Codecademy - check a few out at Codecademy.com/stories.

I follow this market pretty closely.

My experience is that Codecademy is focused more on the marketing than on the product itself. When I last looked, it was only really basic stuff. But they've gotten a TON of media coverage, somehow! My hope is that they use their size to improve the educational offerings.

In my personal experience as a learner, Code School (codeschool.com) is strictly superior -- clearer instruction, great videos and slides, and interactive repl-like coding experience and much more advanced material. Only some of it is free though.

Khan Academy also has a top-notch format, has a lot of content and it's strictly non-commercial... but the programming stuff kind of spread out all over the place.

For the most rigorous teaching I know of that you can get for free, go to Coursera or edX. They have videos as good as Khan Academy or Code School, and they actually have homework assignments that get evaluated. You have to wait for the courses to open, but that leads to some good things too, like having lots of peers going through it with you.

Disagree that Codecademy doesn't focus on product, agree with all your suggestions though. When attempting to master a skill, nothing should be viewed in a vacuum.

I learned everything I knew before I got a job as a programmer from Codecademy. I've learned vastly more by actually doing things, but the basis I needed to get started I learned fantastically with CA.

I think it's also gotten way better from when I first started using it. The jQuery lessons are fantasticly useful, and the Python courses go way deeper and are far more useful than the original Javascript courses I first did.

Now that's a pretty fantastic endorsement! At the time I went through their stuff, none of it was remotely challenging for me and I was still getting crushed in technical interviews. If you learned enough from their site to get hired as a programmer, then they must have changed[1] a ton on the past few months.

I guess the question is if I go through all their material, will that plus my previous experience writing flash games and freelance webdesigning let me land a coding job at an edu and/or gaming place!

[1]That probably explains the down-vote brigade that hit my other comment. I don't think I've ever seen 3 downvotes for a lengthy, constructive comment aimed at helping someone before.

If you did everything on Codecademy right now, it would take you a long time (maybe 1-2 months to really understand it) but you'd be really well set up for any entry level coding job.

But I'm entry-level, keep that in mind. I'm paid in large part to learn. I deliver plenty of billable hours, but it's understood I have a long way to go.

Thanks for the feedback. I've been hearing similar things of late: that early-on, Codecademy didn't really cut it but that now, they've really picked up their game.

Honest question: Isn't it bad that they put this under a subdomain? Google won't credit your root domain for incoming links to a subdomain, will it? Similar to why it's better for your blog to be at example.com/blog instead of blog.example.com.

In a recent Webmaster Help video, Google’s Matt Cutts reported that adjustments to Google’s search algorithms have removed many of the advantages given to sites organizing content using subdomains rather than a subdirectory. More - http://www.brafton.com/news/subdomains-vs-subdirectories-for...

Opinons on both sides for this question. SEOMOZ recommends folders - "Since search engines keep different metrics for domains than they do subdomains, it is recommended that webmasters place link worthy content like blogs in subfolders rather than subdomains. (i.e. www.example.com/blog/ rather than blog.example.com) The notable exception to this is language specific websites. (i.e. en.example.com for english)"

My 10yr old had a lot of fun with this: http://cards.codecademy.com/codecards/tzBPG/full

Like the idea, good marketing strategy too, but have a deep hatred for Lobster font :(

I clicked on this hoping for a ruby api.

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