Useful Sites

In this section of my blog I would like to point out some useful sites for any person with an interest in programming or web development. You might already know of these websites due to the popularity each site has gained respectively but nonetheless  I would like to give my feedback on using these sites and where I thought the site was particularly useful.

Tutorials Point:

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/index.htm

The first site I will address is "Tutorials Point", I find myself coming back to this site over and over again if ever I feel in need of refreshing my knowledge in a particular area like remembering how to use a Where Clause in MySql, or the syntax for declaring an Array in Java for instance. 

The site is very easy to navigate, due to the simplistic layout of the website. Following the usual formula of a tab bar of the main subjects such as Java, MySql and HTML located at the top of the page for easy navigation. The left hand column is used for dissecting the main topics of the subject you have selected, listed from the basics to the more advanced topics in the selected subject. The simplistic layout gives a lot of functionality to users well versed with using the site. I can at this stage locate the information I need in a couple of seconds judging by how advanced I think the information I need is.

As you can see from the image above the left column of the page is housed by individual topics of the current subject making it really easy to navigate to a particular section you wish to view. The structure of the information should also be credited as the web-master has ordered the information like chapters in a book, starting with an Overview of the subject and later moving on to the more advanced aspects of that subject. 

This brings me on to the actual information on display for the users, I believe each topic is broken down and described in enough detail but also in a way that won't leave a person shell-shocked or confused by the material they have read. In my opinion this is because the site balances the heavy information with useful and easy to understand examples. I remember having trouble grasping the concept of Polymorphism after a lecture but after looking through the examples on Tutorials Point I was a lot more comfortable with the concept. Some of the more advanced examples can be copied and pasted in to a  virtual machine so you can get a feel of what the code actual does, and can further modify it yourself.

Above is an example on how to use a Where Clause in SQL the tutorial gives detailed information on what the function does, the syntax of using the function and proceeds to give a detailed working example of what a Where Clause does and what you should see after inputting the query. I can't stress how important it is to have a good working example of the type of theory you are trying to explain, it is much easier to learn from working examples and trying these examples yourself over just reading the information and I credit Tutorials Point for having a balance between the both. 

I urge anyone that wants to learn something new or sharpen their knowledge on programming, web development or database management to give this site a look.

Here's the link provided again to save you scrolling up again.

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/index.htm

CodeAcademy:

Another edition to the useful sites section of my blog is dedicated to a site that is used worldwide. This site is used to help people with an interest in programming or web development hone their skills in a particular programming language. This is achieved by actually completing exercises and applying you're knowledge in different scenarios such as creating a simple tip calculator for a restaurant. The site i will be addressing is Codeacademy.

http://www.codecademy.com/dashboard

I cannot praise this site enough for what the creators have set out to achieve in the creation of this website. In my opinion learning to program and use a high level programming language is becoming even more fundamental as time goes on. I believe that eventually the learning of a programming language will be introduced in the educational system at a young age as maybe an optional subject to help promote children to learn how to code. 

As I attended a very small school in rural Ireland my choices were limited to Woodwork or Culinary Arts but if I was given the choice of a third (computer programming) I know what I would have chosen. When I attended secondary school in England there were mandatory subjects that were rotated every month such as culinary arts, textiles, art and computers and we learnt the basics of using HTML so I believe my theory isn't totally ludicrous. I believe I have digressed enough but the point I am making is more people are wanting to learn to program and it is sites such as Codeacademy that are providing the facilities for people to do so and I applaud them for that.

Codeacademy was founded in 2011 and is a non profit organisation and the site is completely free, therefore there are no trials and subscriptions unlike other sites.

There are six different languages available that are mainly applied to enhancing web development but what you choose to do with you're knowledge is entirely up to you. I mainly used the Python language to enhance my overall programming language knowledge, practising my skills by use of console applications.

Once you have selected the language you desire to learn, you are taken to the exercise page, this is where the learning begins starting of course with the basic syntax of each of the languages. The exercises are categorised into chapters of sorts such as the "Loops" chapter will cover do whiles, for loops and while loops, "Conditionals & Control Flows" cover if statements and comparators.

 Once the exercise has been chosen you are taken to the exercises you will be learning from, each with an instruction bar located to the left of the websites built in Text Editor. The text editor is where you will be entering your code and running the code to see the outcome. The instructions are easy to follow and with a hint function which will eventually solve the exercise with enough pushes it is very easy to follow along and complete the exercises.

This exercise was taken from the create a Tip Calculator exercise, instructions are on the left, you code in the text editor in the middle of the page, and the output of your program is projected in the window on the right its a simple layout but effective. On the bottom an indication pops up every time you run the code and once you receive the green  tick notification you can progress to the next part of the exercise.

As an extra incentive achievements and badges can be earned by programmers for completing exercises, and a percentage of how much of the course you have completed can also be seen, these are nice little features to notify a person on how much they have achieved during the course, and how much they still have left.

Overall i think this site is a very good starting point for people to learn how to program, I set out with the ambition to learn a little more about programming languages outside of what is taught in my course. I found the site fun and useful simultaneously but due to having my own projects and exercises to do for college I found myself taking a long break from using the site. I urge anyone reading this with an interest in learning to program to start with this site and start to learn the basics at least, soon you might even start to seek out more challenging exercises with your gained knowledge.

Here's the link to the site again and thank-you for reading:
http://www.codecademy.com/dashboard