CodeTips – Learn to programme, with little or no prior experience (opens in new tab)

(codetips.co.uk)

54 pointsalgodaily6y ago12 comments

12 comments

Semi-related, pedantic remark on the title: in British English we commonly use the word "programme" in place of "program" for e.g. TV programmes and concert programmes. However, even in British English the correct form for a computer program is "program".

DonaldFisk6y ago

I have a copy of A Guide to Programming the National - Elliott 803 Electronic Digital Computer, and it spells it "programme" throughout, but that was written back in 1962. However, I haven't seen it spelt that way in the last 40 years or so.

scoot6y ago

Pedantic remark on your pedantic remark – in the title it's used (still incorrectly) as a verb, not as a noun, so it would be the correct form for a programming computer is "to program".

omisnomis6y ago

Thanks :) I'll get that changed on the site.

bazzargh6y ago

there's something very messed up with the organisation here. I tried two articles as entry points to see if this would be good for some of my nephews an nieces; the first was the first article in the 'Beginner' tag, which turns out to be:

https://www.codetips.co.uk/what-is-a-switch-statement/

In previous articles we've discussed the if statement... what previous articles? So, back to the front page to find a starting point. "FizzBuzz", "An Introduction to Coding Challenges", "An interview with Kevin Ball", "Arrays and loops with Javascript"...then finally one that seems like it might be the entry point:

https://www.codetips.co.uk/writing-your-first-javascript-pro...

If you've made it to this article you should have read the JavaScript Introduction, and be familiar with variables and data-types. wait, what?

There seems to be no guided course here, or even a way in each article to get to the previous article, when clearly a lot of these assume prior knowledge (there is, but it's right at the end of the article, some of which are pages long).

This could really do with a 'New readers start here', and put the navigation - even the fact that there _are_ previous articles - up top in each article.

omisnomis6y ago

Hey,

I'm the CodeTips founder/owner, and I'm grateful for your feedback.

I'd like to get this to a position that your niece and nephew are able to use it, so if you're willing to continue the discussion that would be great.

Just to address your concerns....

- Where I have referenced previous articles, they are linked. For example the `if` reference is a link, that will take you to the article explaining that concept. I just checked the articles you mentioned, and the links are there and working.

- you're absolutely right that the articles are from latest - oldest. It wasn't necessarily built to be a "course", but I can see why the structure could be confusing. The balance is not having to make returning users scroll to the bottom to find new content, perhaps I could add a button that allows the user to sort the articles as they want to see them?

dannydfowler6y ago

It sounds like they would like a "start here" link, not having to click random articles and follow the rabbit-hole back to the beginning - that's all.

omisnomis6y ago

That's fair. The issue with a "start here" page is the site is not designed to be a journey necessarily.

Obviously all the beginner articles are first, but then you have different language articles, serverless articles, intermediate articles etc. You could take any of those paths.

Does that make sense?

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

12 comments

sleavey6y ago

DonaldFisk6y ago

scoot6y ago

Pedantic remark on your pedantic remark – in the title it's used (still incorrectly) as a verb, not as a noun, so it would be the correct form for a programming computer is "to program".

omisnomis6y ago

Thanks :) I'll get that changed on the site.

bazzargh6y ago

https://www.codetips.co.uk/what-is-a-switch-statement/

https://www.codetips.co.uk/writing-your-first-javascript-pro...

If you've made it to this article you should have read the JavaScript Introduction, and be familiar with variables and data-types. wait, what?

This could really do with a 'New readers start here', and put the navigation - even the fact that there _are_ previous articles - up top in each article.

omisnomis6y ago

Hey,

I'm the CodeTips founder/owner, and I'm grateful for your feedback.

I'd like to get this to a position that your niece and nephew are able to use it, so if you're willing to continue the discussion that would be great.

Just to address your concerns....

dannydfowler6y ago

It sounds like they would like a "start here" link, not having to click random articles and follow the rabbit-hole back to the beginning - that's all.

omisnomis6y ago

That's fair. The issue with a "start here" page is the site is not designed to be a journey necessarily.

Obviously all the beginner articles are first, but then you have different language articles, serverless articles, intermediate articles etc. You could take any of those paths.

Does that make sense?

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse