Ask HN: Best learn to program course for mature learners?

4 points by WorksOnRobots 10y ago ↗ HN

A family member (age ~60 years) is looking to pick up new skills and wants to learn to program. She has some basic computer knowledge but is totally lost when it comes to the command line, basic text entry, etc. She doesn't have a specific goal for learning beyond understand more about what she can do with a computer.

Since I am available to only help remotely, something very guided and hand holding would work the best.

Her platform is OS X.

Some options I've found:

Learn Python the Hard Way, http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

A Byte of Python, http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/python/

Learn to Program from Coursera, https://www.coursera.org/course/programming1

CS50 from Harvard, https://cs50.harvard.edu/

Codecademy, https://www.codecademy.com/

CS101 from Udacity, https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-computer-science--cs101

Treehouse, https://teamtreehouse.com/

Codecombat, https://codecombat.com/

I'm leaning towards Learn Python the Hard Way at the moment because it starts at a really basic level, explaining how to open the command line, use a text editor, etc.

Any specific recommendations or opinions?

2 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 16.2 ms ] thread

khamoud 10y ago ↗

I really like codecombat personally. For new programmers the instant, visual feedback seems really helpful.

WorksOnRobots 10y ago ↗

Hmmm. That's a good point. Maybe Codecombat's free levels followed by Learn Python the Hard Way to mix instant, visual feedback and fun with "more useful" material.

Thanks!