From an Hour of Code to a Lifetime of Coding with the Wolfram Language

This post has been republished from its original publication on the Wolfram Blog here.

Happy Hour of Code! There’s no better reason to start learning or continue honing your programming skills than the Hour of Code, an annual celebration of computer science during Computer Science Education Week. While we like to think that every hour is a great hour to code, we look forward to the Hour of Code event as an opportunity to come together and share some of our best Wolfram Language resources for students. Since its 2013 launch, the Hour of Code has been an immense success, introducing valuable programming skills to millions of students. So with this year’s Hour already underway, let’s take a look at the ways you can get started!

Partners in Code

We have long been supporters of the Hour of Code, working with Code.org to provide students with many excellent Wolfram Language resources. In the spirit of one-hour programming activities, we offer a variety of student-friendly exercises, like composing random melodies and creating your own web forms; all are designed to help develop lifelong computational thinking skills. You can find these Wolfram Language exercises, as well as dozens of other coding projects, at the Hour of Code Activities page.

Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition

This year we introduced Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition, created with students in mind. It combines the power of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language with the ease of Wolfram|Alpha. Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition encourages students to learn as they dynamically work through computations and natural language queries directly within a notebook environment:

Many students are familiar with the step-by-step solutions Wolfram|Alpha offers. Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition goes even further by helping you learn the code behind the natural language computations:

For a hands-on start, sign up for our free live online course or watch the Wolfram U video for Wolfram|Alpha Notebook Edition!

Programming in the Cloud

For those who want to start programming with the Wolfram Language, Wolfram Programming Lab is a great tool for beginners. You can get started with our open collection of sample Explorations, which range in skill level from starter and basic to advanced.

To keep exploring with your own Wolfram Language code, head over to the Wolfram Cloud for its full-scale notebook environment — free with a Cloud Basic account. Test your skills with Wolfram Challenges, which you can work through and submit in the cloud. Try to get your program on the leaderboard!

More Resources for Beginners

An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language is another great way to start learning the basics, especially for those who are brand new to programming — including Spanish-language users. The book is also available for free online exploration through our full interactive course.

You can browse similar introductory courses on the Wolfram U Classroom Resources & Instruction page; while you’re there, check out our new Introduction to Notebooks interactive course. Then try a Demonstration from the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, a collection of over 12,000 interactive Wolfram Notebooks to explore, with more constantly being added.

A Future of Coding

To keep coding well past the Hour, join us at the Wolfram High School Summer Camp! A project-oriented camp specifically designed for high-school students, the Summer Camp is a unique opportunity to learn cutting-edge programming, computational thinking and innovative technology. For continuing education and live training, you can also find our upcoming events on the Wolfram U calendar — with a variety of online courses for students, researchers and educators alike. We also have some exciting updates coming to our Computational Thinking Initiatives in early 2020 that we cannot wait to share with you. We appreciate your participation in the Hour of Code, and look forward to seeing what the next generation of coders creates!

About the blogger:

Ishwarya Vardhani

Ishwarya (Ish) Vardhani manages partnership efforts focused on education at Wolfram Research. Ish has a background in mathematics and education, and believes strongly that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. She leads Wolfram Research’s efforts in the nonprofit sector, making Wolfram’s educational resources available widely to educators and students through the Computational Thinking Initiative. She works with several corporate partners in the ed-tech space in integrating Wolfram’s technology in the classroom. Outside of work, Ish can be found delighting in her infant son, nurturing an amateur garden or cooking up (mostly) delicious things.