(Creative) Coding Resources for Beginners
Whether you’re interested in learning how to code to bring an idea to life or trying to create generative art, learning to code can be a fun practice to master in your off time. Of course, everyone has their own reasons for learning to code, but the foundational skills needed to be a reasonably competent coder are the same. In this article, I’ll share a few ways you can get started.
Of course, going to university for computer science is one route — but today, that is the most expensive and least efficient way to get up and running. However, with the right resources and a little discipline, you can start mastering the basics of coding and even make your own generative art (and maybe become an Art Blocks artist).
Free — The Odin Project
This is a resource I’ve used in the past, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The Odin Project (TOP) is an open-source self-guided course that walks you through the basics of Git, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The Odin Project has one of the most active and helpful communities for beginners, and their Discord is packed with people constantly contributing to improving the course.
There are a few things I love about The Odin Project. First, it’s free. Think of TOP as a source of truth for the best resources on the internet. They aren’t creating a closed course for you to follow. Instead, they pull in great resources from other websites as well. In one lesson, you might go from reading Firefox documentation to watching a Youtube video to completing a tutorial on a website like Codecademy. They really take the approach of giving you the best possible information.
Also, they don’t hold your hand. One of the first things you’ll learn is the difference between Git and GitHub and how to use each. The course teaches you how to work from the console and forces you to practice the workflow professionals use. It isn’t always easy, and there is a steep learning curve if you’ve never done it before, but it’s worth it. And if you use Windows, they’ll have you set up a Virtual Machine. Personally, I loved this. When I first started messing around with TOP, I was nervous I’d somehow brick my PC. But with the VM, my computer was out of harm’s way.
Last, the most important thing TOP helps you with is how to think like a developer. Once you can think like a developer, lateral movements between coding languages are much easier. The project ends with JavaScript with is a great on-ramp to getting started with generative art, if that’s your ultimate goal.
Freemium — CodeCademy
Codecademy (not Codeacademy) was the tool of choice for Erick Calderon (Snowfro) when he decided to teach himself to code. I’ve also used it from time to time, and I gotta say, they really do a great job of anticipating where you’ll get stuck and helping you work through the sticky points on your journey to being a competent developer.
Codecademy offers a very in-depth free option, but the premium version includes extra exercises to help make the concepts make sense. To me, the free version feels like an academic exercise, while the premium version ties everything together with fun exercises that are more likely to make a lasting impression.
If you’re interested in their premium content, I highly suggest you use the free version in your daily practice for a few weeks first to make sure their teaching style jives with your learning style.
Paid — Joshua Davis on Skillshare
Joshua Davis (Praystation) recently released his project Organized Disruption in Art Blocks’ factory and guest After Dinner Mints with Ponyo. In that interview, I was blown away by the breadth of his experience in technology and design. Talk about OG — Davis has been around since the beginning and worked with Casey Reas at IBM before Reas went to MIT (and eventually created Processing). He has also worked with some of your favorite brands doing commercial work to pay the bills and fund his art practice. For decades, Joshua Davis has had a front-row seat to the current tidal wave we’re all caught in.
So, when he mentioned a series of courses on Skillshare, I knew I had to check it out. Admittedly, I haven’t completed the courses yet, but it’s on my to-do list before closing out 2021. Want to be impressed? Check out this stellar bio on Skillshare for Joshua:
Joshua Davis is an award-winning designer, technologist, author, and artist in new media and is acclaimed for his role in designing the visualization of IBM’s Watson, the intelligent computer program capable of answering questions, for the quiz show Jeopardy.
Joshua’s work has been exhibited at the Tate Modern (London), the Ars Electronica (Austria), the Design Museum (London), le Centre Pompidou (France), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), PS.1 MoMA (New York), the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and more.
Currently, Programming Graphics 1: Introduction to Generative Art boasts an impressive student count of 11,500 students learning to code. Courses like this are certainly responsible for expanding the base of creative coders that I’m sure we will eventually see on the Art Blocks platform.
It’s All About Consistency
As a final word, please keep this in mind.
All the sources above work. The difference between them comes down to your individual effort to stay disciplined and make your development a daily priority. I’m a fan of setting aside 1 hour per day for growth. Whether that’s coding, writing, learning Spanish — anything. Setting aside time to practice every day is the only way you’ll learn. It will sometimes be tough, and you may feel like you’re banging your head against a wall for 6 months before you look back and realize how far you’ve come. But stick to it. I’m sure others in the Art Blocks community also want to learn how to create generative art, so I encourage you to find an accountability buddy and get to work.
The world will be better if your art exists in it, so go practice and create something beautiful.
