coding

6 Inspiring Websites That Teach You To Code

If you’ve always had a desire to build your own apps or create your own websites, then you can begin your coding education with nothing more than a browser, an internet connection, and some spare time. Here we’ve picked out six of the best resources currently available online. 1. Udacity Udacity is one of the…

This Is Still the Most Beautiful Way to Learn How to Code

Regardless of whether or not you agree with the “code or die ” sentiment that’s been floating around the internet, if you have decided to teach yourself to code, the sheer number of learn-to-code sites alone is overwhelming. So do yourself (and your eyes) a favor and pick up Jon Duckett’s JavaScript and jQuery book…

Google is investing investing $50 million in projects designed to help get more females involved in the field of computer science, by encouraging girls to code. Good work, Google.

There’s an Arnold Schwarzenegger Programming Language

If coding bores you, maybe you just need to try a different programming language. Perhaps you’ll allow us to recommend one but together by Lauri Hartikka—which is themed around Arnold Schwarzenegger. Called ArnoldC—see what he did there?—it’s “an imperative programming language where the basic keywords are replaced with quotes from different Schwarzenegger movies.” Yes, really.…

BASIC, the 50-Year-Old Computer Programming Language for Regular People

Computer coding ability has gotten especially hip recently. People who can’t code revere it as 21st century sorcery, while those who do it professionally are often driven to fits by it. And it was 50 years ago today, two Dartmouth professors debuted a coding language designed to be easy enough for anyone to use. The…

Coding Sucks: Why a Job in Programming Is Absolute Hell

Every friend I have with a job that involves picking up something heavier than a laptop more than twice a week eventually finds a way to slip something like this into conversation: “Bro, you don’t work hard. I just worked a 4700-hour week digging a tunnel under Mordor with a screwdriver.” They have a point.…

Code Dicks Parody Site Is Your Equal Opportunity Answer to Code Babes

It was only a matter of time. Just a few days after the internet got good and outraged over the wildly absurd, porn-based learn-to-code site Code Babes, we present to you its satirical, equal opportunity cousin. Say hello to Code Dicks. While an otherwise dead-ringer for the widely scorned original, Code Dicks doesn’t actually offer…

“Code Babes” Is Everything Wrong With Tech Culture—Plus Strippers

The internet is buzzing right now with the latest, greatest (and potentially fake) Worst Thing Ever. Meet Code Babes, the stripping amalgam of everything that’s wrong with tech culture today. Code Babe’s premise, purportedly, is to make learning to code fun by giving you an extra special sexytime motivation. Every time you pass a quiz,…

How Heartbleed Works: The Code Behind the Internet’s Security Nightmare

By now you’ve surely heard of Heartbleed, the hole in the internet’s security that exposed countless encrypted transactions to any attacker who knew how to abuse it. But how did it actually work? Once you break it down, it’s actually incredibly simple. And a little hilarious. But mostly terrifying. You can read our overview of…

Should Everyone Be Able to Code?

The U.S. government wants everyone to be able to code, but it’s not really clear whether that should be the case or not. Here’s what the experts think. http://gizmodo.com/can-the-hour-of-code-get-the-world-programming-1479430389/all As with all things policy-based, the answer isn’t clear. While, now more than ever, there’s much benefit in understanding the basics of how the digital world…

Should Students Be Able To Take Coding Classes For Language Credits?

The Kentucky Senate just passed a law that will let students take computer programming classes to satisfy their foreign language requirements. Do you think that’s a good move? What this new law means is, rather than taking three years of Spanish or French or whatever, kids can choose to learn to code. Sure, whether it’s…

How Computers Create Convincing Light and Shade in Graphics

Creating rich, lush computer-generated images is no mean feat, and one of the most fundamental aspects is light and shade. This video explains how programmers and designers tackle that crucial problem. It’s a question of rolling together all kinds of data—from information about lighting sources to material properties and geometry—to create a convincing effect. Listen…

What all the fancy code in movie computer sequences actually mean

Hey look, it’s an actor looking at some computer code in a movie. He must be really smart! He must be a computer hacker! He must be able to take over the world with just his keyboard! Not quite. The code used in movies is usually nothing but some mumbo jumbo on WordPress or Wikipedia.…

How Do Computers Translate 3D Worlds Into Pixels?

Computers love to think in triangles to create 3D representations of the real world—but how do you represent those intelligently constructed objects as flat 2D shapes on a screen? This video describes exactly how 3D models are turned into pixels. https://gizmodo.com/why-computers-love-to-think-in-triangles-1474736515 It’s not actually the most straightforward process, leaping from a simulated 3D world to…

People Who Did Not Get Rich and/or Famous Coding Want You to Code

If you find this new batch of Code.org PSAs hilariously awkward, you’re in good company. I literally yelped when I heard Nas say “I just did 15 lines of code.” There are more than a dozen new videos from the everyone can code organization, and they’re all just a wonderful gift. There’s absolutely no problem…

Watson Is Going To Be Open For Public Use on the Cloud

Watson was always going to be more than just a successful game show contestant. Now, the computer is about to take on anything and everything, as it opens itself up to the public on the cloud. https://gizmodo.com/supercomputer-genius-watson-is-headed-for-the-cloud-5945782 IBM has announced that its supercomputer will be opened up to developers in 2014, using a new, open…

Why Are JavaScript Attacks So Dangerous?

You’ve probably heard security articles talk about JavaScript being used to attack websites, but you might not know why it’s quite so dangerous. This video helps explain. It’s all to do with cross-site scripting: a vulnerability that allows hackers to inject client-side script into web pages that are viewed by other users. In the past,…

How to Get Even More Out of a Raspberry Pi

No doubt about it, the Raspberry Pi is nothing short of a homebrew phenomenon. Since its release in February 2012, the British micro-mini-computer has enabled legions of amateur inventors to develop projects both weird and wonderful. Here’s a run-down of the most impressive applications, ranging from weather stations to retro arcades to a supercomputer array…

How Computer Scientists Make Programs Efficient Using Upside Down Trees

How do people manage to write the neatest, most compact code to make programs super-small and lightweight? Well, there are many ways—but one of the most common is to use trees. Upside down trees, to be precise. In this video, Professor Brailsford explains how computer scientists use Huffman Trees to make their code as efficient…

What the Hell Is a SQL Injection, Anyway?

When you hear about major web hacks, you’ll often hear the term “SQL injection” used like everyone in the world knows what it means. They don’t. But this video will help explain so you’re not confused in the future. It’s essentially a way of injecting some code into a data-driven web server that allows the…