I am a student interested in being fluent in a coding language

Hi. I am a student I have no educational background on coding and I’m very interested in learning about coding and hopefully being fluent to make websites, game development or do machine learning. But I have no idea where to start or what resources to use, Ive been using freecodecamp but I dont know where to go from there. I have been doing the python string manipulation but are there any free resources for beginners? also how do I remember everything ive learned and be able to apply it, is it just practice?

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Hi @michealjacksonbigie and welcome!

The best place to start is to pick a language and start. I’d recommend Python or JavaScript/TypeScript as your first language.

Unless you’re a special person who can learn a non-native language or mathematics discipline in a couple of weeks or months, expect to dedicate years to the learning process.

"It can take 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a complex skill or material. ~ Malcolm Gladwell

Practice, practice, and practice some more. If you don’t use it, you don’t learn it. If you learn it and don’t use it, you forget it. Programming is not a spectator sport, you have to do it to learn, remember, and improve.

freeCodeCamp and W3Schools are good jumping-on points for beginners. Being self-taught is also learning how you learn best. So google any other resources for beginners in the language you choose.

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Welcome to the community :smiley:

As you progress you will start to see patterns across languages, so learning one often makes learning others easier.

Aim to learn, not to memorise.
Let yourself be curious, when freeCodeCamp introduces you to a new function, try typing that function into a search engine. You should be able to find documentation website that will give you a better explanation.

Documentation is your friend, even if it can be hard to read in the beginning. As you read more, you’ll start to find it much easier.
Often docs have code snippets you can play around with to get a better sense of how the function works.

If you’ve never tried any other language before, I’d suggest trusting in the course and getting to the first Certification Project.
Spend some time breaking the project into very small steps.
If you need to go back and redo an earlier part of the course, its ok to do that. But the second time round, use the browser regularly to search functions and concepts and ask the community if you get confused or stuck.

Getting that first project done, even if its not exactly how you’d like it, can be huge.

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Super helpful! Thank you so much! Means a lot.

Thank you so much!! Very helpful. Im grateful!