The world is full of coding games and programming challenges that may make you a better coder. But, as with all experiences, it depends on what you take away from them. Try a few coding websites that offer games and challenges but try to make it fun.
Try to keep in mind that it is more like a puzzle. If it gets too serious or too difficult, then find something easier and a little more fun. Don’t let misguided pride ruin your experience. You are building a sandcastle of knowledge, which means you need to start with a wide base. Don’t try to reach the stars too quickly.
Make Your Own Fun
If you are really looking to improve your coding and get better, try building a simple-but-useful program of your own. It doesn’t have to be something spectacular. It can be something as simple as an alarm clock that pauses your computer game after three hours of play to remind you of something you are supposed to be doing.Â
Keep it as simple as possible because the aim of the game is to create something tangible that won’t take you forever. It doesn’t even have to be a throwaway project. You can build something that you may incorporate into a bigger program in your future. If you make the project too big or complex, then it stops becoming about getting better and starts becoming all about the project itself.
1. Flexbox Froggy
Sadly, this is not a Frogger game. Instead, you are presented with an in-browser game with twenty-four levels. It teaches you how CSS Flexbox works and is for beginner/intermediate learners. Each level gets progressively more complex as you move along the game. You can skip to any level, which means you can keep coming back to it as you learn more about CSS.
2. CodeCombat
This is not a free program, so watch a few people on YouTube play it first before you start paying your hard-earned cash. The games help to teach you Python, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, or the Lua game scripting language. It takes you through basic, but nicely designed, games where you control your character with lines of code instead of with a controller. This is mostly for newer intermediate coders who are looking for ways to put their coding knowledge to use in a way that helps them become more efficient coders.
3. CodeMonkey
Its playful graphics and newbie-friendly interfaces make this a nice place for new coders to continue their learning. It keeps things pretty simple at first, but you will need to know about how coding works and you will need a bit of base knowledge before you start playing the games. They are aimed at kids, but it works well for people of any age. Perhaps one of the best things about its paid courses is that it starts out with several games based around the principles of coding, helping people to understand how coding works in general, and then starts introducing real coding language.
4. CodinGame
This is similar to the CodeMonkey platform, but it seems to target adults. It doesn’t really focus on a single language, it has games and learning material for 25 coding languages. It is odd because the learning portion of this system, the courses, is not so great. You could learn just as much, and possibly more easily if you watched YouTube tutorials. The real strength is in the game.
They are similar to the old Flash games you used to get on web browsers, and just like the Flash games, you have to trawl through several bad ones to find the good ones. Nevertheless, may be useful for people who want to practice their skills and get better at coding by playing games.
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