Coding Language, the New Bilingual
November 3, 2016
Do you speak code? This may sound like an odd question, but many of today's high school and college graduates are being asked that very question on job interviews across the country. HTML, Java, CSS, PHP, and the like have become the new "second language" to many students, even those not focused on a technical field.
Computers, software, and apps have become such a large part of our lives that schools are emphasizing coding more and more. Many students graduate with at least a rudimentary understanding of computer coding. Ambitious ones create their own software, games, and apps well before entering high school.
So how do you go about learning a coding language? There are countless online tutorials and it all comes down to what you want to learn. Those focused on building websites will usually begin with HTML and CSS, the foundations of most web design applications. People wanting to develop apps for Apple and Android may begin learning the proprietary languages of those two systems.
Perhaps one of the best free resources used by coding beginners is code.org, a not-for-profit website aimed at teaching people how to read and write code. With several online tutorials and simple cause-and-effect examples, learning a coding language has truly never been easier.
While it may seem odd to think of a coding language as something you would speak, you'd be surprised at some of the conversations you can overhear when listening in to a few developers. If you're no up-to-speed on the latest lingo, you'll soon find yourself lost and wondering if you've stepped into a foreign land.
If you learn best via video, YouTube has plenty of content which can take you from beginner, to novice, to intermediate in no time. Simply search for the language you're interested in followed by "for beginners" or "101" to get started.
With a little practice and dedication, you'll learn this new language faster than you thought possible and join the millions of people worldwide who "speak code."
