Ok, so since I have started making the move to teaching computer science all day from teaching English most of the day and computer science for one period… I have been slightly more than pumped. If you’ve read the last couple of posts, you’ve likely figured that out. I’m on a quest to learn one of the ‘new’ programming languages. With my last coding experience being Pascal, it’s been a while. Well, CS Dojo on YouTube is another great option.

So, I started out watching @OlexaYT’s series on programming Python. I loved it. My main issue was I ran out of lessons :).  He’s a college student, so he makes videos when time permits. He’s a great teacher, so click here to read that post. Having run through his lessons, I needed more. My summer days are running short, so I’m making the most of what I have left. I started scouring YouTube, because I really enjoyed learning in that environment. There are a bunch of folks doing coding videos out there. I sifted through several and ended up sort of sticking with CS Dojo. You can find him on Twitter at @YKDojo.

This guy used to be a software engineer at Google. That loosely translates to, “Dude knows his stuff.” I just wrapped up his first lesson on variables. I’ll be honest, I considered skipping it because I felt pretty solid about variables after working through Tyler’s lessons. (OlexaYT). I decided to watch it and sit through it. I’ll go ahead and say this. I knew my variables, but I feel even better after seeing them presented a different way. I’m a teacher by trade. There are times that hearing things a couple of different ways helps solidify learning. Coding seems to be one of those things. I feel even better after working through two lessons on variables.

Now, head over to CS Dojo’s YouTube Channel and check it out. He makes sure to show you how to install Python and Anaconda (the interface to get to Jupyter Notebook, the environment he teaches with). He does a great job of explaining  and stepping the viewer through the thinking involved with coding. He even gives examples of how to swap the values of variables in code and takes the time to explain common misconceptions with coding.

Everyone knows that YouTube is a great place to learn a lot of things quickly… things ranging from fixing the kitchen sink to swapping out spark plugs on your car. You can add learning the way of the future, computer programming.