I've put in my 10 hours for this week!
I'm taking it really slow so that puts me in Module 2 of HTML & CSS Fundamentalas on EDX. I'm still using the audit/free path. I don't think the certificate/paid path is necessary for learning the material but I'd like the certificate so I might switch at some point.
Module 2 is really focusing on the importance of using semantic elements whenever possible. I like that HTML is built like that so that someone could build a browser that gives users more powerful tools in displaying webpages that are written for most common browsers.
It's kind of interesting that you could just put
"Hello World" on a .html file and it would work (because the browser is going to assume all of this:
<!doctype html> <!-- This declares to the browser that it is HTML5, the latest version of HTML -->
<html lang="en"> <!-- This contains all your html code until the closing tag at the end of the document, the lang attribute with the value "en" meaning english -->
<head> <!-- The head section contains information about the webpage that isn't displayed in the webpage itself -->
<title></title> <!-- The title appears in the tab at the top of the browser usually -->
<meta charset="utf-8"> <!-- utf-8 is basically the default character encoding used everywhere, so unless there is a really good reason for using something else, you default to that -->
<body> <!-- This includes all the visible content on a webpage -->
<p>Hello World!</p> <!-- This is the only thing that will be displayed in the page. the <p> tag denotes a paragraph. -->
</body>
</html>
)
So in most programming languages you have to write a bunch of code, compile it for a specific system. HTML is a simple language with a simple yet powerful purpose and most everyone has a browser in their computer anyway.
paired with CSS for styling and Javascript for creating applications it's a really powerful universal platform to create any little fun thing you might want to. From a simple calculator to an alarm clock to a video game.
That sounds interesting, good luck for your studies. I took a few programming courses during university, but that was a long time ago. For today's world I probably have the basics of I would ever like to go deeper into programming. I would also like to make more money on the side, but during summer I am always busy with work and family. Would be nice if you can keep us updated here, maybe I start following you this winter.
I have a similar background. I took a C++ course in college but I quit school shortly after and didn't bother showing up and finishing it due to personal issues. So I know the basics of C++ and I've written some really simple programs with it. Learning it a second time would be a lot easier than learning it for the first time because the concepts still exist somewhere in my brain so the neural pathways are primed and ready to be reinforced. Then again my brain is a pile of mush and water, I don't want to make it sound too cool.
