Codecademy.com
Learning and science
interactive coding tutorials
SHOW HN2011
787points
232comments
#1of 1,097 in 2011
Top 1%of 2011 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
52 positive, 31 neutral or asking, 13 mixed, 41 critical, out of 137 comments about the project. Thread score +0.11.
Idea: 25 for, 6 againstExecution: 4 for, 18 againstDesign: 13 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 13 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Interactive console lessons are a great way to learn
From 3 comments
This is definitely genius. Even for programmers the service could be very valuable in learning new languages. I love my O'Reilly books, but I would throw all of them away in a…
physcab on HNThis new fad of providing interactive/iterative consoles for learning technologies (e.g. redis[1], mongodb[2]) is brilliant. I really well done flow (like this one) reminds me…
rkalla on HNExcellent work! This is the first interactive coding tutorial that I actually like. Small bug: On http://www.codecademy.com/programming-intro/4#!/exercise/3, it says "We've given…
chetan51 on HN
Clean design and smooth UX
From 3 comments
Well done. I like it. I especially like the interface. I hope this idea catches on. Continued success. :)
daimyoyo on HNVery nice design. You can almost compete with the adult education colleges if you can get certification. By the way, the design is very nice.
teyc on HNFeels great, well done on the UX side. Although I do wish you would focus on particular languages and use cases. Suddenly, "I'm learning Javascript". A normal reaction would be-…
bomatson on HN
Good for non-programmers and beginners
From 3 comments
Amazing stuff! Slow and buggy, but as a guy who can't program for shit, this is awesome!
MrJagil on HNAs an "average" non-programmer I love this. I'm teaching myself to code and this looks like a framework for learning that's perfect. I'll send feedback as I go through the lessons
wturner on HNGreat work - I've got loads of non-techy friends who are looking for an intro to coding.
tomblomfield on HN
Objections
Slow server, buggy consoles and login problems under load
From 4 comments
Amazing stuff! Slow and buggy, but as a guy who can't program for shit, this is awesome!
MrJagil on HNA little buggy. I seem to have lost my session and logging in produces an error (Invalid email or password.). Also, after completing the courses, some courses showed as incomplete.
dkokelley on HNGreat idea, excellent execution....some slow server and unresponsive consoles, but that's normal for a launch! Overall, an amazing website!
TechnoFou on HNChrome 13 / OSX 10.6.8 - I can navigate the courses pages, but don't see the CLI interface (just the section list, and the Disqus discussion). Also it's not redirecting to any…
EAMiller on HN
Error messages are unfriendly or confusing
From 3 comments
Very nice. Really well made. Love the fact that I could just dive in and engage with the product from the homepage without having to dance through the usual annoying sign up…
revorad on HNThis is awesome. It definitely revolutionises learning programming. One thing to improve, make the program sound the nice guy it sound when the user does things right. I tried…
chanux on HNThis is very nice. Some more informative messages would be helpful. Some errors are genuine errors while others are simply an issue of not typing in precisely what the lesson…
scelerat on HN
Lessons have unclear instructions or wrong exercises
From 3 comments
It isn't completely clear what Variables -> CaSeS wants me to do. It seems like it's asking for: ``` myFullName = "Thomas Edison" ``` But it's reminding me of making sure my…
planckscnst on HNLesson 6, exercise "Otherwise..." is wrong. Here's the code: ``` var number = prompt("Guess what number I'm thinking of between 1 and 10!"); if(number === 7) { print("You got…
jsharpe on HNInteresting feedback: I had my gf do it, and she got stuck in the .length portion, because she kept typing: ``` "name".length. ``` This is because the prompt said: ``` Well done!…
tolmasky on HN
Forced registration interrupts exploration
From 1 comment
Beautiful! But if I keep trying to explore after the "You've completed this lesson! Start the next one." message, I get ``` ERROR: Cannot read property '_id' of undefined ``` In…
reemrevnivek on HN
Requests
More courses on other languages and advanced topics
From 3 comments
I actually had a similar idea to this and you guys have executed wonderfully on it! Starting with Javascript is definitely the way to go, as I strongly believe it's the language…
OmarIsmail on HNThis is a wonderful start - kudos. If you're targeting beginners/novices, which it looks like you are, your current approach looks ideal. I wonder how this scales to more…
psychotik on HNFeels great, well done on the UX side. Although I do wish you would focus on particular languages and use cases. Suddenly, "I'm learning Javascript". A normal reaction would be-…
bomatson on HN
Support for iPad and other browsers
From 2 comments
Chrome 13 / OSX 10.6.8 - I can navigate the courses pages, but don't see the CLI interface (just the section list, and the Disqus discussion). Also it's not redirecting to any…
EAMiller on HNvery nice! but I have problems working this on my IPAD, appears you cant type in that box on the virtual keypad...
madao on HN
Social Q&A feature for real-time help
From 1 comment
Very nice. Really well made. Love the fact that I could just dive in and engage with the product from the homepage without having to dance through the usual annoying sign up…
revorad on HN
Questions
Which language is taught and is it JavaScript only
From 3 comments
I find it kind of odd that it doesn't actually say what language I am learning. (I mean, yes, I can tell, but if I were learning I wouldn't.) Was that on purpose?
cadr on HNSeems like a good app to get beginners started with learning to code. What stack is this built on? What language are you teaching with, is it javascript?
akvlad on HNWhy doesn't this say right at the very beginning what language you are trying to teach? The tone of the site is incredibly arrogant. What makes you qualified to teach? Have you…
dusklight on HN
Is it affiliated with hackercs.com
From 1 comment
Is this affiliated to (or a domain change) of hackercs.com? Or a new competitor?
JacobIrwin on HN
Alternatives named
TryRuby
From 2 comments
This reminds me of (what was previously _why's) "try ruby!" at http://tryruby.org/ I always loved that, and I think this has a lot of potential. Tomorrow being Whyday, I think…
Hostile on HNThis is definitely genius. Even for programmers the service could be very valuable in learning new languages. I love my O'Reilly books, but I would throw all of them away in a…
physcab on HN
Eloquent JavaScript
From 1 comment
comparable to: http://eloquentjavascript.net/
astrofinch on HN
TryHaskell and TryJavascript
From 1 comment
I like it. I am however not the target user. Also it is not that original: http://tryhaskell.org/ http://tryruby.org/ In fact theres already a javascript one:…
MrKurtHaeusler on HN
Khan Academy
From 1 comment
Great work so far! I would suggest that when you have enough lessons, you create a knowledge tree instead of just a list, similar to what Khan Academy does…
ph0rque on HN