acltc / awesome-interests

A curated list of awesome introductory programming resources for a variety of specialties within the profession.

Awesome Interests

A curated list of awesome introductory programming resources for a variety of specialties within the profession.

Game design

• Microsoft MakeCode - Online learn-to-code platform to build games, code devices, and mod Minecraft

• Yarn Spinner - The friendly tool for writing game dialogue

• Gosu - A 2D game development library for Ruby and C++

• Phaser - HTML5 game framework that offers WebGL and Canvas rendering for desktop and mobile

• Unity - A cross-platform game engine for 2D and 3D games

  People to follow: Jane McGonigal - Daniel Linssen - @photonstorm

  Project ideas: Make a simple puzzle, platformer, or strategy game (examples, ideas)

Frontend design

• CSS - An evergreen CSS course and reference to level up your web styling expertise

• w3schools, CSS Diner, Flexbox Froggy, Grid Garden - Interactive tutorials/games to practice and learn CSS

• Refactoring UI - Make your ideas look awesome, without relying on a designer.

• Frontend Mentor - Design challenges using real-world projects, with a large Slack community for support

  People to follow: Sarah Drasner - Lea Verou - Una Kravets - Steve Schoger - Victor Ponamariov - Adam Wathan - Sam Selikoff - Tomo Kihara

  Project ideas: Build a website from an existing design (Frontend Mentor, Frontend Practice, GeeksForGeeks)

Music and audio

• Sonic Pi tutorial - A code-based music creation and performance tool

• Web Audio API - JavaScript API for processing and synthesizing audio in web applications

• EarSketch - Learn coding through music using Python or JavaScript

  People to follow: @samaaron - @dj____dave

  Project ideas: Make a music script with code (examples)

Customization and tooling

• Customize Terminal - Add themes and plugins to your terminal zsh shell

• Customize Vscode theme - Tutorial on creating a VS Code Theme

• vim - A terminal text editor, controlled entirely with the keyboard with no need for menus or a mouse

• xbar - Put the output from any script/program in your macOS menu bar

  People to follow: Wes Bos - @robbyrussell

  Project ideas: Build an xbar menu bar script (examples, ruby guide)

Automation

• AppleScript - A scripting language that can help you automate repetitive tasks on your Mac

• Hammerspoon - Write Lua code for macOS APIs (applications, windows, batteries, wifi, and more)

• AutoHotKey - AutoHotkey lets you make custom Windows shortcuts, macros, and more

• Google Apps Script - A cloud-based scripting language for extending the functionality of Google Apps

• Web scraping - Use code to extract content and data from a website

  People to follow: Anton Medvedev - Rosemary Orchard - David Sparks

  Project ideas: Build a script to automate simple tasks (examples)

Computer Science

• Build Your Own Web Server With Ruby - Build a web server from scratch

• A Compiler from Scratch - Build a compiler from scratch

• Build Your Own Text Editor - An instruction booklet that shows you how to build a text editor in C

• Build Your Own X - More resources to build tools from scratch with different languages

• High Performance Browser Networking - A deep dive into how the web works

  People to follow: Julia Evans - @garybernhardt - Vaidehi Joshi

  Project ideas: Build a web server/compiler/text editor from scratch, write about computer science concepts you learned (examples)

Clean code

• 5 Refactoring Principles by Example - Improving code with examples in Java

• Getting Started with Rails Testing - Writing automated tests for the Ruby on Rails web framework

• Fast load times - Techniques for improving website performance

  People to follow: Sandi Metz - Jessica Kerr - Peter Solnica - Nate Berkopec - Addy Osmani

  Project ideas: Write about coding techniques you learned (examples)

Hacking and Security

• Rubyfu - A collection of ideas, tricks, and skills for hackers using Ruby

• Metasploit - The world’s most used penetration testing framework

• Game Hacking Academy - Game hacking allows you to add functionality and change how games work

• OWASP Cheat Sheet Series - Cheat sheets on web security topics

• OverTheWire Wargames - Terminal games to to learn and practice security concepts

  People to follow: Ben Sadeghipour - Alethe Denis - InsiderPhD - @samwcyo

  Project ideas: Build a hacking script (examples), write about hacking/security concepts you learned (examples)

Robotics and Hardware

• Home Assistant - Control and automate all your smart home devices with a single open source platform

• An Introductory Robot Programming Tutorial - Build a basic autonomous mobile robot

• Lego Mindstorms - Program a Lego EV3 robot on a tablet or computer

• QMK Tutorials - Program custom firmware for mechanical keyboards

  People to follow: Nicole Branagan - Mohit Bhoite - Jeri Ellsworth - Uri Shaked

  Project ideas: Build a robotics project (examples), write a home automation script (examples)

Data visualization

• Learn D3 - D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data

• Interactive Charts with D3.js - An interactive tutorial to build interactive charts with D3.js

• Data Visualization with Python - How to visualize data using four different Python libraries

  People to follow: Shirly Wu - Nadieh Bremer - Amelia Wattenberger - @vihartvihart

  Project ideas: create a visualization around a topic of interest (examples)

Web3, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency

• Intro to Web3.js - Get started using the Web3.js library for interacting with The Ethereum Blockchain

• A guide to building a blockchain & cryptocurrency from scratch in Ruby

• Learn Blockchain, Solidity, and Full Stack JavaScript Development

  People to follow: @kelsiemvn - @IvanOnTech - Angie Jones

  Project ideas: build a basic blockchain from scratch