As a discipline, coding involves a lot of problem solving — and the more you practice, the better you get.
If you’re currently enrolled in a coding bootcamp or coding course, there’s no better way to strengthen your skills than by solving coding challenges. Getting involved with these challenges in your spare time is also a great way to introduce you to new programming languages, and improve your understanding of the ones you already know.
Luckily, the internet is abundant with fun coding puzzles for every level — meaning you can keep coming back to them as your skills progress. From Python to Javascript, below are seven of our favourite coding challenges to keep your skills tip-top during the holidays.
1. Codewars
Codewars is an online community and practice space to improve your development skills by training with your peers using coding challenges. You can challenge yourself on kata (small coding exercises): each kata is crafted by the community to help you strengthen different coding skills.
You can master your current language of choice, or expand your understanding of a new one. One of the best things about Codewars is that you can tap into collective wisdom by comparing your solution with others after each kata for greater understanding.
2. Coderbyte
Coderbyte is a web application that helps you practice programming and improve your coding skills. Coderbyte has hundreds of coding challenges, which can all be completed directly in their online editor. They range from relatively straightforward to more tricky ones.
Some of their most popular code challenges include Questions Marks, where “you will be determining if a string follows a particular pattern”, and Bracket Matcher, where “you will determine if the brackets in a string are correctly matched up.”
3. Codeacademy
Codecademy is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in 12 different programming languages. Whether it’s practising during a job hunt or for fun, their Code Challenges can test your knowledge and are based on real-world technical interviews.
One of the most popular ones is the Javascript coding challenge “Fibonacci Finder”, which was reported to have been asked in interviews at many top companies, including Google. It involves creating a fibFinder() function that finds the nth number in the Fibonacci sequence.
4. Edabit
Edabit allows you to practice coding with fun, bite-sized challenges, which help to unlock achievements and level up. They believe that when learning to code, most people get stuck on the “bridge” between memorising syntax and understanding the logic that makes it all work.
A better way to think like a programmer is to break the process into three phases: memorise syntax, solve problems, and make stuff. Edabit was created to bridge this gap while making the process fun and addictive. For example, one of the challenges is to “Return the Sum of Two Numbers” in Python — where you create a function that takes two numbers as arguments and return their sum.
5. Exercism
Exercism is an independent, community-funded, not-for-profit organisation that aims to help as many people as possible attain fluency in any programming language they want. It is 100% free and allows you to build fluency in 55 programming languages with a blend of learning, practice and mentoring.
They have over 3,400 coding challenges on their site, including Allergies, which helps you learn C (a general-purpose language used for a wide range of applications, from embedded computers to high-performance computing clusters). The challenge is to determine whether or not someone is allergic to a given item and their full list of allergies, given their allergy score.
6. LeetCode
LeetCode collects questions and solutions in technical interviews for some of the most sought-after companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Started in 2015, it helps millions of developers to sharpen their programming skills, allowing them to choose from over 800 practice problems that range from easy to complex, with the option to pay for even more challenging questions.
For beginners who are starting their journey, Leetcode’s 10 Coding Challenges contain a multitude of Algorithms and are a great place to start.
7. SoloLearn
Sololearn is the world’s largest community of people learning to code and is a perfect coding app for beginners. With over 25 programming courses, you can select from thousands of topics and learn to code on the go, even when you commute or travel.
For example, suppose you fancy learning Kotlin (a modern and powerful cross-platform programming language designed to interoperate with Java). In that case, this course goes over the main concepts and helps you create real-life projects.
Final thoughts
All in all, there have never been more options for practising your coding skills, regardless of which level you’re at. Fancy something a bit more interactive? Join us for one of our Code accelerator workshops, where you’ll program alongside like-minded future developers and receive personalised feedback on your skills!
If you liked this article, we think you’ll love our software developers guide to coding your way to a better climate.
