Programming is important for speeding up the input and output processes in a machine. It is predominantly used to automate, collect, manage, calculate, analyze the processing of data and information accurately. It is the foremost step to create software and applications that help computer and mobile users in daily life. Even in the smallest gadgets or any electronic equipment, programming is done to make it work faster and efficiently. Due to all these reasons, programming languages carries paramount importance in our daily life.
A program is a combination of logical, mathematical, and functions arranged according to an algorithm in a computer language to perform a specific task. Computer language or programming language helps to communicate with a set of instructions to bring a specified output.
In this fast pacing world, which is moving forward with technological advancements, to keep up with it, one must be aware of the basics of the programming languages and algorithms. Algorithms are the structure in a simple language which will give an idea for the flow of a program. Algorithms are not restrained to a specific programming language.
There are various programming languages, for example, C, C++, Python, Java, etc. These languages provide different functionality to the software. It’s easy to understand a language when one is aware of the logic behind a program. For example, Finding an even number. Here, we need to find the even number from the provided input. How can it be done? Even numbers are those that are divisible by 2; the remainder should be 0. This logic can be applied to execute and compile to get the required output.
To enhance knowledge in programming, one can challenge themselves and practice with examples. This article will provide with the top 10 websites that can help you practice programming:
1. TopCoder:
TopCoder, now known as Topcoder is a crowdsourcing company for developers, data scientists, and programmers. The company was founded in April 2001 by Jack Hughes. The community members provide their services to their clients who are corporate dealers, own small and medium businesses, which get the members paid. TopCoder is one of the original platforms for competitive programming.
Features:
- It provides a list of algorithmic challenges from the past that can help to improvise and compete online using their code editor.
- Their popular Single Round Matches are offered a few times per month at a specific time where one can compete against others to solve challenges the fastest with the best score.
Pros:
- TopCoder has got better competitive programmers who regularly compete in programming competitions which will motivate the newcomers to refine their programming skills.
- These programmers’ blogs where they write the codes and algorithms for further understanding of the amateurs.
Cons:
- It’s not suitable for a person with absolutely no knowledge of programming.
- Most of the programs are difficult to solve.
2. Coderbyte:
Coderbyte was formed in 2012. Coderbyte provides 200+ coding challenges you can solve directly online in one of 10 programming languages. Coderbyte is a web application built to help you practice programming and improve your coding skills.
Feature:
- The challenges range from easy to hard.
- The coding challenges range in difficulty and they can all be completed straight in the online editor.
Pros:
- Unlike other similar websites, one can view the solutions other users provide for any challenge aside from the official solutions posted by Coderbyte.
- Available web development courses that can help one prepare for their upcoming job.
Cons:
- This website is not completely free.
- Unquestionable UX
3. Project Euler:
This website is named after the great mathematician Euler; this site was created by Collin Hughes in 2001. Project Euler provides a large collection of challenges in the domain of computer science and mathematics.
Features:
- It includes over 700 programs and one new program is added ever 1 week.
- The challenges typically involve writing a small program to figure out the solution to a clever mathematical formula or equation, such as finding the even numbers of all numbers preceding each number in a series.
Pros:
- The user cannot directly code on the website in an editor, so they would need to write a solution on their computer and then provide the solution on their website. This will help them learn in a more efficient way.
- Participants can track their progress through achievement levels based on the number of problems solved.
Cons:
- Only people with above knowledge on mathematics can understand and solve the problems.
- Most of the levels are difficult to interpret.
4. HackerRank:
HackerRank is a tech company that shed light on competitive programming for consumers and businesses where the developers compete and solve program on the basis of the required specification. It was founded by Vivek Ravishankar and Hari Karunanidhi.
Features:
- It provides challenges for several different domains such as Algorithms, Mathematics, SQL, Functional Programming, AI, and more.
- It provides a discussion and leader board for every challenge, and most challenges come with an editorial that explains more about the challenge and how to approach it to come up with a solution.
Pros:
- One can solve all the challenges directly online.
- It also provides the ability for users to apply for jobs in solving company-sponsored coding challenges.
Cons:
- Aside from the editorial, the user cannot currently view the solutions of other users.
- The challenges can often be flawed.
5. CodeChef:
CodeChef is an Indian-based competitive programming website that provides hundreds of challenges. It’s a non-profitable educational initiative by Unacedemy which was founded in 2009. It’s to support students and young professionals to learn programming language. They have a large community of coders that contribute to the forums and take part in CodeChef’s coding competitions.
Features:
- The user can write code in their online editor and view a collection of challenges that are separated into different categories depending on your skill level.
- CodeChef hosts three programming contests every month, in which users can participate and compete for prizes and standing on the contest leader-board.
Pros:
- This website is helpful for beginners.
- It allows schools, universities, corporate institutions to host their own programming contest on the CodeChef platform.
Cons:
- Sometimes it is difficult to understand the code written by the author or the tester.
- Since it’s useful for the beginners, most of the problems can be very basic.
6. Exercism:
Exercism is an open-source and free coding platform providing coding challenges that offer 3100+ challenges spanning 52 different programming languages. After picking a language that the user would like to master, they can tackle the coding challenges right on their machine. It is a bit different from other challenge websites, however, because the user can work with a mentor after completing each challenge.
Features:
- It has tracks on C, C++, Java, Ruby, etc.
- It consists of over 50 repositories, containing website code, API code, command-line code, and over 40 stand-alone repositories for different language tracks.
Pro:
- The mentor reviews their answers online and helps the user to improve themselves if needed; their answers have been approved and submitted, they unlock more challenges.
- This website is completely free.
Cons:
- Lack of feedback which will lead to unawareness of how to deal with a problem or program.
- Frequent bugs and errors while practicing.
7. Codewars:
Codewars is an educational community for computer programming. It provides a large collection of coding challenges submitted and edited by their community. It was founded by Nathan Doctor and Jake Hoffner in 2012.
Features:
- The developers train on challenges called “kata” which will help an individual gain ranks and unique solutions.
- The platform is owned and operated by Qualified, a technology company that provides a platform for assessing and training software engineering skills.
Pros:
- The user can solve the challenges directly online in their editor in several languages.
- Discussions can be viewed for each challenge as well as useful solutions.
Cons:
- It’s not a free website and requires a subscription.
- People with a lack of clarity in programming cannot interpret the problems.
8. LeetCode:
LeetCode is a popular online programming site that provides a list of 190+ challenges that can help the user prepare for technical job interviews. It’s a platform where mostly software engineers practice programming. They can solve the challenges online in one of the 9 programming languages.
Features:
- The website has a mock interview section that is specifically for job interview preparation, coding contests are hosted, and a section of articles to understand certain problems.
- It provides statistics of the user solutions such as how fast their code ran when compared to other users’ code.
Pros:
- It provides straight to point problem statement.
- Test case environment is pretty much appreciable.
Cons:
- The user cannot be able to view other users’ solutions.
- Without the paid subscription, not much of facilities are provided.
9. SPOJ:
Sphere Online judge aka SPOJ is an online judge that provides over 20k coding challenges. The user can submit their code in an online editor also hosts their contests. It has an area for users to discuss coding challenges. Unlike some other websites, it does not provide online solutions and editorials. The users are on their own accord to find the solution.
Features:
- The tasks are prepared by the community problem setter or adapted from the previous problems.
- There are 5 types of problems- Classical, challenge, partial, tutorial, and riddle.
Pros:
- Helps in better conceptual learning in algorithms.
- It also allows students to compare paradigms and approaches with a wide variety of languages.
Cons:
- Does not provide editorials.
- Users might face difficulties in many standardized problems.
10. CodinGame:
CodinGame is a technology company editing an online platform for developers, allowing them to play with programming with increasingly difficult puzzles, to learn to code better with an online programming application supporting twenty-five programming languages, and to compete in multiplayer programming contests involving timed artificial intelligence, or code-golf challenges. Although this website is different than typical competitive programming websites, it is still popular amongst programmers who enjoy solving challenges and taking part in contests.
Features:
- It allows the user to take part in writing the code for games that the user plays online.
- It also serves as a recruiting platform, allowing developers to get noticed by companies based on their performance on the contests.
Pros:
- They can view a list of games currently offered along with an example.
- The game comes with a problem description, test cases, and an editor where the user can write the code in one of the 20+ programming languages.
Cons:
- Difficult to submit huge amount of codes in a single file format.
- Debugging codes is difficult.
Conclusion:
This will help an individual to gain insight and to explore which language they’re passionate about. Besides, it’ll help them create something much bigger than some random codes such as an application, software, a game, etc. There’s more to it apart from programming but this is the base for things like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
