How to: Oct 25, 2024
1. freeCodeCamp just published a new course that will teach you how to code your own Sonic the Hedgehog infinite runner game in JavaScript. You'll learn how to implement core gameplay mechanics like enemy logic, parallax scrolling, scoring systems, and more. We also include all the sprite art assets you'll need to build a working game. (2 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/code-a-sonic-infinite-runner-game-in-javascript/

2. Learn AI Engineering where you wrap a foundation model in your own custom code. In this course, we'll use the Claude LLM API to code two projects: a text summarizer app and an image describer app. You'll learn how to incorporate the API into your app, handle errors, engineer prompts, and deploy to the cloud so your friends can try it. (1 hour course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-to-use-claude-ai/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Tadas Petra, a prolific mobile app developer and teacher. When Tadas was just a child, his family immigrated to Chicago from Lithuania. His parents did whatever work they could find while Tadas struggled to learn English in school. He eventually got into university but nearly failed his first programming class. He persisted, and eventually got an internship at a trucking company writing code to control trucks. We talk about his coding journey and his many tips for learning mobile app development. (1 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/tadas-petra-podcast-146/

4. If you want to write solid software, why not learn SOLID Principles? These are S: Single Responsibility Principle. O: Open-closed Principle. L: Liskov Substitution Principle. I: Interface Segregation Principle. And D: Dependency Inversion Principle. Don't be daunted – this tutorial will break all this down with nice code examples to help you grok this popular programming approach. (20 minute read): https://freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-the-solid-principles-in-csharp

5. Up your CSS game by learning how to create elegant curved-edge shapes and rounded-edge shapes. This tutorial will teach you how to use the clip-path and mask properties to create radial gradients. You'll also see some of the cool geometry involved. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/rounded-and-curved-edge-css-shapes/

Quote of the Week: *"I really enjoyed porting games to new systems because I learned a lot that way. For a programmer, it was really challenging to port a game from a high-quality arcade machine to a lower-quality home console. The skills I developed working on ports are what enabled me to create new games."* — Yuji Naka, programmer and creator of Sonic the Hedgehog