How to: Sep 1, 2023
1. I'm excited to announce that freeCodeCamp has teamed up with Microsoft to bring you a freely available professional certification: the Foundational C# Certification. If you're interested in learning some C# and having a credential to put on your LinkedIn or CV, this program is for you. You'll complete 35 hours of training, then take an 80-question exam. We provide all the preparation materials, including a 90-minute video walk-through of the cert program. (free verified professional certification from Microsoft): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-microsoft-c-sharp-certification/

2. There are so many powerful AI tools out there, such as GPT-4. But what if you don't use tools. What if you build your own AI from scratch, using a “no black box” method? This course from Dr. Radu Mariescu-Istodor, who teaches computer science in Finland, will show you how to design such a system. You'll code an AI that can recognize and classify drawings. If you draw a fish, your AI will learn to recognize it as a fish. This is an excellent Machine Learning fundamentals course for any dev with some JavaScript knowledge and a bit of curiosity. (4 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-machine-learning-and-neural-networks-without-frameworks/

3. This week, freeCodeCamp published The C Programming Handbook. It will teach you the basics of coding in C, one of the oldest and most important languages. You can read the entire book in your browser, and bookmark it for future reference. The book covers Data Types, Operators, Conditional Logic, Loops, and more fundamental coding concepts. Time spent improving your C is never wasted. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-c-programming-handbook-for-beginners/

4. And we also published a handbook on Agile Software Development methodologies. You'll learn about the Agile Manifesto and how it spawned a smörgåsbord of approaches to building projects. You'll read about Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming, and how to ship features at scale. If you want your team to benefit from some of these concepts, this book is an excellent place to get started. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/agile-software-development-handbook/

5. 20 years ago, a few developers sat down to catalog the most common security issues they were discovering on the web. And from that, the OWASP Top 10 emerged as a popular reference for devs. You can use OWASP as a checklist to ensure a baseline level of security in your apps. This course will teach you how to spot these common pitfalls and avoid them in your projects. (90 minute YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/owasp-api-security-top-10-secure-your-apis/

Finally, I'm thrilled to introduce you to freeCodeCamp Press. These past few months, we've worked with developers from around the world to publish dozens of full length books and handbooks. Our goal is to share these tomes of wisdom with devs everywhere. You can bookmark these books to serve as a reference as you continue to expand your programming skills: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/freecodecamp-press-books-handbooks/

Quote of the Week: *"A lot of people don’t realize how much work goes into making some thing look like it was no work at all."* — Scott Hanselman, developer, teacher, and podcast host