How to: Feb 15, 2025
1. freeCodeCamp just published a full-length handbook that will teach you how to code in TypeScript. It's a type-safe superset of JavaScript. That means you'll be using the same JavaScript syntax and techniques you've already learned from freeCodeCamp, but with fewer errors thanks to static type checking. This book also teaches some front-end development concepts with React and Vite. Worth a read. (full-length handbook): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-typescript-with-react-handbook/

2. freeCodeCamp also published a comprehensive course to prepare you (or your kids) for the Cambridge A-Level Computer Science exam. This exam is similar to Advanced Placement exams in the US or International Baccalaureate exams in other countries. So this course should be helpful for students regardless of where they live. It covers foundational CS concepts, algorithms, data structures, and other topics you'll encounter on the exam. (3 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-a-level-computer-science-concepts

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview Peggy Wang. She's a robotics engineer who grew up in Milwaukee, used freeCodeCamp to learn to code, and ultimately got into Stanford. She's worked on augmented reality at Oculus, self-driving cars at Google Waymo, and is now building AI agents. During our conversation, she helps separate AI hype from reality, and delves deep into her hopes for humanoid robots. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-freecodecamp-to-cto-with-robotics-engineer-peggy-wang-podcast-159/

4. If you've ever wondered how GitHub's command line SSH authentication works, this quick read will walk you through the technical details. You'll learn about Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption, Cryptographic Hash Functions, and other infosec concepts. (20 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ssh-authentication-with-github-under-the-hood/

5. One tool developers often use to catch errors in their code is logging. This tutorial will give you a brief intro to logging best practices in Python. You'll learn about logging levels like DEBUG and CRITICAL, and how to monitor the flow of your apps. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-are-logs-in-programming/

Quote of the Week: *"The gap between simulation and reality is getting narrower. Grand Theft Auto is just one example. Graphics level. Fidelity. If you're able to rig up all the controls a robot would use in a 3D video game, and you train it with scenarios that the robot would encounter in real life, you should be able to generalize that to the real world."* — Robotics Engineer and freeCodeCamp alum Peggy Wang on how developers now use simulated environments supercharge the AI training process. You can hear my full interview with her on this week's podcast.