website/_posts/2018-05-1-free-resource-list.markdown

---
layout: "post"
title:  "A Freebie's Resource List (Mostly Related to Programming)"
date:   2018-05-01 09:25:57 +0800
author: foo-dogsquared
categories: freebies
tags: [freebies, others]
updatedOn: Dec 20, 2018
---

This is a free resource list that gradually grew over the past few months. Admittedly, I don't
use all of them so why not just share it, right?

Just pick a few, don't be overwhelmed by the number of resource you have to refer to.
Focus on one thing at a time.  Well, the list is actually longer but I decided to pick the 
top contenders of the list (and some of them are still not being used, I just like to
bookmark stuff and never checking out again sometimes).

Do keep in mind, most of them are related to computer programming but some of the providers offer
stuff outside of programming (say [Khan Academy](https://khanacademy.org) for math).

## Other Resource Lists
- [awesome](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome) — **(very much recommended)**; it's a curated list of lists; I guess you can say it's **awesome**, mwehehehehehehehe... 😎
- [A Compilation of Useful, Free, Online Math Resources from /r/math](https://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/2mkmk0/a_compilation_of_useful_free_online_math_resources/)
- [List of websites, ebooks, downloads, etc. for mobile users and people too lazy to read the sidebar from /r/learnmath](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnmath/comments/8p922p/list_of_websites_ebooks_downloads_etc_for_mobile/)
- [This list on Medium](https://medium.com/free-stuff/500-free-things-on-the-internet-to-start-your-new-year-11ae72266b66)
- [List of the best free things online everyone can take advantage of on /r/BestOfSoftwares](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofSoftwares/comments/6084vh/list_of_the_best_free_things_online_everyone_can/)
- [This specialized list for programming on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/tools)
- [Useful websites for programmers (by *sdmg15* on GitHub)](https://github.com/sdmg15/Best-websites-a-programmer-should-visit/) — also here's [an mirror article by *Sahil Rajput* on dev.to](https://dev.to/sahilrajput/useful-websites-for-programmers-36k#coding-practice-for-beginners)
- [Web Dev't Study Resources (by *dargaCode* on GitHub)](https://github.com/dargaCode/WebDevStudyResources)

## Online Education Resources
- [Adobe Education Exchange](https://edex.adobe.com/en/professional-development/courses) — free courses offered by Adobe and its community 
- [Brilliant](https://brilliant.org) — kind of like those MOOC but they teach you through solving problems
- [Codecademy](https://www.codecademy.com/)
- [Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources](https://www.cccoer.org/) — you can find it [here](https://www.cccoer.org/learn/find-oer/) for the most part if you want the open educational resources (OER)
- [Coursera](https://coursera.org) — **(recommended)**
- [CS50 Course by Harvard University](http://cs50.harvard.edu/) — **(very much recommended)**; a very good introductory course on computer science in general, just take it easy and follow the schedule then you'll be fine; I also recommend to take it with friends or a study group too, much easier unlike the way I took 😥, but still doable with solo
- [edX](https://edx.org) — **(recommended)**
- [fast.ai](http://www.fast.ai/) — free courses on machine learning, ooooh yeah
- [freeCodeCamp](https://freecodecamp.org) — **(recommended)**; project-based curriculum for web development
- [IXL](https://www.ixl.com/) — an educational resource and learning site on K-12 curriculum
- [Khan Academy](https://khanacademy.org) — **(recommended)**; there are also other topics outside of programming (i.e. mathematics, physics)
- [Learn X in Y Minutes](https://learnxinyminutes.com) — a community-created repository of summaries for you to learn the X programming languages
- [LinkedIn Learning](https://learning.linkedin.com/) — eLearning platform of LinkedIn
- [Microsoft Virtual Academy](https://mva.microsoft.com/) — yup, Microsoft has their own learning platform 
- [MIT OpenCourseWare](https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) — **(recommended)**; contains courses from a lot of subjects; you also might want to check out their [OCW Scholar Courses](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/ocw-scholar/) wherein they are essentially more in-depth versions of the usual courses
- [MongoDB University](https://university.mongodb.com/) — official courses from MongoDB
- [Online Stanford Courses](https://online.stanford.edu/courses)
- [Open Educational Resources](https://www.oercommons.org/) — self-explanatory as to what their content is about
- [Open Yale Courses](https://oyc.yale.edu/courses)
- [Scrimba](https://scrimba.com/) — **(recommended)**; videos with interactive code
- [Siyavula](https://everythingmaths.co.za/) — mathematics- and science-focused open educational resources
- [SkillShare](https://www.skillshare.com/) — almost like Udemy, almost like Udemy
- [Teach Engineering](https://www.teachengineering.org/) — well, it's a educational resources site containing engineering stuff
- [The Odin Project](https://www.theodinproject.com/) — similar approach to freeCodeCamp
- [Tutorials Point](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/index.htm) — **(recommended)**; a good overview on a bunch of programming languages
- [TutPlus](https://tutsplus.com/) — a bunch of tutorials and courses
- [Udacity](https://www.udacity.com/) —most, if not all courses are focused on technology
- [Udemy](https://udemy.com) — HINT: they are discounted for almost all-year round; I also recommend to only look out for the top courses since there's a lot of cluttering stuff in there
- [W3Schools](https://www.w3schools.com/)
- [Wolfram MathWorld](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/)

## Academics-focused Sites
- [Academia.edu](https://www.academia.edu/)
- [Brainly](https://brainly.com/) — **(recommended)**; for students and peer-to-peer engagement
- [Mendeley](https://mendeley.com/)
- [Google Scholar](https://scholar.google.com/)
- [Researchgate](https://www.researchgate.net/) — most published studies under their platform are free to view

## Documentations
- [DevDocs](https://devdocs.io/) — **(very much recommended)**; a site wherein official documentation of different languages can be found; there's also an offline version of it if you are lacking of internet speed (like me)
- [GitBook](https://www.gitbook.com/) — easier finding for documentations
- [MDN Web Docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/) — **(very much recommended)**; if you're trying to learn web development and programming in general, this can be a hub for it

## Books
- [Algorithms (by *Jeff Erickson*)](http://algorithms.wtf/) — it's a good book on algorithms (though not recommended as a first book on data structures and algorithms)
- [BC Campus Open Ed Open Textbook Database](https://open.bccampus.ca/)
- [Bookboon](https://bookboon.com/) — offers premium books as well
- [Building Blocks for Theoretical Computer Science](http://mfleck.cs.illinois.edu/building-blocks/) — self-explanatory title is self-explanatory
- [Calculus (by *Kalid Azad* from *Better Explained*)](https://betterexplained.com/calculus/)
- [Free Computer Books](http://freecomputerbooks.com)
- [Free Programming Books](https://github.com/EbookFoundation/free-programming-books) — **(recommended)**; a GitHub repo by the E-Book Foundation
- [Free Science Books](https://github.com/EbookFoundation/free-science-books) — another GitHub repo by the E-Book Foundation
- [Green Tea Press](https://greenteapress.com/wp/) — free computer science-related ebooks
- [How to Design Programs, 2nd Edition (HTML version)](https://htdp.org/)
- [Introduction to Embedded Systems, 2nd Edition (2017, Lee and Seshia)](https://ptolemy.berkeley.edu/books/leeseshia/download.html)
- [Math Wiki](https://math.wikia.com/wiki/Math_Wiki) — well, it is structured like a textbook and it is said that the Math Wiki is a textbook so there's that
- [MIT Press Open](https://mitpress.mit.edu/mit-press-open) — yes, free and open access books from MIT Press
- [Notes for Professionals](http://book.goalkicker.com/) — **(very much recommended)**; made by folks at Stack Overflow from the Stack Overflow documentation for variety of languages and despite the title, it is quite helpful for beginners like me, as well; also, it is frequently updated like once per week
- [Open Data Structures](http://opendatastructures.org/) — offers book
- [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/)
- [Open SUNY Textbooks](https://textbooks.opensuny.org/)
- [Open Textbook Library](https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks) — **(recommended)**; same as OpenStax
- [OpenStax CNX](https://cnx.org/) — a database of open educational resources
- [OpenStax](https://openstax.org/) — **(very much recommended in sciences)**; a library of open-licensed expert-curated college textbook and resources
- [Scientific Programming and Computer Architecture](https://divakarvi.github.io/bk-spca/spca.html)
- [Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, 2nd Edition (HTML version)](https://sarabander.github.io/sicp/) — unofficial (and prettier) version of [one of MIT's famous programming book (that can also be found online)](https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html)
- [The Feynman's Lectures on Physics](http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/)
- [WikiToLearn](https://www.wikitolearn.org/)

## Katas (Practice Sites)
- [/r/dailyprogrammer](https://old.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/)
- [Coderbyte](http://coderbyte.com)
- [Codewars](http://codewars.com/) — **(recommended)**
- [Euler Project](https://projecteuler.net/) — **(recommended, if you want to be more challenged)**; has more focus on applying mathematical concepts than programming
- [Exercism](https://exercism.io) — a site that focuses improving you through the mentor-mentee model
- [HackerRank](http://hackerrank.com/) — **(recommended, if you want to be more challenged)**
- [Pramp](https://www.pramp.com/) — you get to practice some programming interview questions and it's free

## Articles
- [Brain Pickings](https://www.brainpickings.org) — it's about whatever your brain might be piqued to
- [Dev.to](https://dev.to/)
- [Explain That Stuff](https://www.explainthatstuff.com/)
- [GeeksforGeeks](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/) — **(recommended)**; a computer science portal (for geeks)
- [Medium](https://medium.com/)
- [Preadr](https://preadr.com/) — an article link collector collecting articles related to your configured interests
- [Scratch A Pixel](http://scratchapixel.com/) — a list of articles on computer graphics
- [Wikipedia](https://www.wikipedia.org/) — if you want to learn random things

## Communities
- [CodeNewbie](https://www.codenewbie.org/)
- [Coding Blocks](https://www.codingblocks.net/) — they also have a podcast
- [Dev.to](https://dev.to/) — **(recommended)**; beginner-friendly
- [freeCodeCamp Community](https://forum.freecodecamp.org)
- [GitHub](https://github.com) **(of course)**
- [HackerNews](https://news.ycombinator.com/)
- [Reddit /r/coding](https://www.reddit.com/r/coding/)
- [Reddit /r/learnprogramming](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/)
- [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com) — look for the whole Meta Exchange network if you want to visit more communities other than Stack Overflow

## Podcasts
- [BaseCS](https://www.codenewbie.org/basecs)
- [CodeNewbie Podcast](https://www.codenewbie.org/podcast)
- [Coding Blocks Podcast](https://www.codingblocks.net/category/podcast/) — great for beginners 
- [College Info Geek Podcast](https://collegeinfogeek.com/cast/) — not related to programming; a good refresher about a variety of stuff
- [DevChat](https://devchat.tv/) — a list of podcast
- [Developer Tea](https://developertea.simplecast.fm/)
- [Syntax](https://syntax.fm/) — **(recommended if you're into web dev't)**
- [Programming Throwdown](https://www.programmingthrowdown.com/) — beginner-friendly
- [Real Talk JavaScript](https://realtalkjavascript.simplecast.fm/)
- [Soft Skills Engineering](https://softskills.audio/) — **(recommended)**; it's a podcast series about the things that relate to software engineering that are not mostly coding-related
- [You Are Not So Smart](https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/) — it's a podcast series about exploring self-delusions and some psychological 
stuff and I really like psychological stuff so that's why it's here

## Blogs
- ### Learning
    - [Cal Newport](https://calnewport.com/)
    - [College Info Geek](https://collegeinfogeek.com/) 
    - [Scott Young](https://scotthyoung.com/) — a blog that mainly focuses on learning
- ### Programming
    - [Coding Horror](https://blog.codinghorror.com/)
    - [CSS Tricks](https://css-tricks.com/) — a blog that focuses on front-end development
    - [Derek Sivers](https://sivers.org/) — a blog from a guy who had a lot of things to say on a lot of topics
    - [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/) — another blog that focuses on front-end development
    - [Jeremy Kun](https://jeremykun.com/) — a programmer with a focus on mathematics
    - [Joel On Software](https://www.joelonsoftware.com) — a software-related blog from Joel Spolsky, the CEO from Stack Overflow 
    - [Jon Skeet's Coding Blog](https://codeblog.jonskeet.uk/) — Jon Skeet's blog; \* insert Jon Skeet fact here \*
    - [Joshua Pullen](https://joshuapullen.com/blog/)
    - [Mozilla Hacks](http://hacks.mozilla.org/) — mainly focuses on web development progress
    - [Scott Logic](https://blog.scottlogic.com/) — it's a blog that focuses on a broad spectrum of stuff
    - [webapplog](https://webapplog.com/) — mainly focuses on Node.js
    - [Wes Bos](https://wesbos.com/blog/) — creator of several courses and some helpful posts along the way

## Newsletter
- [Frontend Focus](https://frontendfoc.us/) — another weekly newsletter about front-end development
- [Gamedev.js Weekly](http://gamedevjsweekly.com/) — weekly newsletter about HTML5 Game Development
- [JavaScript Weekly](https://javascriptweekly.com/)
- [Node Weekly](http://nodeweekly.com/)
- [Official Node.js Weekly Newsletter](https://newsletter.nodejs.org/)
- [Postanly](https://postanly.ongoodbits.com/) — a weekly digest of productivity life articles
- [Pycoders Weekly](https://pycoders.com/) — a weekly newsletter on Python

## YouTube Channel
- [Crash Course](https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse/) — **(recommended)**; a YouTube channel that specializes in introducing you to a lot of concepts and subjects such as computers, sciences, and computer science
- [DevTips](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyIe-61Y8C4_o-zZCtO4ETQ) — **(recommended)**; beginner-friendly
- [freeCodeCamp Talks](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVk8weS4S2kJfja72fTxh5A)
- [freeCodeCamp](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ)
- [Fun Fun Function](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1cgjhGzsSYb1rsB4bFe4Q) — **(recommended)**; your metaphorical caffeine every Monday
- [Jarvis Johnson](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoLUji8TYrgDy74_iiazvYA) — comedy channel with a slight focus on tech
- [Khan Academy](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4a-Gbdw7vOaccHmFo40b9g) — videos on various academic topics
- [LearnCode.academy](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVTlvUkGslCV_h-nSAId8Sw)
- [LevelUpTuts](https://www.youtube.com/user/LevelUpTuts/) — **(recommended)**; a beginner-friendly channel that mostly contains tutorials and introductions on various topics
- [Majorprep](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpCSAcbqs-sjEVfk_hMfY9w)
- [Mozilla Hacks](https://www.youtube.com/user/mozhacks) — web video series "Web Demystified"
- [patrickJMT](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe6jenM1Bc54qtBsIJGRZQ) — focuses on mathematics so if you want to learn math through YouTube, here is one channel that specializes on it
- [Professor Leonard](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHhuummRZaIVX7bD4t2czg) — a YouTube channel that focuses on giving topics on calculus 
- [The Coding Train](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjgXvBlbQiydffZU7m1_aw)
- [Vsauce](https://www.youtube.com/user/Vsauce) — need to say more?
- [Wes Bos](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoebwHSTvwalADTJhps0emA)

## Operating Systems (yes, some of them are free)
- ### [Windows 10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO)**\*** **(I guess it is free now, also recommended)**
- ### Linux — overwhelming majority of them are free and open source
    - [Arch Linux](http://archlinux.org/) — not recommended for beginners
    - [Fedora](https://fedoraproject.org/) — kind of similar to Ubuntu
    - [Linux Mint](https://www.linuxmint.com/) — **(recommended for beginners)**
    - [Manjaro](https://manjaro.org/) — another one of the beginner-friendly distro
    - [OpenSUSE](https://www.opensuse.org/) — available in two distinct versions: Tumbleweed and Leap
    - [Solus](https://getsol.us/)
    - [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com/) — **(recommended for beginners)**

## Programming Tools
- ### Offline IDE
    - [Eclipse](https://www.eclipse.org/) — Linux alternative; also has Windows version
    - [Jetbrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/) — **(recommended)**; has an assortment of tools for different programming languages and environment; also has support for students so you can apply for an educational pack, if you're eligible
    - [Visual Studio (IDE)](https://www.visualstudio.com/) — **(recommended)**; Windows-only 
- ### Online IDE
    - [Codeanywhere](http://codeanywhere.com/) 
    - [CodeSandbox](https://codesandbox.io/) — **(recommended)**; really acts as a solid online alternative in case you want to work on the go (mostly, for JavaScript-oriented web development)
    - [Codepen](https://codepen.io) — focuses on the front-end dev't
    - [Repl.it](https://repl.it/) — has stronger support for a back-end dev't 
- ### Text Editors
    - [Atom](https://atom.io/)
    - [Vim](https://www.vim.org/) — I have no words for this, yet
    - [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) — **(very much recommended)**; platform-agnostic (found on Windows, Mac, & Linux) 
- ### Web Browsers 
    - [Firefox Developer Edition](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/developer/all/)
    - [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/)
    - [Google Chrome Beta](https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/beta.html) — slight alternative for Google Canary
    - [Google Chrome Canary](https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/canary.html) — Windows-only
    - [Google Chrome](https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/) 
- ### Communication
    - [Discord](https://discordapp.com/) — client messenger
    - [Pidgin](https://pidgin.im/) — also a client messenger
    - [Slack](https://slack.com/) — **(recommended)**; a very good chat client between teams
    - [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/) — **(recommended)**; e-mail client 
- ### Productivity Tools
    - [A Soft Murmur](https://asoftmurmur.com/) — an ambient noise generator with a lot more sounds than rain 
    - [LastPass](https://lastpass.com) — cloud password manager
    - [MedleyText](https://medleytext.net/) — Evernote but targeted towards developers
    - [Notion](https://www.notion.so/?r=ed358a0e3f6d4e47a5db21a17beaa7dd) — distraction-free app for taking notes in Markdown
    - [Rainy Mood](http://www.rainymood.com/) — lets you focus through the ambience (if you're the type who find rain to be relaxing) 
    - [Trello](https://trello.com) — a project management tool
- ### Others
    - [Calibre](https://calibre-ebook.com/) — an e-book library management tool

## Mathematical Tools
- [fxSolver](https://www.fxsolver.com/)
- [Geogebra](https://www.geogebra.org/)
- [Mathway](https://www.mathway.com/Algebra)
- [Symbolab](https://www.symbolab.com/)

## Platforms For Your Future Apps
- [BitBucket](https://bitbucket.org/)
- [Amazon Web Services (AWS) — Free Tier](https://aws.amazon.com/free/)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/) — **(recommended)**; yeah
- [GitLab](https://gitlab.com/) — **(recommended)**;
- [Heroku](http://heroku.com/) — **(recommended, if you're starting)**; pretty much free
- [Microsoft Azure — Free Tier](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/)
- [Netlify](http://netlify.com/) — **(recommended)**; their free options is pretty much amazing

## Stock Resources
- ### Images
    - [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/)
    - [Pixabay](https://www.pixabay.com/)
    - [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/) 
- ### Fonts
    - [1001 Fonts](http://www.1001fonts.com/)
    - [Font Squirrel](https://www.fontsquirrel.com/)
    - [Lost Type](http://www.losttype.com/) 
- ### Other Stuff
    - [Canva](https://www.canva.com/) — why not create your own creative designs
    - [Coolors](https://coolors.co/) — **(recommended, if you are in design)**; color scheme generator
    - [Creative Market](https://creativemarket.com/) — free creative stuff weekly

## Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
- [cdnjs](https://cdnjs.com/) — **(recommended, if you're in web dev't)**; CDN for web-related libraries
- [Cloudinary](https://cloudinary.com/) — mostly images and video CDN; also has image and video manipulation
- [Staticaly](https://www.staticaly.com/) — CDN that serves files from different repo (BitBucket, GitLab, GitHub, and even GitHub gists) with the proper headers
- [UploadCare](https://uploadcare.com/) — image CDN with image manipulation on-the-fly

## Student Packs
- [Autocad](https://www.autodesk.com) — offers free years of the premium version of their products
- [GitHub Educational Pack](https://education.github.com/pack/) — assortment of benefits like unlimited private repositories on their own site, free domain name for a year, and free premium boosts on more sites  
- [JetBrain Student Pack](https://www.jetbrains.com/student/) — offers free licenses for their tools like [CLion](https://www.jetbrains.com/clion), [WebStorm](https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm), and [IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate](https://www.jetbrains.com/idea)
- [Microsoft Student Pack](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/students)

## Miscellaneous
- [A Pragmatic Quick Reference](https://blog.codinghorror.com/a-pragmatic-quick-reference/) — it's a collection of wisdoms put together in a list from the Coding Horror
- [Archive](https://archive.org/) — it's an archive site for everything, it seems; you can find a lot of stuff in there
- [Class Central](https://www.class-central.com/) — a search engine for courses at different MOOC sites
- [Developer Roadmap (by kamranahmedse)](https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap) — **(very much recommended)**; your reference in case you want to choose a specific role in software development (mine is more on the back-end development)
- [DevTube](https://dev.tube) — YouTube for developers
- [Distrowatch](https://distrowatch.com/) — **(recommended, if you're into Linux)**; website watching for updates around Linux distros
- [Keep A Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
- [keyvalues](https://www.keyvalues.com/) — it's a engineering job finder
- [Local Hackday MLH (Major League Hacking)](https://localhackday.mlh.io/) — it's a global hackathon (that are related to MLH) finder 
- [MOOC List](https://www.mooc-list.com/) — similar to Class Central
- [Open Culture](http://www.openculture.com/) — a site that provides open content and resources
- [Open Source](https://opensource.com/) — a site that talks all open source things

**\*** - *if you're on a Windows OS, probably you're locked out of the option to download the ISO
directly, to download it directly, you have to change the user profile from your browser
usually, you can do that by going into 'Responsive Design Mode' (Ctrl + Shift + M) on Firefox (or 
anything similar to Chrome and other browsers) and choosing a non-Windows device (choose an Apple product for easy 
choices) and you shall see that the page will reload and the layout will change* OR you can just download a browser extension to change your User Agent