About the course

This course is free (as in free beer), and will always be. This course is not a tutorial, it's a book! You don't have to casually skim through it, you have to take your time through every chapter and most important, you have to do the exercises! Possibly more than once, until you are able to explain the solution effortlessly even to people without prior coding background.

I am stressing this because a lot of people suffer from tutorial paralysis, i.e. they follow some video or blog post about a topic believing they have the situation under control, only for seeing how the hounds of reality are eventually unleashed and proceed to relentless bite them. It's understandable: they don't know if the resources are up to date or if the author is reliable, and even worse as soon as they stumble upon different content about the same topic, they don't know to whom should they give more credit.

Is this resource is the best way to learn how to program then? Far from it with all chance! But it's a structured and cohesive material that you can put some trust into.

A note about the usage of AI assistants​

I learnt to code without any particular technological aid, for some years even without syntax highlight or simple code completion! I even had to deliver some code exams on paper. This means that I cannot possibly know how does it feel to learn the same subject with the support offered nowadays.

What I can tell for sure is that one should maximize the control over the produced output, and should be able to rely on the learning resources as much as possible. LLMs are overconfident in providing their solutions, and have non-zero chance to hallucinate and share blatant nonsense. They are a productivity boost for senior developers but a non-optimal companion for learning, especially at the early stages.

About the author​

My name is Diego, I studied applied mathematics at the Rome Tor Vergata University. I worked as a software engineer for more than a decade. At the beginning of my career I assisted and taught (Java and web development) at my university for some years while working in an agency, before moving to the German capital in 2012.

I went back to teaching and mentoring four years ago, this time in the full-stack bootcamp world. I guided cohorts back to back both online and onsite, and I supported and mentored my team of coaches.

I love to find shelter in the nature, to observe wildlife, to walk through cities where the locals live. Most of all I love music! I have been to hundreds of concerts and I gathered hundreds of vinyl, thing I regret every time I had to change apartment. I play guitar and piano. Few things rival the feeling of playing in a beautiful garden or in a forest clearing.