The best possible resource is an actual, professional developer. Someone who has real life experience programming.
I mean its good to learn some basic HTML and JavaScript, just so you are able to look at some code and know what's what. But if you need any kind of serious programming done, especially backend/database stuff, do yourself a favor and hire a professional. They can do it quicker, easier and a whole lot cheaper for you, then you can do for yourself.
Trust me. Speaking from experience here.
When I was learning I read A LOT on SitePoint. I think SitePoint has gone down till over the past few years, but they still have some great content and I definitely support their books (I have a whole bookshelf of them next to my desk).
Codeacademy has found a way to make coding easier to learn and more interactive. However I think the best thing to do is take a real course, not so much online. There are courses available in almost every city for a couple grand. Definitely worth the investment imo, might be taking one myself soon.
Check out thenewboston and his tutorials on youtube (I can't post links yet, but it's worth looking up)! When I took a java class a couple of years back I stopped going to class and instead just watched thenewboston. Still aced that subject
Treehouse and Lynda are good too. But really the best way to learn is to give yourself a small project and learn as you go as opposed to reading materials and code snippets.
I made a very simple form processor in Perl back in 1999 and thought I rocked!! :-D
Reading tutorials and doing it by yourself is a best way to do. Not the fastest, but at least you'll know what you are doing. Start with something simple and gradually move up from there.
Would agree that getting hands on is a great way to go but by using online courses you will certainly speed up the process. If you find the right course you will most likely run through a comprehensive example anyway, custom coding yourself as you go along to get an understanding.
Udacity.com - It's free. Has a beginner tutorial where you learn Python and at the same time build a search engine.
thenewboston channel on Youtube
Udemy.com - Loads of useful tutorials, one 41h one that is awesome - Become A Web Developer From Scratch, but some bore me to death
tutsplus.com - Same as udemy
Lynda.com - Some are great, others boring
digitaltutors.com in case you feel like learning 3D stuff
i program in PHP these days. before that it was Perl. today i'm hoping i can convince my 13 year old son to put down the gaming console and learn a programming language that he can use to do something a little more useful than building castles with minecraft.
i'd probably start my son off with something like this. i like the idea of having a goal - a web site application - that will be coded by the time the course is complete.
the only thing i don't like about the site is having to be a member an pay a monthly fee for ongoing access. i'd rather just buy the occasional course.
Also, don't forget Javascript. I've been learning the basics of it (along w/ html/css & php) and it really helps understand what's going on when you're looking to see what a web page is doing.
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