Coding for High School Students: How High Schoolers Can Get Started With Coding Projects Today
Coding, and computer science in general, have seen their popularity skyrocket recently. As the world becomes more technologically advanced, more and more highschoolers are deciding to get into this burgeoning field. However, getting into coding can be a daunting task.
In this blog post, I am sharing different ways that high school students can break into the world of coding and computer science, through great tutorials, beginner projects, and more.
What language do I start with?
Every single person that I’ve seen trying to start in this field, myself included, has asked this same question. The answer can be a little frustrating: It really doesn’t matter too much. Sure, each different project type has a language that works best for it. But in reality, as long as you start with one language and stick with it, you’ll learn a lot and grow from it.
If you still don’t know where to start, here’s a nice guide:
If you’re interested in jumping into artificial intelligence or machine learning, try Python!
Python is a great beginner’s language: it’s really powerful, and pretty similar to English
If you’re interested in front-end (the part that users see) web development, try Javascript!
It’s also a fairly straightforward language to learn, and it’s used almost ubiquitously in front-end development
If you want to do back-end (the part that users don’t see) web development, try Java!
It’s a great introductory language, as it teaches you object-oriented programming, and it’s really useful in a lot of situations
C and C++ are two other really popular and powerful languages, though I wouldn’t recommend starting with them as they can be a bit challenging
As I’ve said, the language you choose really doesn’t matter. Just choose one, spend a couple weeks really learning it, and try watching some tutorials or doing some basic projects. From there, learning new languages is easy. I started with Java, as that was the first language I had heard of. I learned the basics of Java, did a few projects, and when I moved into projects that required other languages, I was able to learn them within a couple days because I already knew the concepts required.
Beginner’s Projects
The best way to get into coding is to just sit down and work on some projects. There are a lot of guides to help online if you get stuck, but trying to work through the bugs and problems is a reward of its own.
Where to Find Projects
A simple Google search for “Coding projects for beginners” gives a wealth of great project ideas, from a simple calculator app, to a random number generator, countdown timers, and more. Another great way to find ideas is to ask ChatGPT for some ideas, and implement them on your own.
Getting Started
Before even beginning to write a line of code, the most important thing is to really understand what your problem statement is. What do you need to do in order to solve the problem properly? What variables will you need to define, and what parts of your code will you be repeating over and over again? Maybe consider writing functions for these parts.
Once you’ve gotten an idea where to start, it’s still not time to code yet. Instead, start writing down everything you need to do in plain English (or whatever language you’re most comfortable with). Declare your variables, write out your functions, make your loops, all in what we call pseudocode. Aftery you’re done, that’s when you finally start coding.
Boost Your College Applications
These coding projects, while being seemingly simple, can really boost your resumés! Simply keep all of them in a Github repository, and keep adding the projects you work on to this repo. Over time, you’ll have built a really impressive portfolio highlighting the projects you’ve undertaken in a variety of languages and topics, all while displaying the amazing growth you’ll have gained since making your first simple projects.
Thinking Bigger
Now that you have learned more about coding projects and the many benefits for high school students, you can begin to consider a much bigger coding project.
It may seem daunting in the beginning, but once you’ve built up a portfolio of much smaller projects, it’s time to start thinking bigger. How do you want to use coding to make a meaningful impact? It doesn’t have to be something mind-blowing. It doesn’t even have to be something new. As long as you can find something you’re truly interested in, you can make a coding project about it. For example, if you’re a football fan (like me), you can make a machine learning algorithm to calculate player statistics for your favorite team (count up those Christian McCaffrey touchdowns :P). The possibilities really are endless.
Making a big project is going to be a lot of effort, and it’ll take weeks or even months to finish. But the rewards are equally as great. You’ll have learned so much, and you’ll also have created something truly incredibly to show off on your applications.
How to get started with coding as a high schooler
Today, I’ve shared a few great ways to get into coding as a high school student. Although it may seem like a perilous and difficult task, I promise you that it really isn’t as difficult as you might think, and it’ll be a lot of fun. Just sit down, grab some water, and get to coding!
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
