We hope that you’re ready for the Code School FREE WEEKEND! If you haven’t already signed up, go grab a spot. Don’t miss this special chance to try all our our courses for free.
Node.js Beta
In other news, our Node.js beta was awesome this week. Get ready for that course, launching very soon.
Code TV Screencast
JQuery: Part 2 is our latest screencast. In this episode of Code TV, our own in-house dev Mark Kendall helps you build a mobile web app that looks and feels like a native app across a variety of mobile platforms. The second part of the series delves into navigation, toolbars, forms and use the jQuery Mobile grid on the application we started building in part 1.
Next Month’s Course
We’re also working hard on RSpec, the next course in our pipeline. Check out a sneak peek at these killer graphics by Justin Mezzell, who’s designing the course branding and interface.
That’s right! In an effort to promote learning new technologies and building cloud-based applications, CloudSpokes is sponsoring a full weekend where you can play all of the Code School courses completely free!
When?
Friday, May 18th at 8 PM to Sunday, May 20th at 11:59 PM EDT
How?
Spots are limited for this event, so to reserve your seat head over to the following URL:
http://www.codeschool.com/free-weekend
What?
Yup, all our courses. Polish your JavaScript skills with CoffeeScript, jQuery Air Captains Log, or Backbone. Refresh your Rails skills with Rails Best Practices, Rails for Zombies 2, or Rails Testing for Zombies. Fine tune your CSS Skills with CSS Cross Country, Journey into Mobile, or Functional HTML5 & CSS3. Click here to learn more about these courses.
Why?
At Code School we’re just plain excited to get more people playing through our content. If you have friends who need to build some skills this would be a great time to let them know about our platform.
What is CloudSpokes?
CloudSpokes helps you develop your skills by competing in contests for cash. It’s a great way to flesh out your skills, build your resume, or maybe even find your next gig.
Check em out while you’re waiting for the weekend to come around.
Hey Code School fans, we’ve got some sweet t-shirts available in our online store.
Grab the classic Code School shirt and the Rails for Zombies 2 shirt, on sale for $19 each for a limited time. These high quality American Apparel shirts are available in a variety of sizes for you.
Eric Allam and I have been working hard on Code School’s Node.js course, coming out later this month. There were times during course development that we could feel our minds expanding as we learned more about non-blocking, events, and streaming. I kept on visualizing this mind blown gif at the end of the day, so much so that we decided to do our own tribute, which you should see loading below.
Our minds were blown by Node.js, and hopefully yours will be too when you play through the course. We’ll be announcing the release on our monthly newsletter, so sign up here if you aren’t already getting that email. =)
P.S. No, Envy Labs is not starting to build web applications in Node. Node is not a replacement for Rails even though it most certainly can scale. *Badum-ching!*
We’ve been seriously thinking about taking Code School on the road. Our courses are very easy to teach in a live format, and many people learn better in a classroom with lab instructors if you get stuck. Yes, it would include all our courses (more than just Rails for Zombies).
If this sounds interesting, do us a favor and fill out this survey so we can gauge interest, find good locations, and determine the right price point.
Here’s the survey.
Have you been keeping up with Code TV? You won’t want to miss any of these fantastic episodes we’ve released lately.
Recent Code TV Episodes:
Getting Started with Clojure: Part 2
In this second part of our Intro to Clojure series, Craig Andera looks at literal data types, what expressions evaluate to, and how to name variables and funcitons.
Kockout.js: Part 2
Jacob Swanner teaches us how to make rich, responsive UIs with JavaScript. Learn the basics of using this client-side JavaScript library to keep your code organized.
Getting Started with Clojure: Part 3
In this section of the series, Craig takes us beyond the REPL to examine the typical lifecycle of a Clojure project—from creation and writing code and tests, to packaging up the final product.
jQuery Mobile
jQuery Mobile is a framework that helps you build mobile web apps that look and feel like native apps. Mark Kendall dives into an overview of jQuery Mobile’s capabilities and he starts building our sample app.
Asset Pipeline Patterns
The Rails Asset Pipeline is a powerful tool for managing an application’s assets, but it can be tricky to use. Caike Souza takes you through the basic concepts behind pipeline, how to organize manifest files, and how to use sass-rails helpers and debut production assets locally.
Up next month: Node.js
Our course next month is Node.js. Why this?
Node.js introduces a new platform for creating real-time web applications using a language you are already familiar with: JavaScript. Node.js is also the most popular server side ecosystem for doing non-blocking IO.
Eric Allam is hard at work on the slides for this course, and it’s shaping up to be a great one!
Keep sharing your thoughts & comments with us on Twitter @codeschool. We love hearing from you!
What’s new with us here at Code School? Lots of good stuff for you, including a new course.
New course: Journey into Mobile
Ready to start making your own mobile websites? Code School launched our highly anticipated Journey Into Mobile course by Jason VanLue. In this course, you will get lots of practice taking regular html/css websites and converting them into mobile friendly websites.
This course covers:
- Mobile first
- Fluid layouts
- Adaptive design
- Responsive design
The mobile web market is huge right now, so start learning the basics of developing a mobile website today. We’re really pleased with the user interface and theme of this course. Just look at these badges:
Not sure about Journey into Mobile? You can play the 1st level absolutely free.
Code TV News
We’ve got a new episode of Code TV for our beloved Code School members.
Check out Jacob Swanner’s Knockout.js screencast to learn how you can create rich, responsive UIs with JavaScript. In part #1 of this series, Jacob shows you the basics of using this client-side JavaScript library to keep your code organized.
Stay tuned for part #2, coming soon!
RailsConf 2012 - Beginner Track Announcement
RailsConf is coming soon to Austin, Texas. This year, there will be no tutorial day. Instead, there will be a beginner track run along side the normal tracks. Each day will start with a tutorial, and the afternoons will have shorter sessions with topics complementing the morning tutorial.
Code School courses will be featured in the mornings, and in the afternoons, you can hear talks by your favorite Code School instructors.
Monday:
10:30 - Gregg Pollack will lead everyone through Rails for Zombies.
4:00 - Olivier Lacan will present RVM & Essential Rails Development Tools.
4:30 - Jacob Swanner will be present ActiveRecord Scopes and Arel.
Tuesday:
10:30 - Gregg Pollack will showcase Rails for Zombies 2 (Intro to Rails - Part 2)
3:00 - Nathaniel Bibler will present How to Find Valuable Gems.
4:30 - Caike Souza will present Powerful Interfaces.
Wednesday:
10:30 - Gregg Pollack will take us through Rail Testing for Zombies.
We’re very excited about this year’s RailsConf and hope to see you there!
