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alexmojaki
futurecoder
Python2020–2023
alexmojaki / futurecoder

futurecoder

100% free and interactive Python course for beginners

Learning & Reference
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
3Distinct people
12Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
1.6KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

100% free and interactive Python course for beginners

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

Others have suggested autocomplete before. I opened https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/issues/120 in response as a place to talk about it. But in general my opinion is…

alexmojaki used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 7:02:50 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month12 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2020-08-01 14:57:59 UTC to 2023-01-07 20:32:34 UTC.

0123452020-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 commentsAug 20202020-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 commentsOct 20212021-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2021-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 1 submissions, 4 commentsJan 2023

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Aug 20202020-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-09-01 00:00:00 UTC110
Sep 20202020-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20202020-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20202020-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-12-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Dec 20202020-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20212021-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20212021-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20212021-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20212021-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20212021-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-07-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 20212021-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20212021-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20212021-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20212021-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-11-01 00:00:00 UTC303
Nov 20212021-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-12-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Dec 20212021-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC202
Feb 20222022-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20222022-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20222022-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20222022-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20222022-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 20222022-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20222022-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20222022-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20222022-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20222022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Dec 20222022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC514

What Hacker News says

5 sources
alexmojaki·Jan 7, 2023
Thanks! To run multiple lines of code, use the editor, not the shell. If you only see the shell, it's because it's hidden at the beginning of the course for beginners. See the table of contents (https://futurecoder.io/course/#toc) and skip to the page "Variables > Writing Programs" or after. Or click the 'fullscreen' icon in the top right to enter 'IDE' mode in which everything is enabled, as the debuggers are similarly introduced gradually. Equivalently, go to https://futurecoder.io/course/#ide, or click "Just code" on the homepage. The issue for tracking multi-line input in the shell is here: https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/issues/268 It's something I'd like to have, but it's not a high priority, and I don't think it needs to be.
In Show HN: Futurecoder – A free interactive Python course for coding beginners
alexmojaki·Jan 7, 2023Recommendation phrase
Others have suggested autocomplete before. I opened https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/issues/120 in response as a place to talk about it. But in general my opinion is that it would probably actually be harmful to learning for beginners, and I'd need to see evidence to convince me otherwise. Here's my favorite explanation why: https://cseducators.stackexchange.com/a/634 Here's another similar discussion: https://cseducators.stackexchange.com/questions/5777/python-...
In Show HN: Futurecoder – A free interactive Python course for coding beginners
alexmojaki·Jan 7, 2023
It's available in Spanish: https://es-latam.futurecoder.io/ It was actually the first translation to be finished 100%, although now it's fallen behind to 91% as new English text was added. The reason it's not listed on the site alongside French and Tamil is that after it was finished, it was never proofread, so it never became officially ready :( > I’d be up to the challenge of helping translate Yes please!!! Information about translating is here: https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/wiki/How-to-write-... The task to finish and proofread the Spanish translation is recorded here: https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/issues/371
In Show HN: Futurecoder – A free interactive Python course for coding beginners
alexmojaki·Jan 7, 2023
1. Thanks, I've never heard about this, will definitely need to check it out. Opened https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder/issues/418 2. Because it all runs in the browser (thanks to Pyodide) it's just some static files, so it's extremely cheap to host. I can keep it going long after I'm bored with it. If I die or something and the site literally goes down, someone else can easily host it. There's already a slightly customised mirror of the French site hosted here: https://futurecoder.forge.aeif.fr/
In Show HN: Futurecoder – A free interactive Python course for coding beginners
alexmojaki·Jan 7, 2023Submission

Show HN: Futurecoder – A free interactive Python course for coding beginners

Some highlights: - 100% free and open source (https://github.com/alexmojaki/futurecoder), no ads or paid content. - No account required at any point. You can start instantly. (You can create an account if you want to save your progress online and across devices. Your email is only used for password resets) - 3 integrated debuggers can be started with one click to show what your code is doing in different ways. - Enhanced tracebacks make errors easy to understand. - Useful for anyone: You can have the above without having to look at the course. IDE mode (https://futurecoder.io/course/#ide) gives you an instant scratchpad to write and debug code similar to repl.it. - Completely interactive course: run code at every step which is checked automatically, keeping you engaged and learning by doing. - Every exercise has many small optional hints
Read the rest
to give you just the information you need to figure it out and no more. - When the hints run out and you're still stuck, there are 2 ways to gradually reveal a solution so you can still apply your mind and make progress. - Advice for common mistakes: customised linting for beginners and exercise-specific checks to keep you on track. - Construct a question that will be well-received on sites like StackOverflow: https://futurecoder.io/course/#question - Also available in French (https://fr.futurecoder.io/), Tamil (https://ta.futurecoder.io/), and Spanish (https://es-latam.futurecoder.io/). Note that these translations are slightly behind the English version, so the sites themselves are too as a result. If you're interested, help with translation would be greatly appreciated! Translation to Chinese and Portuguese is also half complete, and any other languages are welcome. - Runs in the browser using Pyodide (https://pyodide.org/). No servers. Stores user data in firebase. - Progressive Web App (PWA) that can be installed from the browser and used offline. ----------- A frequent question is how does futurecoder compare to Codecademy? Codeacademy has some drawbacks: - No interactive shell/REPL/console - No debuggers - Basic error tracebacks not suitable for beginners - No stdin, i.e. no input() so you can't write interactive programs, and no pdb. - No gradual guidance when you're stuck. You can get one big hint, then the full solution in one go. This is not effective for learners having difficulty. - Still on Python 3.6 (futurecoder is on 3.10) I am obviously biased, but I truly believe futurecoder is the best resource for adult beginners. The focus on debugging tools, improved error messages, and hints empowers learners to tackle carefully balanced challenges. The experience of learning feels totally different from other courses, which is why I claim that if someone wants to start learning how to code, futurecoder is the best recommendation you can make.
371 points · Open discussion

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