Beginner VS Code by Alan Simpson on Udemy is a great beginner-friendly course for anyone who is interested in getting started or switching over to using VS Code as your IDE. It covers everything from why you should use VS Code to installation and how to use extensions. For such a short and free course, this is great for anyone who wants to get started on VS Code right away.
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My Rating
Table of Contents
- Course Overview
- Who This Course Is For
- The Breakdown
- Conclusion
- What could I do with the knowledge in this course?
Course Overview
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Price: Free
- Duration: 30 Minutes
- Material: 3 Sections, 5 Video Lectures totalling to 30min
- Students enrolled at the time of taking: ~42,000
- Course requirements/prerequisites: Absolutely none!
- Topics Covered:
- Why Learn VS Code
- Getting VS Code (Installation guide for Windows and Mac)
- Using VS Code
- VS Code extensions
Who This Course Is For
This course is for anyone who is interested in finding out about VS Code and whether it is the right IDE for you to use. It runs through how to install VS Code and the features that you will be using as a new programmer!
The Breakdown
Teacher and Class material – 4.5/5
Alan Simpson is an award-winning developer and online educator. He has written over 100 computer books and has had an audience of millions of readers.
He teaches this course as effectively as possible – short, succinct and straight to the point. He uses screen recordings and runs through the VS Code features and installations in a clear and easy to understand manner.
One thing I like is how he uses annotations to make things more clear to students, especially in the installation videos.
Content – 4/5
This is a very simple course and consists of just 3 sections. The first is a single video on Why to learn VS Code that runs through the features such as error detection and colour-coded text. The second is an installation guide with videos for both Windows and Mac. The last section is actually using VS Code, featuring popular extensions that a new programmer will most likely use.
He covers everything in a good depth, making sure not to leave out the small details that beginners may face. He is very concise in his explanations and students should have no problem following along with his walkthroughs.
In terms of extensions, he mainly covers HTML extensions, which some programmers may not use. However, it is more of teaching the students how to install and use extensions rather than what extensions a student may want to use, which they can find from Google after the course.
The only issue is that the content is from April 2018, which is over 4 years ago. Whilst most features are still relevant and should be quite clear to students, it would be great to have updated content.
Engagement – 5/5
Simpson makes this short and sweet course very easy to follow which is great for a simple course. He has a clear and varied voice which is easy to understand and keeps students engaged.
Furthermore, as mentioned above, he supplements his teaching with some nice editing of his videos. He zooms in and out of specific sections in order to shift his students’ attentions and uses annotations to make everything clear as can be.
He also goes through a wide range of applications that students may be using VS Code for, such as for website developers, which is great for demonstrating the features and make examples clearer for students.
Pace – 5/5
For a short course, he manages to cover everything at a great pace, not too fast or too slow. It is easily digestible and should have students up and using VS Code in no time after the course.
If you are looking to get VS Code and using it in a short amount of time, this course is a great way to do that.
Value – 5/5
For just a simple 30 minute course, it fulfils its purpose of introducing VS Code to programmers, both new and those who are looking to make the switch. No complaints for value here.
Conclusion
If you want to make the jump to VS Code and want to do so in a short amount of time, this course is the one for you! It wastes no time in explaining everything in detail and does not miss out anything for programmers of all experience levels. Hence if you are new or are just looking to start on VS Code, in just 30 minutes, this course will get you there.
What could I do with the knowledge in this course?
- Install VS Code
- Use VS Code extensions
Use these to install your programming languages and debuggers to get to coding in your choice of language straight away!
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