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@ Troy
2025-02-28 22:11:23
Part of the answer lies in the definition of "worth". If the price of a course doesn't effect your budget much, and they offer personalized help (for when you get stuck, or just can't grasp a certain aspect), then it could be worth it.
If you're in the, "I had better get hired somewhere to pay for this course" boat, then your money is probably better spent on a few good books. "Good" being the key word in the previous sentence.
I haven't taken any paid online courses, but of the free courses available, and various books I've looked at, very few are any good at instruction.
It's rare to find material that has the student create practical examples that build upon one another, teaches "best practices" (most focus on syntax only), or how to debug your code in an effective manner.
A great example of the right way to teach an introduction programming is "Python Crash Course" by Eric Matthes ( https://nostarch.com/python-crash-course-3rd-edition ). Even if you're not learning Python, this might be a good resource. At one point, I started using the exercises in that book to write/learn JavaScript.