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Want to learn more about technology? Try these courses

Introduction
There are numerous websites online that promise to make it easy for you to learn new things but often these are commercialised and based on a subscription model. While sites like Lynda and Udemy are great, in this article I want to focus more on free services that I’ve personally used where possible.
These include some genuinely informative YouTube channels that I have learnt a lot from. Free to view content can in many cases be equal or better in quality to that which you have to pay for and that is what I would like to emphasise in this article.
How computers work and are built
Have you ever considered what is actually inside your computer, or what an “operating system” actually is? It’s all a lot simpler than you think. GCF Learn Free has a very informative series of tutorials on all the basics that teach you about the importance of operating systems, how programs run, the core components of a computer and what happens inside.
Another useful but ageing resource is HowStuffWorks’ video tour of a computer. It highlights the key components and how they link together but bear in mind that some of the connectors mentioned are out of date today. It is still a useful introduction into what lives inside your computer’s case though. Many more informative and more modern tutorials can be found on YouTube but HowStuffWorks give a good first insight.
After learning these basics, perhaps you’ll even be inspired to build your next computer yourself. Such a project is much easier than you may think. Buying components yourself means you’ll know exactly what is inside and can allow you to significantly cut costs over buying a computer from a store. You can finish a build in under an hour after starting.
Networking
Networking can be a very interesting topic to learn. It may seem complicated and overwhelming at first as there are a lot of different protocol names and types to learn but once you’ve covered the basics it will all make sense and you will understand how devices on your home network communicate and how the internet works.
A great place to get started is with HTTP. This protocol is how web browsers and servers communicate with each other. When you clicked on the link to view this page, your browser sent an HTTP request to the Digital Journal servers. They received the request and sent a response back that happened to be this page. Your web browser then displayed the page on the screen.
There is a really useful tutorial on how HTTP works on Tuts+. It goes through the basics of how a web address works, what the various HTTP status codes (404 errors and the like) actually mean and what an all-important HTTP header looks like.
Once you’ve covered that, you may find it interesting to study network security. It can be useful to learn this by testing the security of your own network using tools like NMAP. Although I said I would avoid non-free content where possible, there are great NMAP courses available online. A free trial that lets you view the first few videos and learn the basics of how network security works is available.
Programming
Programming is a useful skill that everybody should learn. It encourages you to think more logically and educates you on how computers work and make decisions. The number of programming languages used today is extensive and can be confusing to beginners, especially those who are completely new to the topic. A good place to start is with a high-level language like Python but even this may be a “throwing you in at the deep end” attack for some.
A better place to look may be Code.org. Endorsed by influential figures in the technology world like Mark Zuckerberg, the site is designed specifically for beginners and teaches you to code in an interactive, drag-and-drop environment. The simple courses are fun and easy to pick up and take you through recreating popular games. Part of the hour of code project, the site is also usable by children.
Web development
I have chosen to make a distinction between programming and web development. Although the line is increasingly narrow, the web is often treated as its own environment and there are some great services available that focus solely on creating websites.
One such service is Codeacademy. It teaches you all the modern web languages and is how I have learnt many of my skills. The interactive tutorials on each language are fun and involving. You are taught skills and then given the chance to apply them. Most courses can be completed in a day or an afternoon or evening if you have previous programming experience. You will come away with the knowledge required to make your own website.
A course being offered by edX this summer looks to be an invaluable resource for new website creators. It is teaching how to get started with HTML5, the new technology powering the latest websites. You will be instructed by W3C, the organisation that created the HTML5 standard so you can be sure that the content is reliable.
The course opens on June 1st but you can enroll now. It lasts 6 weeks and requires 6-8 hours of effort a week, at your own pace. It is free but you can get a verified certificate to show that you completed it for $99.
Once you have picked up the basic skills, web development is very easy to learn from others. Although not actually offering courses as such, SitePoint have some very useful tutorials for beginners and professionals and are worth checking out. The “phpacademy” YouTube channel is an invaluable resource for people looking to write PHP code that runs on web servers after running through the Codeacademy course.
You may also want to watch some of WebConcept’s YouTube videos. They explain very clearly how a lot of the fundamentals of the internet work and are short and concise.
Conclusion
There are many invaluable learning resources on every area of computing available for free online. They simplify topics that may seem alien to you right now and are a great way to become more involved with the fast-paced technology world.
If you have ever wondered how the internet works, how webpages make it to your computer or just what is inside your computer, stop wondering and find out! Within an afternoon you may find yourself advising friends and family on what that stubborn error message in their web browser actually means and you’ll be more able to fix problems that occur on your own computer.

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