Engaging in programming exercises is a great way to build your programming skills. This is especially important if you’re trying to master more than one programming language. While some platforms include programming tasks in the curricula of their programming courses, others keep the coding tasks separate from their courses and easier for students to access.
If you’re interested in substantially boosting your coding skills so you can efficiently code from scratch, this is the right article for you. In it, you’ll discover the best coding exercises and quizzes to help you learn to code.
Coding Exercises to Help You Learn Coding
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced coder, programming challenges can help you develop your coding skills and experience. Below is a list of exercises and solutions for problems within popular coding languages to help you write your lines of code more efficiently.
10 Coding Exercises and Practice Problems (With Solutions)
1. Basic Variable Assignment in JavaScript
A basic variable is any variable with a value that is not equal to zero. Basic variables always correspond to a pivot column. You may come across a problem that requires you to find out why a source code can’t store the variable named “codewa.rs”. The purpose of this exercise is to find out why the source code doesn’t work, correct it, and save the string as a variable.
Solution: To save the string as a named variable, you use the equal sign “=”, not the double equal sign. The double equal sign is used when you’re trying to confirm if two values are equal.
2. Get the First Element in an Array in PHP
An array is an object that contains a defined number of values in one type. The values or items contained in an array are called elements. There are three types of arrays in the PHP language. We have the indexed array, the associative array, and the multidimensional array. In this exercise, you need to access the first element in an array written in PHP and explain how you arrived at your conclusion.
Solution: To solve this problem, you can use any of the PHP array methods. If you use the reset() function, it will move the internal pointer of the PHP array to its first element. The syntax will be reset ($array).
3. A “Hello World” Program in Python
A “Hello World” program is a basic task for every newbie programmer. Learning how to print this piece of code as a standard output boosts your chances of writing clean code in a more complex project. Printing the “Hello World” program in Python is much more straightforward than it is in other programming languages because of how flexible the Python syntax is.
Solution: To solve this programming task, you need the Python console. This allows you to execute your code instantly. You also need the print() function. This takes the written input in the Python console and outputs it as the “hello world” print. The Python 3 syntax will be >>>print(‘Hello World’).
4. Create a Memory Game in JavaScript
If you’re learning the JavaScript language, this is an ideal beginner code challenge. A memory game is a fun card game for both adults and children. It requires the player to find matching pairs for each element using their memory. In this coding exercise, you’ll create a memory game using JavaScript. This task is best for those who know how to play the memory game.
Solution: To create a memory game, you need to first build the grid for your game board using HTML and CSS. You need to create an array to hold all your list of cards. Then, the cards contained in the game board can be styled using flexbox.
5. Implement Morse Code
A Morse code is a system of messaging that requires the sender and the receiver to encode text messages into sound or light signals, represented as dots and dashes instead of alphabet characters. This programming exercise allows you to use your language of choice, such C#, Python, C++ Java, or PHP, to encode an alphabet text into Morse code.
Solution: If you choose to use the Java programming language to convert a Java string to Morse code, the function will be written as // function to encode “a” alphabet as // Morse code. The static will be String morseEncode (char x).
6. Functional Programming to Compute Square Roots in Python
Functional programming involves using pure mathematical functions to create software programs without applying statements. A square root, on the other hand, is a number that, when multiplied by itself, produces its original value. In this coding exercise, we are going to compute square roots in the Python programming language.
Solution: there are four different ways to calculate a square root in Python. Using the pow() function, the exponential operator, the CMath module, and the sqrt() function. The simplest of them all is the pow() function. The syntax would be pow(x,y), where y is the power of x. The square root will be = math.pow(num, 0.5).
7. Process Image in Golang
Image processing involves performing operations on an image using a computer algorithm. An image comprises pixels, which are values ranging from zero to 255. In this programming exercise, you are going to create an image matrix using an image package. To complete this exercise, you need to know how to process images in Golang.
Solution: You can access the Go array containing a list of pixel elements using the GoLang image package. This package helps you convert the image from its base string to PNG. To get started, you’ll need to open your image file and process it through the PNG decoder. Define your strings and process the pixel with the “for” loop function, then replace the pixel with one of the level strings.
8. Build a Web Scraper in Python
A web scraper is a software program that helps you extract data from different sources across the web, then export it in a format that can be easily utilized by the user. This programming task helps you build your skills in data analysis and data science. The task here is to build a web scraper that can automatically help you harvest a defined type of data from websites and export them in an insightful format using Python and Beautiful Soup.
Solution: To build a web scraper in Python, you need to be familiar with Python libraries. You can start this process by visiting your site of interest and exploring the contents on the site using developer tools. The next step is to scrape page contents using Python request libraries to integrate the HTML code into the Python script. Then, explore the contents of your HTML code using Beautiful Soup.
9. Check for Negative or Positive Integer Inputs in the C Language
Integers are data types in which the whole numbers are represented as binary values. These values can either be positive or negative. In this coding exercise, we will be using the C programming language to determine if a particular integer has a positive or negative value.
Solution: To solve this problem, you represent the given integer as your input variable. Then, check if the value is below or above zero using “if” and “else” statements. The value you discover becomes your output. If it is below zero, you print it out as “it is a negative number” or vice versa. Then, you exit.
10. Create a Dynamic Object in C#
Dynamic programming is a mathematical modeling technique that involves breaking down a mathematical problem into simpler subproblems, so that each subproblem can be tackled sequentially. In this coding exercise, the goal is to build a customized dynamic object that allows you to search through the contents of a text file by displaying it as properties of the object.
Solution: Our solution would be to create a custom dynamic class and a text file before creating a sample application that uses the dynamic object using the C# programming language in the Visual Studio Code. To create a dynamic class, create a read-only file then add a class statement. Next, import a text file into the dynamic sample project. Copy your text to the text file and save it. Lastly, add your C# to the sample class.
How to Get Help with Coding
If you’ve gone through the basic coding exercises in the previous section of this article and you would like to build more programming knowledge, you can take advantage of the notable resources below to help you improve your coding skills.
Coding Exercises
As an aspiring computer programmer or software developer, you need to be able to write programs on the go. Participating in coding exercises is an ideal way to achieve this. Some exercises focus on building your applied math skills, while others help you understand the software development process. If you’re ready to start practicing code challenges, check out Udemy and Codecademy.
Coding Projects
Coding projects offer a structured way of learning to code and develop software programs. They encompass all the processes involved in software development and, as such, they function as useful work experience. If you want to impress your hiring manager, you need to build a portfolio comprising relevant and innovative coding projects.
Coding Quizzes
Coding quizzes are usually timed. They contain open-ended or static questions that test your knowledge of coding. They don’t usually require practical demonstration, but rather, they focus on theoretical attempts and can be in the form of multiplayer programming games. The result of your quiz can be used to measure your growth in programming.
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Coding Forums and Blogs
Coding forums are online platforms where you can network with professionals in your field. You can gain access to mentorships, coding resources, job offers, and templates through these forums. Coding blogs provide you with detailed programming tutorials and articles on how to improve your coding skills.
Where Can I Practice Coding?
Several coding platforms provide resources for a wide range of programmers to learn to code in different languages. Below are some of the best websites to visit to practice coding.
Websites to Practice Coding
- Codewars. The coding exercises on Codewars are organized in small sets called Kata. These coding kata help you build skills in different programming languages. You can monitor your progress through the test cases directly from your browser. To access exercises and challenges on dozens of programming languages, you need to first sign up to become a member.
- HackerRank. This platform offers interested candidates diverse programming tutorials and exercise tracks to help them broaden their career opportunities. If you’re preparing for an interview, HackerRank can help you prepare with interview kits designed for employment with top companies.
- Exercism. This is a nonprofit organization that provides tutorials and fun coding exercises organized in tracks, for programmers and developers to improve their skills. It supports up to 55 programming languages and offers mentorship services to students for free. This is a great learning platform for beginners.
- Topcoder. This advanced coding assessment platform helps you build your skills in competitive programming. You’ll find practice challenges that can help you strengthen your coding skills and improve your chances of being hired by a top recruiter. You can even earn a decent income from participating in marathon matches and projects.
- Coderbyte. This is an ideal platform to learn to code like a professional software developer. The free and paid code exercises on Coderbyte are geared towards preparing you for programming interviews with top employers. It comes with an automated grading system, interview kits, career resources, and millions of code solutions to aid your development.
What’s the Best Way to Learn Coding?
The best way to learn to code is through coding bootcamps. They offer you training in both the theoretical and practical aspects of programming. They also provide a structured environment and flexible learning formats so you can learn at your own pace. They also offer mentorships for building a professional coding portfolio and finding a job.
Coding Exercises FAQ
Coding exercises are programming tasks prepared and offered by coding platforms and instructors as a way to build the student’s knowledge of programming. Some of these exercises come with solutions and grading systems to help the student measure their performance.
To practice coding, you should first build your theoretical knowledge. You can achieve this by reading coding articles and books. You should also look for tutorials, online coding courses, exercises, and forums to help you build your skills. To gain structured knowledge of programming, enroll in coding bootcamps.
Coding is the process of writing and translating a computer code from one programming language to another. It is not as broad as programming which is the process of building a software program. It includes processes such as writing the source code and building, testing, debugging, and deploying the functional software program.
To learn code for free you should look out for platforms that offer coding resources free of charge. There are several of them on the Internet. This article contains some useful and free resources you should try out, like Exercism and Coderbyte. You can learn to code from tutorials shared on blogs but they usually don’t come with mentorships, so it’s hard to measure your growth.
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