What is Grasshopper?

Grasshopper is an interactive education app for learning about coding. It began at Google as an experimental project created by a group called Area 120.

According to 9to5Google, since its launch in April 2018, Grasshopper has been downloaded 1.6 million times on iOS and Android devices.

What makes Grasshopper unique is that it specializes in the mobile user experience. Its underlying mission is to reach out to people who want to learn coding but who also primarily use a mobile device. It is filled with colorful and creative exercises designed to acclimate the user to the syntax of JavaScript and the nature of programming in general.

As you progress through the exercises, you gain "patches" through various achievements. Grasshopper also keeps track of all the concepts you learned thus far. They even have a mode of the app that lets you practice the concepts you learned to get better at programming!

Where do you go from there?

At some point, there will come a time where the user will need to begin programming on a desktop computer (with an actual, physical keyboard) to continue their coding journey. freeCodeCamp is an excellent path to take because not only are there lots of in-depth exercises, you can also earn certificates in certain areas of coding that you can work to earn. This includes areas such as:

  • Responsive Web Design
  • Data Visualization
  • APIs and Microservices

You can even pick up where you left off on Grasshopper by earning a certificate on freeCodeCamp in JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures!

And the best part: It's all 100% free!

The certificates involve working through a series of exercises and completing a set of projects that test what you learned. If you get stuck, you can seek help from a community of other coders, new and experienced, who are ready and willing to help! There is also a news section of the site where everyday users are publishing helpful articles everyday!

Besides the individual online experience, freeCodeCamp study groups have been created all over the world where you can go and meet with other programmers to learn from and network with one another!

Through fantastic, free platforms like Grasshopper and freeCodeCamp, your start in the programming industry will be strong!

References

https://9to5google.com/2019/01/02/google-grasshopper-coding-app-downloads/

https://grasshopper.codes/about/