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Free coding courses · learn by building

Learn to code by building things that work

Short interactive lessons in Python, JavaScript, SQL, C#, C++, Go and Rust, plus an AI track and a Foundations course on how computers and production systems work. Every lesson you pass adds a working part to a live project.

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turbo-garage / main.py Live
Live · Turbo Garage
warming up the scene…
IgnitionPaint & plateEngineThrottle pedalSteeringCheckpointsTires & pit boardAutopilot
7
Languages, plus an AI track
33
Guided projects
656
Interactive lessons
Free
No paywall, ever

New to code?

Start with how code really works

Foundations takes you from a single bit to your first programs, then under the hood to assembly, C, the OS and the network, then data structures, OOP and design patterns, then on to how production systems stay up: caching, databases, security, observability and AI. Short steps, and every one asks you to try something.

Start Foundations

Part 1

Start here: bits, the computer and your first programs

Begin with a single bit, meet the computer that runs everything, then write your first programs in Python.

  1. How computers store information
  2. Inside the computer
  3. How programs run

Part 2

Under the hood: assembly, C, the OS and the network

Go below Python: the machine's own language, a small and speedy language called C, the operating system, and how computers talk to each other.

  1. Assembly: talking to the CPU
  2. C and memory
  3. Operating systems and the Unix shell
  4. Networking

Part 3

Building well: data structures, OOP and patterns

Learn how to organise data, shape code into objects, and reuse ideas that good programmers have trusted for years.

  1. Data structures and algorithms
  2. Object-oriented programming
  3. Design patterns

Part 4

How production systems work

Timeouts, retries, rate limits, caches, databases, deploys, observability, security and AI systems: what it takes for software to survive real traffic.

  1. Failure is normal
  2. Too much at once
  3. Remember the answer
  4. Databases under load
  5. Getting code to production
  6. Knowing what's happening
  7. Trust nothing by default
  8. Shipping AI features

How you learn

Hands-on lessons that build on each other

main.py
def throttle(speed, target):
    if speed < target:
        return 1.0
    return 0.0

Write real code from the first minute

No slideshows. Every lesson opens a real editor with a small, focused task, and the code you write becomes part of a working program.

Tests · 2 of 3 passing

  • throttle(10, 30) returns 1.0
  • throttle(30, 30) returns 0.0
  • throttle(45, 30) brakes when too fast
Hint: what should happen when speed is above the target?

Get instant, specific feedback

Run your code as often as you like, then submit it against real tests. If something is off, you see which case failed and get a hint pointing you at the idea, not the answer.

  1. Ignition
  2. Paint & plate
  3. Engine
  4. Throttle pedal
  5. Steering

Follow a path, one concept at a time

Projects are broken into short lessons in a clear order. Each one adds a single idea, and your progress is saved as you go.

See it work

Every concept has a visible result

Instead of printing to a console, your code powers a working system. Step through the Turbo Garage build to see what each lesson adds.

main.py

# (empty)
Build it yourself
Blueprint · Turbo Garage
warming up the scene…
IgnitionPaint & plateEngineThrottle pedalSteeringCheckpointsTires & pit boardAutopilot

Projects

Choose what you want to build

View all 33 projects
Python · Beginner

Turbo Garage

Build a car's brain. Then drive it.

8 lessons~3h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Beginner

Art Studio

Make posters from code: grids, palettes and seeded chance.

17 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Beginner

Launch Control

Fly a rocket to orbit with your own code.

8 lessons~3h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Beginner

Beat Lab

Program a drum machine and make it bang.

8 lessons~3h

What you build

Not started0%
SQL · Beginner

Pit Wall

Run a race team's data. One query per screen.

13 lessons~3.5h

What you build

Not started0%
JavaScript · Beginner

Turbo Garage in JavaScript

Same car, new language. Wire it up in JavaScript.

8 lessons~3h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Intermediate

Signal Lab

Decode noisy radio messages with strings, regex and parsing.

14 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Intermediate

Cargo Bay

Keep a shipping depot running with exceptions, JSON and validation.

14 lessons~6h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Professional

Pocket Store API

Build a REST API with CRUD, SQLite, auth and tests.

14 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Advanced

Smart Home Hub

Wire up devices with callbacks, interfaces and the observer pattern.

14 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
141138132132SQL · Intermediate

Season Analytics

Answer season-long questions with subqueries, CTEs and window functions.

14 lessons~5h

What you build

Not started0%
SQL · Advanced

Schema Studio

Design a schema that refuses bad data: constraints, indexes, triggers and safe migrations.

16 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
SQL · Professional

Counting House

Engineer a marketplace's money: ledgers, safe retries, queues, audit trails and a month-end close.

18 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
C# · Beginner

Cinder Depot

Types, methods and classes: your first steps in C#.

14 lessons~6h

What you build

Not started0%
C# · Intermediate

Halyard Port

LINQ, generics, JSON and validation: handle real data in C#.

16 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
C# · Advanced

Footlight

Delegates, events, iterators, async and resilience: wire a theatre's show-control desk.

18 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
C# · Professional

Crux Desk

Build a climbing-gym booking API from the ground up: routing, middleware, DI, auth and resilience.

19 lessons~9h

What you build

Not started0%
JavaScript · Intermediate

Form Forge

Build the form engine behind a sign-up and checkout flow.

14 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
JavaScript · Advanced

Event Arena

Run an async arena with promises, event emitters and classes.

14 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
JavaScript · Professional

Dockline

Build a bike-share API: routing, auth, caching, retries and more.

19 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
Python · Professional

Graph Gateway

Put a typed GraphQL API in front of the shop with graphql-core.

14 lessons~10h

What you build

Not started0%
Rust · Beginner

Reef Station

Ownership, borrowing and types that catch your bugs: your first steps in Rust.

17 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
Rust · Intermediate

Corvid Peak

Lifetimes, error types, modules, closures and iterators: import a star catalogue without copying a byte.

16 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
Rust · Advanced

Drone Fleet

Command a fleet through traits, generics, trait objects, operators, iterators and shared state.

16 lessons~9h

What you build

Not started0%
Go · Beginner

Gopher Post

Types, loops, errors and structs: your first steps in Go.

16 lessons~7h

What you build

Not started0%
Go · Intermediate

Cairn Depot

Interfaces, errors, generics, JSON and tests: keep a rescue depot's books in Go.

16 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
Go · Advanced

Telemetry Pipeline

Process a firehose of buoy readings with goroutines, channels, worker pools and context.

16 lessons~9h

What you build

Not started0%
C++ · Beginner

Reactor Core

Types, functions and classes: your first steps in C++.

16 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
C++ · Intermediate

Provenance Lab

See the stack and the heap, then own resources safely with RAII, smart pointers and move semantics.

16 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%
C++ · Advanced

Lantern Bay

Write generic code and wire parts together with templates, concepts, callbacks and virtual functions.

16 lessons~9h

What you build

Not started0%
AI · Beginner

Pebble Beach

Teach a beach robot to sort pebbles from examples instead of rules.

15 lessons~6h

What you build

Not started0%
AI · Intermediate

Orchard Vision

Teach a fruit-sorting machine to see, sort and price with real machine learning.

16 lessons~6h

What you build

Not started0%
AI · Advanced

Glyph Greenhouse

Grow a neural network from scratch in NumPy and teach it to read hand-drawn digits.

16 lessons~8h

What you build

Not started0%

Each language grows into a path from Beginner to Professional. Here is a taste of what is planned next.

See every path

Pixel Pet

Python

Planned

Raise a creature with classes & state machines.

classesstate machinesencapsulation

Key-Value Server

Rust

Planned

Serve commands with threads, channels, a mutex and a thread pool, std only.

threadsmpsc channelsArc<Mutex<T>>protocol parser+2

REST API

Go

Planned

Build and test an HTTP API with net/http, middleware, validation and structured logs.

net/httphttptestrouting patternsmiddleware+3

Instant feedback

Run your code and see the result straight away. Nothing to install.

Real tests

Every lesson is graded by assertions, the same way production code is.

Free for everyone

No paywall and no trial. Supported by a small number of ads.

Your build persists

Your project grows with you. Come back any time and keep going.

Your first lesson takes about five minutes

Start the Turbo Garage and get the engine running.

Start lesson 1