The Coding Train

The Coding Train is made by Daniel Shiffman, a creative coding teacher. The channel offers tutorials ranging from the basics of programming languages like JavaScript to algorithmic art, simulation and machine learning.

The best-known series is Coding Challenges. In each one, Daniel picks an idea, such as a game, a simulation or a mathematical pattern, and codes it from scratch in one session. Mistakes are left in and fixed on camera, which shows how real programming works. The tone is warm, energetic and encouraging. Recent videos explore language models, chatbots and machine learning in the browser. Code from the videos is shared so viewers can try it themselves and make their own versions.

Some highlights include:

Daniel codes a falling sand simulation in which grains pile up and flow like real sand.

A walk through the minimax algorithm, used to build a tic-tac-toe player that cannot lose.

A look back at what programming was like on computers around 40 years ago.

The channel has over 1.7 million subscribers.

The Coding Train makes programming feel creative and welcoming. Its challenges touch on algorithms, simulation and artificial intelligence, which are core skills in software engineering and computer science. It is a good place to start for anyone thinking about a software or computing career. Because the videos are free and use tools that run in a web browser, anyone with a laptop can follow along.