Today Quincy Larson interviews Mark Mahoney. He worked as a dev before becoming a professor of computer science. He taught computer science for 23 years at Carthage College, a 180-year-old American university. He has also taught thousands of developers through his free programming courses built on top of his open source course platform Playback Press.
We talk about:
Why learning programming the hard way is still the right way.
How not to deskill yourself when programming with LLM tools.
And why now is the best time to study computer science.
Watch the podcast on freeCodeCamp.org YouTube Channel Or listen on your favorite podcast app.
Links to our conversation:
Community News Section:
freeCodeCamp has just published a new course on AI-assisted software development. You’ll learn tips for LLM tools as well as common terminal workflows and “pair programming.” You’ll also get exposure to tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw. At the end of the day, the whole point of using these tools is to build more features without compromising the maintainability of your codebase. (90 minute YouTube course):
freeCodeCamp also published an introductory level course on AI literacy for everyone that you can share with your family. First you will learn about the two traits that define artificial intelligence: autonomy and adaptability. You will then create your own image classifier right on your phone or laptop. This course also considers the environmental costs of training and running the LLM system, such as algorithmic bias. (1 Hour YouTube Course):
Learn how to create your own QR code generator using JavaScript. This tutorial will help you create QR codes completely in a browser without the need for a backend. You’ll learn how to validate input, clean up previous output, and use a JavaScript library to quickly render code on the client side. Then you’ll see how to extend the project with downloads, custom styling, Wi-Fi support, and more. (7 minutes read):
I’m thrilled to announce that Bad Website Club is back for another Responsive Web Design Bootcamp based on the Free Code Camp curriculum. It starts on April 24 and runs for 10 weeks. You can join their Discord community and tune in for live streams. It’s led by volunteer Davis who is passionate about helping people learn the basics of CSS and JavaScript. (Read 5 minutes):
Today’s Song of the Week is 2008’s Strange Overtones. Talking Heads vocalist David Byrne lends his vocals to Brian Enos, who handles organ and composition. The whole affair runs on an infectious palm-hued guitar line and driving bass. This is a perfect mid-week jam. Apply it during your trip.