Codecademy Adds Python Lessons, Promises More Server-Side Languages

Codecademy, the startup offering online lessons and tools to help people learn how to code, is adding Python to its lesson line-up starting today.

Until now, co-founder Zach Sims says Codecademy has “been focused on client-side languages and markup – javascript, HTML, and CSS.” Starting today, you’ll be able to find user-generated Python lessons on the site, and Sims adds, “This is the beginning of new language support on Codecademy – Python is only the first server side language you’ll see.”

He isn’t specifically identifying what other languages Codecademy plans to add, but you can see a list of other server-side languages here. The company points to the Codecademy Labs feature announced in December as its first step in its direction, since the Labs browser console allowed users to program in Python and Ruby (but there were no lessons until today).

Python has been in high demand from Codecademy users from the start, Sims says. This is something that teachers are asking for, too, both at the high school and college level. At the same time, Sims says the company’s on-boarding process tries not to overwhelm non-techie users with all the languages they might learn — users start with a JavaScript terminal, and there’s the Code Year program, which mixes training in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and jQuery.