An open source online game for learning how to programme

The initiatives for encouraging young people to get into programming are multiplying, writes French news site Le Monde Informatique. With CodeCombat the work is both study and play.

Now released as open source, CodeCombat is a video game devoted to teaching programming. The platform is multi-player and uses CoffeeScript, a programming language that transcompiles to JavaScript. It’s possible to use JavaScript libraries even though CoffeeScript is very well documented.

The basic idea is very simple: lines of code need writing for players to make progress in the game (see the image above) and to compete against other programmers/players. Volunteer participants create levels and characters which can be borrowed by other players.

Developed by Nick Winter, an alumnus of Oberlin College in Ohio, CodeCombat is available in seven languages thanks to the efforts of willing participants in this collaborative development work.