Nothing beats practice, especially when you learn to code. Building one project teaches you more than watching multiple tutorials.
As a result, in this article, you can see a handful of programming projects suited to beginners.
If you are learning JavaScript or want to deepen your knowledge, I recommend checking my favourite course - JavaScript Web Projects.
1. String reversal application
For this project, you could create a simple web application that allows you to enter a string. After you enter the string, the application should display back the reversed string.
For instance, if you enter the string "project", it should return "tcejorp". Such an application is beneficial because, in some interviews, they ask candidates to reverse a string. Thus, the project it's a great practice!
2. Binary to decimal converter
Another project you could create is a binary-to-decimal converter. Additionally, you can customize your algorithm to accept the reverse as well - decimal to binary.
The converter should allow the users to enter strings of up to 8 binary digits, 0's and 1's, in any sequence. After that, it should display the equivalent decimal number.
3. Palindrome application
A palindrome is a word that reads the same backward as forward. There are some popular palindromes such as:
- Madam, I'm Adam
- Never odd or even
- Madam
- Racecar
Thus, try to write an algorithm that takes a string and checks if it's a palindrome or not. If it is a palindrome, return it. To make it more interesting, you could create a web application that everyone can access.
Writing such an algorithm is super useful because you might encounter it in coding interviews.
4. Weather application
Building a weather application is a great way to practise working with APIs. Firstly, try to find a free API that allows you to fetch data. Then, use the API to display the weather forecast for a given city.
For instance, it should allow the user to input a city like London and then return the:
- temperature
- wind speed
- weather icon (e.g. sunny, windy, rain, etc.)
Of course, you can display more information, but for the beginning, these are sufficient! Building a weather application helped me a lot when I learnt Vanilla JavaScript and React!
5. Vowels counter
The name says it all - build an application that allows people to enter a string and then return the number of vowels.
The project teaches you essential concepts, and especially how to work with strings. I highly recommend it!
6. Calculator
A great way to learn and practise DOM manipulation is by building a JavaScript calculator. Besides that, you can practise your CSS skills to stylize it.
Your calculator should support the basic operations:
- adding numbers
- subtracting numbers
- dividing numbers
- multiplying numbers
7. Alarm clock
Building an alarm clock would help you get more comfortable with the command line. You could create a simple application that accepts two command-line arguments:
- when to go off (what hour)
- a YouTube link to an alarm clock sound
After the alarm clock goes off, it should open the YouTube link you specified!
8. List The Capital City
Build a project that allows people to enter the name of a country and then returns the capital city. For instance, if I enter my country - Romania, it should return the city Bucharest, because that is the capital.
You can use the list of national capitals from Wikipedia for your application.
9. Pomodoro clock
The Pomodoro technique is an excellent time management method. If you never heard about it until now, you can read more about it here. It's a great project to kill two birds with one stone - improve your time management, and practice your programming skills.
Your application should allow people to start, pause, stop and reset the timer. Also, the user should be able to set a timer with any number of minutes, which represents the focus session. Once the focus session is done, the clock should ring and start a break session. The break session should be 5 minutes.
10. Dollars to cents
Converting dollars to cents is a coding problem you can come across in coding interviews. I even came across one.
Your application should allow people to enter a value such as $4.98 and return the cents. In this case, it would be 498 cents. This project enables you to practice fundamental programming concepts such as loops and if conditions, for instance.
Conclusion
These ten projects are great to practise your programming skills. Of course, the list is not exhaustive, and there are other projects you can build. I'd be more than happy to see some of your recommendations in the comments!
To recap, some of the projects you can build are as follows:
- String reversal application
- Binary to decimal converter
- Palindrome application
- Weather application
- Vowels counter
- Calculator
- Alarm clock
- List The Capital City
- Pomodoro clock
- Dollars to cents
