things i've cried over
This website is a place for me to put all of the projects that I’m working on as I learn. During a few sessions with my very patient mentor, I started crying out of frustration/anger/embarrassment/humiliation/confusion, and over time it became a running joke, which is where the site name comes from. I have literally cried over these projects, multiple times. Appreciate them.

For anyone who is starting to learn, or even just thinking about learning how to code - learning to code IS REALLY UNPLEASANT. IT’S THE PITS. What *IS* nice is feeling like you’re making something out of nothing. It’s like a logic-based version of painting - instead of blending colours, you’re putting little blocks of logic together and if it all meshes, then you’ve pushed an idea out of your head and into a space where other people can see and interact with it. That’s pretty cool. So it’s important to push through all of the groaning and flopping around until all of the bits (HA! CODING PUN! yes) come together.

resources
Stuff to help you learn! Note: It is likely easier to learn how to use HTML and CSS before moving on to Javascript.

STARTING OUT:
Learncode Academy
Code Academy
Khan Academy

FLEXBOX AND GRID - these sites assume you already know how CSS works:
Scrimba
CodePip

JAVASCRIPT:
The Coding Train
The Learn Programming Subreddit
Udacity

PROBLEM-SOLVING (VERY IMPORTANT! For coding and life):
Brilliant
Coursera

CODING ENVIRONMENTS
Glitch
CodePen
JsBin
VSCode

PROJECT INSPO (I can't make these sorts of projects yet, but they're so cool and everyone must see them):
The Pudding
Nicky Case
Explorable Explanations

tips for self-learners:

don't use stack overflow (yet).
stack overflow is largely still in the process of becoming a friendly place for beginners. it's full of experts that are overburdened with questions (that they're answering for free) and it's super common for people to get tired and a bit short with beginners who inevitably ask the same questions over and over in badly-phrased ways.

favour resources that are more recent
coding languages change and are updated over the years. if you're reading something from a few years ago, it's possible that you're reading something that is now obsolete, bad practice, or inefficient.

read widely on a concept
it's extremely unlikely that one person's explanation will give you a complete understanding of the concept or topic. read and watch a variety of explanations to get as layered and complete an understanding as you can. this will also be helpful in terms of knowing your learning style and the types of explanations and exercises that work best for you.

testimonials
"Earnestly incompetent"
-my mentor

"I don't care about your projects"
- my sister

"That's so cool you're learning how to code! Can I have your number?"
- random guy