Three free online tech tutorials I want to try

Internet is endless stream of information and ultimate way to look up something you need right now. However for in depth stuff or picking up completely new skills information often seems way too fractured. Luckily there are resources that go beyond realm of simple articles and blog posts to offer very extensive tutorials.

I want to share few that I have bookmarked (for a while already) to go through in spare time.

Learn How to Use and Get The Most out of Regular Expressions

Regular expressions (commonly abbreviated regex or regexp) are probably as confusing as they are widespread. In simple terms it is way to describe text patterns – from very easy to very complex. Regexp is essential part of many programming languages and common feature of powerful text editors.

Sounds nice but it is hardly something you can master by skimming few blog posts. I am using them for few years probably (and for few months of those it was integral part of my job) but I feel like I barely scratched surface and hope to sit and properly learn from this one.

Tutorial covers regular expressions from very basics to advanced things such as behind the scenes logic of regexp engines.

Link http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html

Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program

I am completely hopeless with raster image editors. Cropping picture neatly is about my limit and I got through Photoshop exam only with memory, bit of color theory and too much luck.

On other hand I have a hunch that vector editor may suit me better but again it is not something that you can sit and do. Inkscape is one of the most known free vector image editors and one I want to try using.

Tutorial is actually online version of published book. I think I picked up link somewhere in official documentation or site. Guide is extremely extensive with multiply chapters, in depth instructions and a lot of visual materials.

Link http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php

jQuery for Absolute Beginners

For years I was at odds with JavaScript. A lot of sites openly despised Opera, which is my browser of choice, and quite often I met JS used and abused to the point of utterly breaking web.

Lately I came to understand that things has much improved and JS graduated from being used for various crap into essential part of both modern web and its future. jQuery is one of the more known JS frameworks that is often recommended as vital for easy development.

Tutorial is series of fifteen videos. Not my preferred format but I hadn’t seen another that extensive ones and for a change videos might be good change of pace when I am exhausted from too much reading from screen. It covers stuff from downloading jQuery itself to creating some real world grade things.

Link http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/jquery-for-absolute-beginners-video-series/

Overall

So, while my generic evening is still full of semi-random googling, these are things I am likely to go through when I have some free time and nice mood (latter is scarce which pleases me not lately).

Do you like large extensive tutorials? Are there any that you had completed or want to go through some day?