You may have the impression that newsletters are an outdated medium of information, but the truth is that they're far more valuable than most people realize. Topical curations delivered straight to my inbox, no effort required on my part? Sign me up!

That's the true value of a programming newsletter: the fact that it has been curated by someone who knows the topic inside and out. This means you don't have to waste your own precious time keeping up with hundreds of sites and sorting through the mess to find the occasional gems.

And the best part? All of the following newsletters are free. In addition, all of them have been around for at least two years, so you can rest assured that they know how to keep it going long-term. Pick the ones that most interest you and subscribe!

1. HTML5 Weekly

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Frequency: Every week on Wednesday.

Why You'll Love It: It's a round-up of all things related to HTML5 technologies, including topics like CSS3, Canvas, WebSockets, WebGL, Native Client, and more. Each newsletters includes news about new developments, important tips and tricks you can use, and even a few job openings that you can apply to.

2. JavaScript Weekly

programming-newsletter-javascript-weekly

Frequency: Every week on Friday.

Why You'll Love It: It's maintained by the same guy who does HTML5 Weekly, except this one is strictly focused on JavaScript. You'll get news updates about new features in JavaScript, helpful articles that teach various aspects of the language, and a few job openings that might interest you.

3. CSS Weekly

programming-newsletter-css-weekly

Frequency: Every week on Tuesday.

Why You'll Love It: This newsletter is more for Web designers than Web developers, but because there's a good amount of overlap between the two, it's still worth knowing about. It'll keep you up to date with CSS best practices as well as tips and tricks to help you design better websites with less effort.

4. Gamedev.JS Weekly

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Frequency: Every week on Friday.

Why You'll Love It: If you use HTML5 and JavaScript for game development rather than Web development, then this newsletter is perfect for you. It covers everything about the HTML5 gamedev scene: news, editorials, tutorials, events, competitions, as well as useful tools and resources worth highlighting.

Scoffing at HTML5 game development? The idea was once laughable, but these days HTML5 games can be quite impressive. Indeed, they are arguably better than Flash games of old.

5. Python Weekly

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Frequency: Every week on Thursday.

Why You'll Love It: Whether you're a huge fan of Python or you just use the language for projects here and there, you'll want to follow this newsletter. It's a curated list of high-quality articles, news, events, and even job postings that most Python enthusiasts will find useful. Every issue will teach you something new, guaranteed.

Are you a Python newbie? Then we recommend starting with these beginner websites before diving into this newsletter as it can be somewhat advanced and even overwhelming at times.

6. PyCoders Weekly

programming-newsletter-pycoders-weekly

Frequency: Every week on Friday.

Why You'll Love It: This newsletter's motto is "your weekly dose of all things Python" but it's so much more than that. News coverage is a given, but it also includes important discussions from around the Web, interesting open-source projects, helpful articles and tutorials, and several job postings per issue.

7. C# Digest

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Frequency: Every week on Monday.

Why You'll Love It: Every C# developer should subscribe to this list, especially if a significant amount of your programming involves the .NET Framework, ASP.NET, WPF, or the Azure cloud platform. Other news headlines are covered too -- such as those related to C# game engines -- but they aren't as core of a focus.

8. Android Weekly

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Frequency: Every week on Sunday.

Why You'll Love It: Android Weekly is one of the densest programming newsletters you'll find. Each issue is packed full of amazing information, including but not limited to articles, tutorials, libraries, projects, videos, podcasts, and job listings. It's both quality and quantity.

New to Android development? Check out our introduction to making Android apps to get a hang of the basics before moving onto this newsletter.

9. iOS Dev Weekly

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Frequency: Every week on Friday.

Why You'll Love It: iOS development has been one of the most popular markets in the past few years. Not only will this newsletter make sure you're on top of things, but it's easy to read thanks to its category breakdown: news, tools, code tips, design tips, marketing tips, and job listings.

Just be aware that if you're a newbie who's thinking of delving into iOS development but haven't started yet, you should really start with the Swift language rather than learning the soon-to-be-obsolete Objective C language.

10. O'Reilly Programming Newsletter

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Frequency: Every week on Tuesdays.

Why You'll Love It: For those who don't know, O'Reilly is a media publisher that manages a lot of programming material, including a lot of free programming books. This is a general purpose newsletter that covers higher-level topics like "how Netflix writes code" or "how to pass a coding interview". It's definitely more useful for aspiring coders than entrenched veterans.

11. SitePoint Newsletter [Broken URL Removed]

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Frequency: Every week.

Why You'll Love It: SitePoint maintains nine different newsletters that are all related to Web development in some way, including one for WordPress, one for Entrepreneurs, and one for Deals. Each one releases on its own day every week.

SitePoint also offers a daily newsletter called Versioning which isn't as refined but still useful at times.

12. Crypto-Gram Newsletter

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Frequency: Every month on the 15th.

Why You'll Love It: No matter what kind of developer you are, security must always be a concern. Not that you need to be a security expert, but it definitely helps to stay on top of what's happening in that area of technology. This monthly digest brings you the best from internationally-renowned Bruce Schneier.

13. Daily Programmer

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Frequency: Every day.

Why You'll Love It: Every day, you get a brand new programming challenge to solve using whatever programming language you want. Challenges are categorized as Easy, Intermediate, and Hard. Very useful for any coder who wants to keep his skills honed.

Being a subreddit, Daily Programmer isn't a newsletter in the technical sense. However, you can turn it into a makeshift newsletter with IFTTT: create a new recipe using RSS Feeds as the trigger and Email as the action, then use the following URL as the feed:

        https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/.rss
    

Programming Newsletters Just for You

As you can see, newsletters aren't just for news. They can serve as valuable resources for expanding your skillset and broadening your expertise in whatever areas of coding you do, even to the point of helping you master a tough programming language.

If you're a newbie, don't feel bad if programming feels too overwhelming. Hopefully these newsletters ease the learning curve for you. If you're a veteran, a fresh newsletter can help you overcome coding burnout.

Obviously there are many other newsletters out there. What do you think of the ones above? Are there any others you feel deserve a mention? Share with us in the comments below!