I wanna try out linux but I like to keep my windows for gaming and other things. However I would like to start learning to run and program with linux for my class.
you don't say what version of windows you have. but if you're just trying to start learning, you don't actually need to dual boot windows and linux. you can install the linux subsystem directly in windows 10, and open the linux terminal / bash shell and get the complete linux environment that way, albeit without the full desktop. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10 you can still use graphical linux apps, you just need to install xming on windows and export the display from the linux shell with Code: export DISPLAY=:0 then any graphical app, eg gimp, firefox etc you open from the shell will start their normal linux based graphical window. or you could install virtualization software like virtualbox or hyper-v or vmware workstation and install a full linux instance as a virtual machine. both those methods are easier than dual-booting, and don't risk messing up your windows install partition, recovery partition, or boot partition, which could lead to making windows unbootable and unrecoverable.
You need to say which Windows and which Linux. Latest Windows versions on new computers use UEFI instead of the old style BIOS. On those I have installed Ubuntu 20.04 and both Ubuntu and Windows boot successfully. I tried same when Ubuntu 18.04 was new, then I did not get dual boot to work properly. On old setups that do not use UEFI, it should work with new or old versions of Ubuntu.
You can even install and run linux on usb stick. For that of course you need to select the usb stick on boot up, thus if there is no pc boot menu option, you need to configure your bios to boot from it first.
