Ask HN: Best way to dive into web development.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1126448

by roundsquare • 16 years ago

6 2 16 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

So, a little background. I got my computer science degree 3.5 years ago and have done a good amount of development. At the time, I was not at all interested in web development but (in large part due to HN) I have been gaining interest. Recently, I had an idea that I'm really excited to try out, but I have no idea how to get started. Hence, I'm asking how to start learning. I want to learn both the theory and practice.

Summary:

I know how code and have dealt with some fairly large projects in the past.

I am a complete web newbie.

Any suggestions on how I can get started?

Thanks in advance!

scorchin• 16 years ago

There are two main areas that you'd need to learn: front-end development and back-end development.

Front-end development knowledge points: HTML, CSS and JavaScript

Back-end development knowledge points: Server administration, databases and interpreted languages.

I'm biased towards open-source technologies, so I'd recommend you learn Django, Ruby on Rails or one of the PHP frameworks (personal preference is Symfony). Then tie that in with MySQL or PostgreSQL. Most of these technologies have great documentation, especially Django and Symfony, and shouldn't be too hard to get started with.

For learning front-end development the quickest way would be to go and buy a book rather than attempt to follow the myriad of tutorials out there. I'd recommend the standardistas book: http://www.webstandardistas.com/book/ After learning the knowledge in the book, follow on to using javascript libraries such as jQuery and YUI to get some funky front-end interaction working.

Finally, tie all the knowledge in by attempting a few pet projects.

radu_floricica• 16 years ago

If by any change you've programmed a lot in Java, you have a fair chance to be able to keep the language. Just stay away from anything that remotely sounds like enterprise or uses XML and you'll be fine. I also personally prefer Apache Velocity instead of JSP - easier to learn, too.

About client-side programming... good CSS takes a while to master. Many people will probably disagree, but if your goal is to make something relatively fast, you may want to KISS and use a table or two instead of just divs and CSS.

Also spend a bit of time with JavaScript. It'll bring a fair amount of benefits for a relatively modest investment.

Ask HN: Best way to dive into web development.

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