Conceptual Introduction to Web Development

http://milanlandaverde.com/blog/2013/10/20/conceptual-introduction-to-web-development/

by mdaverde • 13 years ago

49 19 13 years ago

RodericDay• 13 years ago

This is really important, and the kind of thing that was glaringly missing when people replied to my newbie questions.

There is a whole "big-picture" aspect that is glossed over by experts, especially experts that were guided throughout in internships and first-jobs.

I would say that the obstacle for an average joe to get his ideas up in the web on some capacity is not HTML/CSS/JS/Backbone programming knowledge, but deployment. People who say Heroku is braindead simple are not seeing the bigger picture (although it is great).

ancarda• 13 years ago

Nitpick: The JS heartbeat can be done in CSS3, otherwise this is great!

Isofarro• 13 years ago

Nitpick: it can also be done in JavaScript.

nicklovescode3• 13 years ago

Both your comment and its parent are right. It could[0] even be done in HTML with <blink>

It should be done in CSS.

0. Not even sure if blink still exists, or if you can set it to animate, but my point stands that best practices are important.

nicklovescode3• 13 years ago

Can someone who downvoted arcarda explain their reasoning? I agree that the animation should be in CSS(3), or at least not JS(leaving it out animation entirely might be best).

There are plenty of examples you could show in JS that would better show that it is where logic and behavior is stored. How about setting a textbox or showing an alert?

oulipian• 13 years ago

This is a good idea, but a conceptual introduction to web development that dismisses UI/UX as "basically, what makes sites look good" is not one I could ever recommend to anyone.

thenerdfiles• 13 years ago

1. "The Web is fundamentally a distributed hypermedia application."

2. We build architecture substrates for the space of URLs (URL-Space): URL-Driven Development. (This is ultimate a Language Problem-set/Conept.)

3. I try to practice Hypermedia-based View Methodology, and the notion of "Creative Encounter with Digital Artefacts" (recommendation engines that use "imaginary rules") is becoming a viable system of thought.

I believe these points were not made. What are the alternative ideas? This OP only discusses the stuff underneath, not the conceptual overhead or the conceptual scheme of Web development.

We want to build Web applications that evolve, and which can last throughout generations. None of this was even remotely addressed.

clienthunter2• 13 years ago

Looking back on my years of PHP pain, I feel it would be a commendable thing to end this article with just a small sentence on the importance of choosing the right tool for the job. 10 years ago I would have read this and gone off to learn PHP and MySQL.

jrochkind13• 13 years ago

I don't know if that's neccesarily the wrong way to get started, PHP and MySQL.

It's how most of _us_ got started, right? (Okay, I got started in Perl, and only dabbled in PHP).

clienthunter2• 13 years ago

You started in Perl? That's hardcore.

The PHP/MySQL was ok back then, but there's so many great alternatives with great exposure today. Aside from ease of deployment, I don't see what benefits there are now.

jafaku2• 13 years ago

PHP got a lot better. In fact I would say it's the best web platform today, if you pick the right stack (eg: nginx + Symfony2/Silex + PostgreSQL). You just had bad timing.

apsurd• 13 years ago

Here's a similar conceptual overview of "how the web works" in terms of client-server operations but done in a more interactive diagram style: http://nilclass.com/

It's a work in progress which helped me get a lot better at d3.js but I truly believe in this style of teaching as foundational knowledge. I think one of the best things veterans can give to newbies is _awareness_ and _perspective_.

jafaku2• 13 years ago

Why are you using jQuery without including it? Isn't that going to confuse the beginners?

Conceptual Introduction to Web Development

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