Learn Programming/Web Design

[sg 33]

I have set out a personal goal for myself to learn programming and web design. I need some direction or recommendation on where to start? Any good books or web courses out there that anyone knows of?

[LP560]

How much money / time do you have? In my opinion dont try to be a jack of all trades. There is so much you can outsource and hire for cheap.

Master one thing first. I would focus more on the programming as there is some big money in there if you're able to translate your ideas into concepts.

[sg 33]

Programming would definitely be my first choice. With the ideas and concepts I have now, programming would be way more useful.

I am open to all suggestions, obviously not trying to break the bank but rather get a feel for what different options would cost me. I would like to learn at my own pace so I am on no deadline or anything here. More of a personal quest so I can bring my own ideas to life rather than try to get them out of someone else which is what I am doing now.

[LP560]

A lot of programmers are now using Ruby on Rails as their main programming language. Rob Himler used it for Razzi and a bunch of other sites use it like Twitter. I went through a few free courses of Rails for Zombies and it was decent hands on education.

http://railsforzombies.org/

[sg 33]

Whats the pricing on it?

[sg 33]

Sorry scratch that I found it.

[Ca$h]

I still like php. It has been my only real experience with active server pages and works well with a database.

[sg 33]

What language is the easiest to pick up your guys opinion?

[Ca$h]

Depends on your background. Have you learned css and html? I would start with that before diving into ruby or php. Both are fairly simple and powerful.

It also depends on what kind of website you would like to make? Will you need a database?

[sg 33]

I do not know css or html. My website is being built as we speak. I want to learn so that down the road I can modify and add on everything on my own without having to outsource it again. Where should I go to start learning css/html?

[LP560]

I question if you truly need to know css or html extensively to code by hand. Most websites nowadays are built on content management systems like Wordpress which is even what SecretEntourage is run on. As long as you know enough to modify templates, you will be fine in my opinion.

[sg 33]

What would sites like Autotrader or Cars.com run on?

[Ca$h]

Depends on what tweaks you want to be able to do. If you are just updating content (changing images and newsletters) you won't need to know any web design. I don't really think there would be a point for you to learn ruby or php if you don't have the css or html to back it up.

I believe autotrader.com is an active javascript web site.

[sg 33]

My changes will more than just tweaks and updating content. They wont be added for a while so that gives me time to learn something but I would like to do it myself if I can. The changes would essentially change the structure and layout of the site itself and with that I would think I would need to know how to code it. Can websites similar to autotrader or cars be built with ruby on rails? Would you recommend learining css or html before trying ruby or java?

[LP560]

HTML/CSS is more of the front end of a website. Ruby is more of the backend plus some frontend i think? If i had to choose I'd pick ruby hands down.

[sg 33]

Ok I am going to look into starting with Ruby then. I will need more backend for the systems that I am trying to create. I checked into codeschool.com and I am going to take some of those courses and I found a few books to use as a starting point.

[Ca$h]

http://techiferous.com/wp-content/up...ls-Roadmap.png

That is a road map to learning ruby on rails. Each block is meant to be learned at a separate time. You start from the top and work your way down. See you can learn Ruby before HTML, CSS, or Java. There is a long way before you get to the rails framework...

Ruby is a full object oriented programming language that if you were to master would provide tons of opportunities for you down the road. HTML and CSS are not programming languages and therefore much similar to learn (you won't even be able to compare the two). CSS is pure styling so you can cross that off. You are going to need HTML at some point in time though. It doesn't make sense to modify a web application without knowing HTML to me.

Yes LP560 is right. Learning the back end is much more important than anything on the front end, However you said you would want to change the Structure (back end) and Layout (front end). HTML and CSS won't take long to learn, in fact you won't ever need to master them. Learning them will give you an instant gratification that you could use to motivate you through learning Ruby. I like to start running miles before running marathons.

Don't get overwhelmed with what I just said. Whatever path you choose will take you to the same place. Learn one thing at a time and don't move onto the next until you are fully comfortable. If you start with Ruby, don't loose focus. Ruby on Rails will allow you to create dynamic web applications that will give your website an edge over competitors.

[laurencev]

Two sites you should know about.

http://www.w3schools.com/ - General Tutorial Site
http://www.codecademy.com - Awesome site for learning Javascript/JSON

[sg 33]

I will definitely check into them.^ Thanks.