

Ask HN: How would you learn web development in 2014? - jackgolding

Hi Guys,<p>I ask this as I have been having a lot of trouble over the past 6 months trying to learn web development.<p>Are there any sources you would recommend for learning enough full stack web development to make simple web applications? (i.e. online surveys)<p>Thanks<p>jack
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j45
The first thing you'll have to realize is that web development is learning
multiple technologies.

HTML / CSS / a programming language / a framework to interface to the web /
some basic system launching / databases / Javascript

Luckily you don't need to know 100% of them all just to get started.

I'd eliminate the first step -- deploying your code and build projects that
run on heroku or appfog.com. The former allows small projects for free at the
cost of some design decisions.

The second thing I'd eliminate is to start by learning Javascript. You
necessarily don't have to use Node, but I'm assuming you have no programming
background -- learning how basic programming works is important. I define
programming as clear, step by step thinking expressed in any syntax.
Programming is learning what to communicate to the computer, not just how to
do it (the language). Coursera and others have javascript introductions.

From this point, I'd probably look at something like Parse.com as a backend
for your web app -- this is an online database that you can access via
Javascript.

Why am I recommending this route? You need the dopamine hits to keep going.
Once you're building things, trust me, you'll find the language and framework
you love and can "think in", be it ruby, python, javascript or anything else.

Get building, anything, and finish and ship it. Don't worry, it'll be ugly.
Anything anyone writes today will be ugly in 5 years no matter their
programming level. Your job is to build build build. Feel free to get in touch
if you like, all the best :)

~~~
jackgolding
Thanks for the reply mate,

I actually have a degree in computer science so I am very familiar with Python
and Java hence why I initially went down that path - would this change your
recommendations?

I have done some small things (landing pages) using HTML and CSS and written
some scripts for software like Q (Market Research) and LimeSurvey in
Javascript so I am not a 'complete novice'

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ppeiris
lynda.com

