

Which program should I learn RoR or PHP? - Nikkki

I've some basic SQL and relational database management knowledge. Which program would you recommend a marketing person to learn? RoR or PHP? Or do you even have another program in mind?
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ddorian43
php is a language and ror is a framework.

I myself have in mind python(language). Check out
<http://learnpythonthehardway.org/> (text book) or
[http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/cs101/CourseRev/apr20...](http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/cs101/CourseRev/apr2012)
(video tutorials) or both. Then learn django(framework).

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relampago
To clarify, would you suggest python to one who has not a lick of experience
or prior training also? Codecademy is cool but what language should I learn
first - what is mostly used? Needed to get a job in Silicon Valley, etc?

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ddorian43
Well if you learn one language enough to get a job in Silicon Valley you will
be fine learning other languages. The learnpythonthehardway is for total
beginners. Im opinionated for python(favorite) and not so much expert to tell
you if it is the best for beginners but you can search quora / stackoverflow
and see this: [http://udacity.blogspot.com/2012/05/learning-to-program-
why-...](http://udacity.blogspot.com/2012/05/learning-to-program-why-
python.html) (Udacity’s courses so far have been using Python because it is
overall, the most convenient language for teaching and learning. The natural
syntax means students spend less time grokking code than with terser
languages.)

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tigertrussell
PHP is a programming language and is very easy to get started on since every
web host in the world has a version of PHP5 running on their servers.

There are many web frameworks available for PHP, my favorite being CakePHP but
other notables being Drupal, Zen Framework, and CodeIgniter.

You should first learn to program--I'd use JSFiddle.net and some PHP books to
teach you that.

Then, you'll need to learn the frameworks, which all have lots of
documentation to get you started.

As another commented pointed out, RoR (Ruby on Rails) is simply another web
framework for the programming language Ruby, and you could choose to learn
Ruby first and then move to Ruby on Rails in the same way I described, if you
wish.

I'd say learn PHP - Ruby is like 2 steps from just typing an essay about what
you want your app to do.

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tigertrussell
Also PHP = more jobs, at the moment. Maybe in the future Ruby or Python will
become more popular at the enterprise level

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bdwalter
I tend to agree with this. There is a lot of work out there on the PHP side.

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aaronh
Guh, run, run away from PHP. Try ruby or python. And then a framework of your
choice on that such as Rails, or whatever the lead framework in Python is
these days (Django?).

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EnderMB
I would recommend ASP.NET and C#. The .NET framework is fantastic, Visual
Studio is a fantastic IDE and C# is a great language to learn and use.

If you don't wish to use ASP.NET then I would highly recommend Python and
Django as a platform. It can be a huge pain to install if you're a beginner,
but it's a fantastic language and framework.

~~~
wavephorm
This is bad advice. In this day in age it is a serious mistake to start
learning back-end development on the Microsoft stack. Microsoft technologies
are non-existent in every aspect of cloud computing... which is the future of
back-end development, and the basis of the future of mobile/web computing. I
know a few Windows die hards that are practically unemployable these days
because they were either afraid, or technically incapable, of using Linux and
command line tools, and now their MCSE point-and-click skills are useless in
the new mobile/cloud computing age.

Python on Linux would be a much better option.

~~~
EnderMB
This comment is so wildly inaccurate that I'm calling bullshit. I've never
heard of anyone who is "practically unemployable" because they didn't keep up
with mobile or cloud computing and I'm willing to bet that you don't know any
Windows die-hards. Even the tech hipsters of HN are fully aware of the demand
for solid ASP.NET developers in the real world.

~~~
wavephorm
I've never seen a job opening for an Azure developer. Sure there might be ASP
work, but you almost certainly won't be working on cloud or mobile apps. It's
nearly impossible to build a large-scale cloud architecture using Microsoft
technology, and Microsoft Windows phone represents such a small portion of the
market that it is inconsequential to ignore it completely. These are very
strong reasons to avoid Microsoft technologies when choosing something to
learn regardless of how employable ASP developers are at the moment.

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nwmcsween
What do you want to learn this for? Personal development? Employability?
Freelancing? For each I would learn: Ruby, C# / Java and PHP respectively.
Ruby IMO is a more concise, readable and functional than Python, C# and Java
are standard enterprise fodder and PHP is widespread but not really designed
but more evolved.

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Spoom
I'm familiar with both, but it's a little difficult to make a recommendation
with so little context. Why do you want to learn one of these languages? Is
there a specific reason / project or do you just want to "learn to code"?

~~~
Nikkki
Sorry, I did not add much detail information. I intend to learning coding to
be able to do web development and then later mobile app development. Am a
business guy. I don't have the intention of learning to code to get a job, but
more to be able to program MVP of product ideas I have. Which one is the most
easiest for a rookie Ruby or RoR or PHP or Zend or cakePHP or Yii. My goal is
to get results quick, later I can then jump into the nitty gritty.

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Donito
Do you have any programming experience, if you do, in which languages?

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Nikkki
Yes, I coded in MySQL/SQL before. I also started learning PHP some years agao,
but stopped because I was lazy.

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woodge
Has anyone had experience with Grails? It looked pretty neat, but I didn't
want to start delving into it just to find out that it is something that is
not being used or developed all that much.

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sjd
Grails is an amazing technology founded on two very time tested technologies
being Spring and Hibernate. The programming language itself is Groovy which in
turn is founded on Java

For those coming from PHP, Python and Rails the thought of using something
based on Java frameworks may be a turnoff but I assure you all the
boilerplating and configuration complexity is hidden away with the preference
being the convention over configuration approach.

The beauty though is if you need to reach down and leverage some specifics you
are free to do so, Grails doesn't tie your hands allowing you to have your
cake and eat it to.

So in a nutshell, Grails gives you all the things you love with frameworks
like Rails while under the Hood you can leverage the power of Java and all the
supporting libraries and frameworks developed for it over the years. Anywhere
it can go Grails&Groovy can go to (well almost). Oh and in terms of
performance, the upcoming version of Groovy 2.0 will provide performance
enhancements that will bring it seriously close to Java execution through
static type checking and compilation. These two options are once again free to
use or ignore as the developer sees fit.

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Executor
I've personally had success with Django/python framework. Although it took 4
days of hassle to install Django/WSGI on Dreamhost.

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Navarr
As PHP is a personal favorite, it bears my recommendation along with the Yii
framework for web applications.

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sonnyhe2002
Learn php first. With SQL background it is easier to adjust to php.

