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Old 05-21-2007, 05:27 PM
avfletch avfletch is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,491
Default Re: resources for learning about web development/programming

www.w3schools.com is an excellent starting point for numerous technologies that you'll need to know about.

Try to avoid getting into the mindset of 'I don't want to learn how to program, I just want to learn this specific bit of programming'. One of the most important 'skills' for a good programmer is having a large knowledge base of what is available and what it is good for. You'll hear all kinds of arguments for why, Java is better than PHP, Ruby on Rails is better than Spring, .NET is better than mod_perl yadda yadda but the bottom line is that they all have their place and are good for different things, while many things can be done in any of them and the key factor will be what you know.

I'd advise you to start off on the front end simply because it's an easier play ground and won't require you to setup a webserver or anything like that. Make some simple, static pages and learn how to mark them up well using XHTML (preferably semantically correct once you get better at it). Make sure the pages validate for the doctype you choose and work equally well across Internet Explorer and Firefox (with bonus points available for Opera).

Once you are done with that branch out into stylesheets. Find out what is possible with CSS and the different ways you can use it. Learn when it's appropriate to use it inline, when to embed it and when to link external stylesheets. Don't start cheating and only supporting one browser, make sure your pages look good if not identical in all of the browsers mentioned above. I won't spoil the surprise of the box model problems but you'll soon come across it once you start playing.

When you're familiar with how to make pages look the way you want it's time to branch out into making them behave how you want to. This is where Javascript comes in. It's also the point where you'll start writing code as well as markup and style sheets. Get a feel for manipulating various types of data such as text and numbers then branch out into manipulating the page with it as well. At this point you should be able to create some decent DHTML type sites and, if you've kept up with both IE and FF, they should all work cross site too. When learning to write Javascript don't write everything yourself. All the best programmers reuse whatever code they can. So when you want to do something, make sure to hunt around to see if someone else has already done it (here's a quick hint, they almost certainly have).

Having learned some reasonable scripting skills in a more forgiving environment (Javascript) you'll soon want to start getting your feet wet with server side stuff. At this point you'll need to decide if administering a webserver interests you (and it probably should if you're going to take this kind of thing seriously). Take the time to at least play with IIS and Apache to see how they differ and ideally find out why you should prefer Apache (see my above comment RE 'A is better than B').

I'd highly recommend PHP as your first language. It's really easy to get a webserver up and running with it, there's a ridiculous amount of free scripts available to get you started and it's very forgiving for the beginner. The downside is it doesn't scale overly well and it lacks a lot of supporting stuff that other setups can offer. If you take it seriously and want to develop something like Facebook you'll probably quickly find that you need something with a bit better structure (although not necessarily, there's some damned good PHP work out there).

If you've made it this far then you've almost certainly heard about (and messed with) loads of other associated technologies. You should have a good wide knowledge of what is available to you and where it is appropriate. Never stop searching out new technologies and finding out whether they work for you or not. The time 'wasted' on this seemingly naff task will be returned to you 100fold later on when you know what the right tool for the job is in so many situations.

OK. Now I'm done whittering I'll hunt through my book marks for some starting points.

Excellent beginner tutorials -

www.w3schools.com
www.webmonkey.com (not as good as it used to be but still great imo)

Front end development

www.getfirefox.com - live it, learn it, love it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
www.getfirebug.com - doing web development without it is like playing poker without a HUD

CSS [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

www.csszengarden.com - simply amazing

PHP starting point -

www.phpfreaks.com

That should get you started for now.
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