Learning Web Development

[[email protected]]

Hi - I have been working in the IT industry for about 13 years - mainly involved wiht database work, UNIX, SQL , 4gl programming, a bit of ESQL/C, installations of PC's, networks, UNIX. I have a good understanding of computers, programming concepts and databases and have a very basic understanding of HTML. I would like to change direction and become proficient at designing and developing web sites (both the front & back end). I currently work part-time from home (have 2 kids!). I would like to do some courses - either part-time or online. I have heard that Java would be a good thing to learn - or what else would you advise? Any advice on the use of online courses, and any good ones out there? I live in JHB - any good part-time / flexitime courses in Jhb? Thanx!!

 

[seymour7]

Java? lol

These websites got me started, and are extremely basic:

www.w3schools.com
www.tizag.com

I found that the best way to learn in most cases was to look at examples and try things out myself.

BTW, I would go through the tutorials in this order:

1. HTML
2. XHTML
3. CSS
4. PHP (The biggest out of all of them)
5. SQL
6. Javascript

This is just a start however as there are many other things involved with web development. For example after learning these few language I went on to use a PHP framework (CodeIgniter) to make building websites easier by using a MVC system. Also, Javascript can be a bit of a pain so I use Jquery which is a Javascript library to help me out. There is a nice freeware text editor for web development called Notepad++ which has some nice syntax highlighting and whole bunch of other features.

Also, on another note you can obtain manuals for a lot of those languages such as PHP, Javascript and MySQL.

Hope you have fun!

 

[Moederloos]

Based on your experience, I would go straight to PHP - perhaps even CLI at first.
Get used to DB stuff from a PHPscript.
Then look at HTML and PHP. Then XHTML, CSS, XML.

 

[icyrus]

Could you be more specific about your goal? Do you want to do freelance/contract work in the field? Get a more permanent position? Or just work for yourself?

Knowing that can help with your language choice. Employment wise, java and php are the most popular and will be the easiest to find work for but if that is not really a consideration then you may want to have a look at languages like python and ruby.

Before you get into the backend programming you might want to at least become proficient in HTML and CSS. Personally I would avoid XHTML (for now at least).

Understanding the basics of those is quite simple and there are many good sites that can help, like:

http://wwww.w3schools.com/
http://www.htmldog.com/

Once you are comfortable with the basics you may want to consider more advanced topics. Sites like A List Apart have some interesting articles relating to more advanced topics.

Or you could start with some server-side functionality by choosing a language and understanding the fundamentals.

After that the next step is to familiarize yourself with the frameworks and libraries available for your chosen language and start putting together some basic apps.

After all that you might be interested in learning javascript for extra client-side functionality. As others have mentioned there are some good libraries about that make advanced js techniques a snip.

If there are any more specific questions that you have, feel free to ask.

 

[Gnome]

If you where talking about server/client side applications I would say go with Java (and I would personally stay away from client side applications when it comes to public consumption just causes problems, WebCT is a perfect example of why).

I would stay away from C# for web applications.

Apart from that, HTML/CSS the best place online is W3Schools which other already recommended

 

[[email protected]]

Hi all - thanks so much for all your replies - much appreciated!! To answer the question about what my goals are - I would definitely like to work from home - preferably for myself, but open to contract / freelance work as long as I can do it from home. Your tips and links will definitley get me started on the right track - thanx a stack!

 

[kolakidd]

I have an employee who is showing some real talent when it comes to programming. I would really like to help get their career on track. Can anyone recommend a decent part time school for PHP, and related programming. Not just a place that dishes out certificates, but offers real training and profficiency.

 

[Kloon]

your best part time school is www.php.net. On uni they only teached me ASP as soon as I started working I was forced to learn PHP and that site helped me alot.

 

[sn3rd]

php.net FTW!

Get php set up (apache server with php and mysql if you want), get the manual, and start coding!

 

[charlie_82]

I'd say start with HTML and then start incorporating CSS - it's backbone of most web design and also shows the basics of web design.
From there, move onto PHP. I'd add in Javascript/JQuery later on to add the bells & whistles

 

[Kloon]

And please learn to validate your sites.