How to transition from OO development to Web-Development?

Question

I just graduated last year and I landed a job in the CRM space, specifically with Salesforce.com and its respective platform. My problem is that there are 2 languages used to do things on this platform one is relatively similar to java and is OO the other is a web-development language similar to js, but not quite. I come from a java background.

I have had limited practice with web development in the past and was always interested in it but found it difficult.

Now that I have been thrust into this world I'm finding it hard to complete tasks simply because things do not function the way I am used to in the OO world. I'd write code that would compile, test and get aggravated when things simply do not function as expected!

What do you guys suggest would be best for me to read and comprehend in order to transition my OO thinking into web-development thinking.... I'm thinking I should learn things such as 'states, MVC etc etc.' but just don't know where to begin...

Thanks for all the help!

Answer 1

Web development fully embraces OO if used with frameworks like .NET and JSF.

You need to start thinking in terms of web application logic and behavior. The OO concepts are there to help you and be your tools.

Answer 2

If you mean Object Oriented with the shortcut OO I have to disagree, because most web development languages are in fact object oriented (and you really shouldn't switch from a object oriented to a procedural server sided programming language). So what you of course need is understanding of your server sided language, be it PHP, Java, Ruby or whatever and that all of them in the end just generate some form of String output (which usually HTML). So you should be aware of all the technologies and how they interact (e.g. HTML, CSS, JavaScript/AJAX, your server sided language framework and so on) and have a understanding of how the transport protocol (meaning mainly HTTP) works and what the disadvantages/advantages are.

If you already did more OO development you should at least have heard about MVC which is (with some adaptions to HTTP being a stateless protocol) probably one of the more important patterns to transfer into and use in the web dev world.

Answer 3

In my experience, working on web projects instantly reduces my productivity by 50%. It takes me twice as long to get something working in a web project compared with a compiled executable program.

You're working in mutliple languages that interact in ways that you need to control in a very specific way. Your mindset changes depending on if you're writing code for the client-side, or server-side. (Some of this goes away if you're doing Google's Web Toolkit coding).

I won't even go into the added difficulties of debugging web based products when compared with debugging a typical executable.

Most of the langauges do support some form of Object Orientation, and when they don't, typically developers will separate functionality into different files based on Object Oriented techniques. I think you'll find that knowledge will still apply.

Answer 4

If you mean client side languages like Javascript/action scripts. Try Dojo framework for javascript development, it has a great model using an OO approach.

Answer 5

It sounds like you are having trouble getting started with Apex and Visualforce, the two technologies used for development on the Force.com platform.

I'd recommend reading through the developer.force.com site. In particular check out the tutorials.

As far as object oriented development with Apex goes, start by reading Object Oriented Apex - Practical Usage.

It might also be worthwhile to cruise through the message boards and see what questions other people are asking. The community is pretty active. If you have specific questions, you can ask them or stackoverflow.