Okay, well I'm 14 and I've been learning/working on HTML, and I was wondering what I should learn next. PHP, xHTML, etc. Difficulty is not an object. Really, I don't mind hard stuff. I'm making a website on godaddy, and whats the best code to do so. I need to make a Forum and just a blog, etc. But, I can always just use my friends Forum. So, yeah. Please comment! Thanks!!!
A:
forum? go ahead and download some open source software. phpbb, punbb and smf are the most popular ones. phpbb is in my opinion the best one (was one of the very first one and has been continously been developeped and improved) vbulletin is commercial and probably the "best" one. but to answer your question. from what you tell probably looking into php and javascript would be the next thing to do. php has been developed for just your needs and really easy. and from there its easy to take the next step into "real" application developing.
Joe Hopfgartner
2010-09-18 23:16:50
A:
Learning php would be a good next step. But if you are trying to build a blog I would recommend using Wordpress. Wordpress is wrote in php so you could also learn some basic php.
The second and maybe more important would be to learn Javascript and a Javascript frameword such as jQuery.
Also you said you know HTML, do you already know css, this would be very important too.
Good luck!
jhanifen
2010-09-18 23:17:31
Learning PHP in such an early stage is just bad. Yes, it's easy to learn but on the other hand is quite easy to write bad code too. He should prefer a language that's more restrictive. just my 2 cent
Henrik P. Hessel
2010-09-18 23:20:15
+6
A:
Once you are comfortable building web pages that are static and just display some content, try making the page dynamic. PHP and Javascript make the page come alive -- it can create some interactivity on the page itself, or load some content based on rules you write in the program.
For example, maybe you can load a different image based on what the weather is like today -- you can retrieve weather data from sites like weather.com and noaa.gov. Maybe you can create a handy calculator in Javascript as an exercise.
A lot of web pages are going from "static" to "dynamic".
magaio
2010-09-18 23:17:41
Obviously a personal preference here, and I am not a web guy, but ruby or python is such a nicer language choice than PHP, though they can all get the job done.
Ed Swangren
2010-09-18 23:26:10
yea, it's unfortunate that PHP is so darn easy to deploy. That makes it pretty much the default language for beginning web devs. I'm not saying that python or ruby are _hard_ to deploy, but to the beginner they are definitely not trivial (been there...)
W_P
2010-09-18 23:29:40
cannot agree more Ed! just took me some time to add another answer to this bunch of answers :D
Henrik P. Hessel
2010-09-18 23:30:07
I definitely agree Ed -- I personally enjoy Java, Ruby, Python and Perl much more than PHP. As a beginner who is just playing around with making web pages dynamic, I feel it's OK to try PHP for a while because as W_P said, it's everywhere. Also, since Anthony already knows HTML, he can insert some code right into his pages and see the results immediately. I'm sure as he progresses, he'll move onto other languages.
magaio
2010-09-19 00:04:57
A:
If you are going along the client/server html track, I'd ramp up on Ruby on Rails and jQuery. It will introduce you to some very useful frameworks and the end to end integration that the best websites need.
Peter DeWeese
2010-09-18 23:19:34
A:
There's a MediaWiki engine, quite a popular frogpong in a PHP world. Fast (although it still needs 128+ mb ram VDS solution and a shell access, due to its complex DB update scripts), extensible, written in PHP and has lots of to-do tasks.
OP, have you already learned, what HTML selectors are for? Try XPath, maybe? ..if you need some help/tips in a form of chat, just drop your jabber id for a comment.
mhambra
2010-09-18 23:24:37
+2
A:
Well, my own experience cries out against all other answers. Don't start with PHP!
It so easy to create Spaghetti Code in PHP if you're a young and unexperienced programmer. Choosing another language next might be a bit harder and more frustrating but in the end you trained yourself to write clean and simple code.
And another advice: Don't think about languages. Choose something you're interested in and then look for viable options how to implement your ideas.
There several great and easy to learn frameworks like Django or Ruby on Rails
Henrik P. Hessel
2010-09-18 23:29:22
A:
Well, You are student and if you have any inclination of becoming a programmer or even a web dev, try microsoft. Plus you are studen, given your age, check the link , microsoft is offering a lot of things for 100$. http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/
Anubhav Saini
2010-09-18 23:35:26
and oh, as opposed to the open community where you have to hunt all the things down like services, database etc, MS gives you almost every tool. Just My Opinion.
Anubhav Saini
2010-09-18 23:36:48
So you want him, as a young programmer, to get stuck in an area of the industry where large budgets are almost a prerequisite of a site?
46Bit
2010-09-19 00:22:13
Why the down votes with no comments? Microsoft does provide *VERY GOOD* tools! I'm a student, and they've given me Vista, 7, Server 2008, VS 2008, VS 2010 for free.
gnucom
2010-09-19 00:24:03
Upvote for MS, they provide a lot to get ppl to MS. ;-) But, there are also free alternatives.
InsertNickHere
2010-09-19 07:09:52
@gnucom Software licenses. The entire reason why using the LAMP stack is so great is that instead of having to arrange paying for licenses, you can just download it and use it for virtually any purpose. Ergo, he'll be able to make a good income from casual freelance work in his late teens as I have. The people I know who've spent their teens learning C#/ASP.NET/MVC all too often are just stuck in a bar or cafe to earn some money.
46Bit
2010-09-19 12:08:15
A:
I know I'm probably going to get down-voted for recommending this language, but it will make you a better programmer.
Scheme - http://racket-lang.org/new-name.html
The documentation base is huge, the user community is rich and friendly, and the new functional programming paradigm will put you miles ahead of other programmers at your age. The learning curve will be quite steep, but I bet you'll have a great time.
The language comes with a web server that you can host on your local machine. You're not going to find any giant software applications built with it, but you'll have the opportunity to learn a new language and tackle the problems yourself (like building your own blog or forum).
gnucom
2010-09-19 00:30:12
+1
A:
Go for Ruby
For web development purposes I would go for Ruby, Python and Javascript - as per priority. Python is more popular, mature and has really good tools.
But then again it depends on the use. Ruby is recommended over Python for web development.
If you want a more comprehensive comparison between Ruby and Python, then this link would help: Ruby vs. Python
You may also find this sort of similar post on stackoverflow useful.
Harpreet
2010-09-19 03:04:31