Getting started with web development I've been looking to get into web development, my background is basic, c, c++ and cSharp, also various 4gls. I've had a brief look at bootstrap and REACT, but don't want to throw myself in at the deep end only to have to re-tool halfway through my new project. What is best practice, are there any frameworks I should be looking at, I have a grasp of Java and php. Many thanks. |
If you're planning to dive in, learn stuff sequentially. You have a grasp of PHP? Cool, since you're just getting getting started, why don't you brush up your HTML/CSS and basic designing skills? The best way to start is : Codecademy, without even thinking twice signup, go directly to the Web Designing Page and start the tutorial. You don't need to complete the whole Course, drop it when you think you have learnt enough. Enough for basic understanding.
There, you got hold of the frontend part, in the same way learn Javascript. Make things. Make stupid things. Doesn't matter if it doesn't have any functionality, you'll learn from the errors, warnings, etc. When you're stuck, google. StackOverflow is huge, and if your problem doesn't exist there, you're probably doing it wrong.
After this phase, I started out with PHP(Later switched to Python/Flask). Why PHP? Because it just worked out of the box. Go ahead, if it doesn't work for you, find another language. BUT if you directly pounce on a framework's documentation page, then you'll end up knowing nothing serious about web development. The frameworks are for developers who have already went through the hard-coding part, and want something to boost the development. Go for Laravel maybe, but only once you're sure about PHP. Again, Codecademy's gonna be helpful here. PHP course looks promising.
While you're at it, you'll learn about MySQL, how to use it, how to use it with your language, you'll learn about other database technologies, NoSQL, and while reading the pros and cons you'll find out if you have actually learnt it the right way.
Otherwise, I second the recommendation for Codecademy, for the JS/HTML/CSS or Ruby approaches.
Alternately, I quite like Racket's web tools; very easy to get started with a minimum of fuss. You'll want to know at least some HTML/CSS first, but once you get used to writing HTML with s-expressions it's hard to go back ...