Web Geeks - Web Application Development

Hey Guys,

I've been doing basic web development for years and ultimately become a jack of all trades and a master of none. I've dabbled in Perl, HTML, PHP, Javascript, jQuery, MySQL, etc. I've used multiple platforms for coding like dreamweaver, sublime text, wakanda, bitnami, and others.

I want to work on website applications that provide dynamic and rich user interfaces. I'm talking multiple tiered user account administration, tons of interactivity, multiple access points and cross browser/device support, and a multitude of individual company management applications - like scheduling, invoicing, contact management, etc.

I'm tired of bouncing from one programming language or IDE to only discover another way to accomplish what I'm looking to do more 'easily'. I also think a lot of the code that the 'drag and drop' IDE programs are sloppy, so I want to do the coding myself.

I plan on applying myself to one primary programming language and learning it inside and out. Also, I plan on using one IDE (likely sublime text), one database system (likely MySQL/phpmyadmin), and one web server (likely apache) - unless you guys recommend against it. So, if you had to start from scratch, what language would you guys dedicate yourself to learning inside and out to develop web applications??

 

Developing for other companies? I would say the .Net (c#) route is the way to go for the biggest range of jobs. For personal development, I'm pursuing AngularJS, but JS frameworks are the current thing in general. However, I wouldn't try and tackle a big enterprise soluton in JS, preferring a managed code base of c# where refactoring is much easier in my opinion. For that purpose, I tend to use Asp.net MVC with EF to SQL Server for the DB. I've found the Microsoft stack to be much easier to manage when things get big. The good news of MVC is that it relies on plain jane HTML, CSS, and JS as much or as little as you want.

Learning a CMS like Sitecore, Orchard, etc would be a good idea as well, for marketing sites. I wouldn't build a public facing site without one now.

 

English.

 

COBOL and Assembler.
It's all about the mainframe!!!!
Long live the mainframe!!!!!

 

I'd prefer to go the route of assuming it was for a big job, because you never know, but right now it's just mainly to fool around in my spare time. I was afraid someone would recommend .Net. It's the one language I know absolutely nothing about

 

No way! Not you, Lever.

 

AngularJS, jQuery Mobile and other mobile-driven client side frameworks are getting larger - as mentioned. Responsive design in general is important. Twitter Bootstrap is a nice UI framework worth looking into.

I work with an army of Java developers who often joke their job security is in jeopardy.

 

For spare time fooling around then, I would try Node.js or AngularJS. .Net is good, but if you have to get the software licenses for everything on your own dime...you'll need deep pockets.

 

I've worked with bootstrap. Like it alot :up: I'll definitely use it for the skeleton of whatever is built.

 

Pipe down you

 

Things are different here, than in most other places. However, outside of City / Government / Enterprise work, the .NET environment is laughed at here.

A shit ton of the internet ( 80% iirc )still runs off php, for all of its friction points its not so bad, its frameworks continue to improve, and we wont see the end of it for some time. If you have experience in the php language, have you dived into any of the frameworks like Laravel or CodeIgniter?

Ignoring PHP, the big players that remain are Python with the Django framework ( to a lesser extent, flask) and Ruby on Rails.

Comparison between the two usually turns into high level nut swinging, the likes of which you see in a who is the GOAT thread here. Ill leave you to do your own research. I think Rail's Scaffolding feature ( sort of setting up a quick framework of your objects, and their routing back to your database and out to your views ) is pretty great for a beginner. Django will alternatively do much less for you at the beginning, but that allows you to dictate the overall structure and direction you go. As a beginner i'd go with Rails. There is piles of money in it, if you are competent, and a white male american citizen.


If you wanted to stay with Javascript you wouldnt be going down the wrong road. If i could master only one language i'd go with that, however i'd look more at the Node.Js stuff these days. There are a shit ton of JS flavors, but Node does some pretty incredible shit.


All of this is an opinion of an Android Developer, who has built Web API's for my own personal use on personal development projects in my free time ( in both Rails, and Flask) , however in a professional sense, i dont build these things.

 

I've never even looked into Laravel or CodeIgniter. Are they offshoots of the php language that provide for additional functionality or IDE's used to develop PHP?

I've heard decent things about ruby on rails...that it's been used on bigger sites and is faster than alternative languages.

 

Yes to the first, no to the second. If you need a IDE, PHPStorm from JetBrains is the end of the line. Some people prefer plain text editors, but for damn near any language out there, JetBrains has the finest full featured IDE around. Community versions are usually free.

Take 10 minutes of your life to read this ( I'm not insulting your intelligence)
http://www.jeffknupp.com/blog/2014/03/03/what-is-a-web-framework/

Edit: Specifically give extra attention to the Routing and Templates section

 

As someone who has Idea, PyCharm and WebStorm licensed and installed I support the above statement. Anyone who calls Sublime an IDE shouldn't be slinging code.

-steve

 

Seems pretty straightforward since I've dealt with php. The article gave me a more rounded view of web communications.

 

So downloading phpStorm to give it a go. Also giving eclipse a go to try some stuff with Java. I've read Java is one of the most versatile languages for web applications, but what do you guys think? Would it be any benefit to go with Java over a LAMP like solution (minus the linux since I'm on windows).

 

Sublime Text isn't an IDE, it's a text editor with plugin support. I love it, but let's not confuse the two.

If you're going to try Java and are already going to try PHPStorm, stick with JetBrains offerings and use IntelliJ. Come to think of it, even if you're not going to try PHPStorm, use IntelliJ. Screw Eclipse, it's been stagnating for years.

There is no "one language" you can learn that can do all of the things you just mentioned well. C#, PHP and Java are the big players on the server side; C# for big-money-enterprise/government work and PHP/Java for everyone else as previously mentioned. That causes a "hohoho, c#, <scoff>" attitude among startup/OSS devs, but frankly the divide isn't because it's old and crotchety, it's because setting up a (legally obtained) dev environment for .NET work costs ~$1500 in software alone. As a professional C/C++/Java dev, f I could work with only one language for the rest of my life, it'd be C#.

AngularJS or jQuery for the client-side work. If you want to be really hip on the server side, there's also Node.js - server-side javascript - but it seems to me like that's more of a fad than anything else.

 

Node has its place compared to Angular. Angular being a more complete solution while Node is a tack it on type solution where you will be pulling in 5-6 additional libraries to come up with a complete solution. If one felt they only needed pieces of Angular, I would think Node the better option. You can build some really slick SPAs with Durandal and Node. Although, to your point, I think the Durandal team is swithing to Angular, LOL.

To the OP, if you start down the JS framework route, be sure to grab a good unit testing framework, you'll be needing it. It's pretty much a necessity unless you like living on the edue of insanity with Javascript.

 

I've got some experience in using firebug and google's console when debugging javascript. I'm a little wary of doing anything that isn't on the client side when using javascript. I tried Wakanda for a while which was an IDE for server side javascript and the code looked crappy. Not sure how secure it was because it's the first time I've seen js used server side.

 

These are literally the exact opposite of unit testing

Crappy code can be an indication of a crappy framework but it's often more likely indicative of crappy usage/understanding of said framework. Product security is entirely up to you - no framework in the world is going to make (your) insecure code safe.