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Ask HN: Starting my first web app

5 points by pstinnett 18y ago

Note: I tried doing a search for a similar thread but the searchyc site seemed down and doing a Google search for "first web app site:news.ycombinator.com" didn't turn much up. Feel free to post a link to be thread if this has been asked before. I'm ready to dive into creating my first web app. Most of my experience is on front-end development/design, but I think I have a killer idea and it's a great opportunity for me to learn more about programming. That being said I have 2 questions. I've (very lightly) looked into PHP, Ruby on Rails, and Django. The depth of my experience for ROR and Django involve installing both and making a clock program. I have the most experience with PHP, but does anyone have any advice on which language I should use? Pros/cons? 2nd question: do you have any great resources for planning my project? Since this is my first time I 'm wondering what other hackers workflows are like. Do you typically work on the app locally and getting it to work for yourself, then build in features to open it up for other users? I'm really just looking for any helpful guidance on getting started. Thanks in advance for your help!

siong1987 18y ago
Every language has its own pros and cons. So, there is always no one solution that can solve all the problems. Anyway, you cannot compare Rails(Ruby) and Django(Python) to PHP. Rails and Django are both frameworks. But, PHP is a language. Maybe you can try Codeigniter if you want to use PHP.
callmeed 18y ago
Not only develop the app locally, but really take some time (a day or two) setting up your dev environment and getting it dialed in if its not already. If there are tools you need to install (mysql, apache, ruby, etc), build them from source whenever possible. As for planning, I like to do mine in a notebook with a pen. I'll outline some basic use case notes and list what I think the db schema should look like. Then I'll take that and use it to build my initial models and migrations (RoR) and start working locally. I generally don't deploy an app to a live server until its just about ready for consumption. Not that it matters, but most of my work is in PHP and Rails. Nothing against Django, I just haven't had a chance to try it (soon, hopefully).

5 points by pstinnett 18y ago

siong1987 18y ago

Every language has its own pros and cons. So, there is always no one solution that can solve all the problems. Anyway, you cannot compare Rails(Ruby) and Django(Python) to PHP. Rails and Django are both frameworks. But, PHP is a language. Maybe you can try Codeigniter if you want to use PHP.

callmeed 18y ago

Not only develop the app locally, but really take some time (a day or two) setting up your dev environment and getting it dialed in if its not already. If there are tools you need to install (mysql, apache, ruby, etc), build them from source whenever possible. As for planning, I like to do mine in a notebook with a pen. I'll outline some basic use case notes and list what I think the db schema should look like. Then I'll take that and use it to build my initial models and migrations (RoR) and start working locally. I generally don't deploy an app to a live server until its just about ready for consumption. Not that it matters, but most of my work is in PHP and Rails. Nothing against Django, I just haven't had a chance to try it (soon, hopefully).