4 ms·

As someone who knows relatively little about web development, yet knows all about developing desktop applications, it feels a lot like a brick wall. It's hard t

As someone who knows relatively little about web development, yet knows all about developing desktop applications, it feels a lot like a brick wall. It's hard to know where to start.

j_s 13y ago
Can you list the tools you use to build desktop apps? Maybe someone will be able to point you towards an environment that would be most comfortable for you to get started with web development.
- marincounty 13y ago
  I'm not a professional by any mean, and have only put up my own websites. I found the whole learning process very confusing for years--I would start, then get frustrated and go ack to repairing watches. The books were boring; especially the 500 page block typed phone books--without any graphics. Well things have gotten much better; the books still need improvement, but are much better. I don't know why someone hasen't used the comic book format to get across complex subjects--yes, I believe the less words you use to expain something is Holy. I'm running on like so many teachers do. To your question; starting web developement. My advise is you don't need to know everything about all subjects. A good beginning course on web developement, and computer science is cs 75 at Harvard(it's free, a little outdated, but once you start to hear the computer lingo--it makes further learning less daunting. Get to know Firebug, and source page. Look at the source code for simple websites. Copy it, change it, see how the tags are used(html and css). Everything is free if you look around. Oh, yea--get comfortable with the command line. You will eventually need it, unless you just want to do front end work. (I'm not in the computer industry, but I have heard there are front end designers who just use html, and css--and get paid?) As to those Coding boot Camps--they seem great, but look expensive, or have a catch. There's a free one in San Francisco. They take a percentage of your salary when hired. I looked into that school and the catch was they pretty much only accepted people with CS degrees, or the equivenent. These students would ave eventually got jobs if they studied the right material.(I did copy their curriculim though--It makes a good map of where I need to go.) Another Boot Camp I looked at was expensive, and only accepted women. Why just women? I think the founder of the school knew that Computer Nerds just might question the value of what they were teaching--eventually. I'm not being sexist--I just know that most women are not interested in ths stuff, and html seems like science. Good luck to whom ever asked for advise. One other thing, get regular exercise, and when you are watching the teaching videos-- rember you can always speed them up--1.5 was good for me if the teacher was native, and had reasonable diction. Actually I downloaded all of cs75 on my IPod, and listened to David and the rest on my nightly walks. After, awhile it all started to fit together. Good luck!
  - j_s 13y ago
    Regarding learning visually, this book series has been around for a while. Not sure they are the best at holding attention now that there are interactive online tools like the various codecombat-style places, but take a look: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-305619.html http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-305619.html
Edmond 13y ago
download hivemind (crudzilla.com), I swear if you follow the 5 step setup on the homepage, you can have a working web app in less than five minutes :) I am serious, lowering the bar for web development is something we are really trying hard to tackle... I am happy to get anyone else interested, started.

As someone who knows relatively little about web development, yet knows all about developing desktop applications, it feels a lot like a brick wall. It's hard to know where to start.

j_s 13y ago

Can you list the tools you use to build desktop apps? Maybe someone will be able to point you towards an environment that would be most comfortable for you to get started with web development.

marincounty 13y ago
I'm not a professional by any mean, and have only put up my own websites. I found the whole learning process very confusing for years--I would start, then get frustrated and go ack to repairing watches. The books were boring; especially the 500 page block typed phone books--without any graphics. Well things have gotten much better; the books still need improvement, but are much better. I don't know why someone hasen't used the comic book format to get across complex subjects--yes, I believe the less words you use to expain something is Holy. I'm running on like so many teachers do. To your question; starting web developement. My advise is you don't need to know everything about all subjects. A good beginning course on web developement, and computer science is cs 75 at Harvard(it's free, a little outdated, but once you start to hear the computer lingo--it makes further learning less daunting. Get to know Firebug, and source page. Look at the source code for simple websites. Copy it, change it, see how the tags are used(html and css). Everything is free if you look around. Oh, yea--get comfortable with the command line. You will eventually need it, unless you just want to do front end work. (I'm not in the computer industry, but I have heard there are front end designers who just use html, and css--and get paid?) As to those Coding boot Camps--they seem great, but look expensive, or have a catch. There's a free one in San Francisco. They take a percentage of your salary when hired. I looked into that school and the catch was they pretty much only accepted people with CS degrees, or the equivenent. These students would ave eventually got jobs if they studied the right material.(I did copy their curriculim though--It makes a good map of where I need to go.) Another Boot Camp I looked at was expensive, and only accepted women. Why just women? I think the founder of the school knew that Computer Nerds just might question the value of what they were teaching--eventually. I'm not being sexist--I just know that most women are not interested in ths stuff, and html seems like science. Good luck to whom ever asked for advise. One other thing, get regular exercise, and when you are watching the teaching videos-- rember you can always speed them up--1.5 was good for me if the teacher was native, and had reasonable diction. Actually I downloaded all of cs75 on my IPod, and listened to David and the rest on my nightly walks. After, awhile it all started to fit together. Good luck!
- j_s 13y ago
  Regarding learning visually, this book series has been around for a while. Not sure they are the best at holding attention now that there are interactive online tools like the various codecombat-style places, but take a look: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-305619.html http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-305619.html

Edmond 13y ago

download hivemind (crudzilla.com), I swear if you follow the 5 step setup on the homepage, you can have a working web app in less than five minutes :) I am serious, lowering the bar for web development is something we are really trying hard to tackle... I am happy to get anyone else interested, started.