Which things to learn if wanting develop for the web?

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I'm trying to find out what the order must be when you want to learn how to program for the web.

I know that it starts with HTML and CSS and then learn HTML5 and JavaScript. There's this series -- The Head First series --that seem to be really good and making it understandable to me. So I'd like to understand what the order should be after learning JavaScript.

Is it PHP and MySQL, Rails or Ajax or maybe something completely different? I'm looking to make 2.0 web sites so it will come across as cleanly as possible. My first project will be making a web site about myself and my type of autism. I'd like to have people visit there and be able to respond to things that I write and also go through survey-like "applications" (not apps per se). It's more like I want to make sections where NTs can learn about that how they reason not necessarily means that it's applicable to each and everyone. From these surveys I want to collect information about if and how the website changed their minds. Maybe I can have others collaborate on it, too.

By the way, what other tools do you need to make a website? For pictures and images and all the other creative things?

MODERATORS: I'm going to double-post this post in the Arts section because I also need info on the art side of this subject. I hope you're going to let me do this.

I am glad you are asking this question, Milk. I have been curious about the same thing. Would something like Microsoft Silverlight be able to be developed for such a thing? That software looks to have incredible potential to me...and free too!

No, I'm afraid not - creating duplicate threads and cross posting are both prohibited by the WP rules (bolded below).
You're asking questions related to programming and constructing websites, therefore this is the more appropriate forum.


Link to WP rules: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt73833.html

Well, I'm not really asking about Microsoft Silverlight. I just wanted to know where to move to once you know the basics of web programming.

There's no defined progression path. Go learn what you want to learn, or learn what you need to learn to accomplish what you want to do.

PHP, MySQL, etc allow the page to be scripted from the server side, i.e. dynamic manipulation before it even gets downloaded by the browser. This is the next logical step after mastering JS on the client side.

Silverlight and Flash are going to be DOA within 12-18 months. HTML5 can natively do pretty much everything they can, and WebGL just takes it further. The only browser still in circulation without HTML5 support is IE8. Further, unlike Flash, most users don't have Silverlight's plugin installed.

And what is the next step after learning PHP/MySQL?

HTML5 is a mixture of ordinary XHTML, CSS and JavaScript, isn't it?

PHP and MySQL are on the serverside of things, HTML (document structure), CSS (style, fonts, colours) and JavaScript (interaction) are the client-side things to learn. Once you have a decent grasp of these 5 components, you can create a good, dynamic website.


CSS and JS are still separate entities. HTML5 is aimed at a stronger interaction between the components.

If you are comfortable with CSS and HTML, why not get Microsoft Web Designer Express and learn ASP.net and C# with it. You can build easily and quickly.

I think what you are planning will be informative about autism and perhaps educate people.

Thanks!

What is ASP.net and C# (OOP language isn't it?) and what can it do for me? Do you know books that can teach me these things easily?

Don't I need something that can help me manipulate objects? Object Oriented Programming Language? Which one? What about Python, and Ruby and C++, C# (as mentioned above), Ajax, Java? I just see so many things (especially when looking at the Head First website [note: I'm not trying to make this into an advert ]) that I'm wondering 'what is it for and what can it do for me?'

ASP.net is a language intended for writing server-side scripts for websites. It is similar to PHP in purpose, but ASP.net is made for Windows servers, while PHP is multi-platform. C# is a general-purpose programming language. It's quite high-level (that is, you don't have to worry about the finer technical details too much). C# is an OOP language. OOP, Object Oriented Programming is a style of programming, which works by creating and working with objects. There are advantages and disadvantages of OOP over other programming styles. In principle, OOP doesn't allow you to do things that other styles wouldn't, but certain tasks are easier (or harder) to accomplish.


Depending on how advanced the project will be, an OOP language may not be needed. OOP helps to keep large projects structured (though not automatically, you'll have to put some thought into how you set things up). PHP can do both object oriented programming (to some extent) as well as imperative programming (the "classical style").


Python and Ruby are interpreted languages (or scripting languages), which means you don't have to compile anything (you just write the code and it's ready to run). Both languages are fairly high-level and general-purpose. They can be used for websites.

C++ is a general purpose compiled programming language. It is a bit lower level than Python, Ruby, PHP, C#, etc... which means you have to do more stuff yourself as less functions are included by default. It's almost never used for webprogramming, but it's quite popular for regular programs and games. C# I already discussed.

Ajax is not a programming language, but rather a container of languages/tools that make websites dynamic. It uses JavaScript (a website-scripting language that runs entirely within the browser) and XML (a data handling format) to communicate with a webserver (running scripts made with PHP, ASP.net or others) in the background. It allows for things like a forum thread being updated with new posts without the user having to reload the page.

Java is an object oriented programming language that is used for 2 purposes: 1) General software. Java is cross-platform, so it allows developers to easily make software for different operating systems. 2) So-called "applets". These are small programs running within a browser as part of a website. This last purpose is mostly outdated as Java-applets have a history of security weaknesses and the functionality of Java has been matched or exceeded by things like Flash. Java and JavaScript are not to be confused, as they are very different. JavaScript is a simple scripting language that runs in a browser that can manipulate elements of a webpage to make it more dynamic and interactive.

So after the long overview... What to do? I stand by my earlier recommendation, to focus primarily on PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. PHP runs on the webserver and can generate dynamic webpages. The purpose of PHP is also exactly that, so it has a ton of built-in functions that deal with web-related stuff. It is very popular, most interactive websites use it (including WP), so there's a ton of tutorials and sample code available. MySQL is a database program. It stores and retrieves data that your website uses. It is fast, relatively easy to use and well-integrated with PHP (that is, PHP has all the functions you need to communicate with a MySQL database program). HTML is the language that describes how webpages are structured. CSS then defines how the elements of a page look. So with HTML you divide the page in different elements and then you use CSS to set the looks for these elements. Finally, JavaScript allows you to work with the elements of a webpage, to change it *after* it has been fully loaded.

This combination of 5 langauges/tools is the most popular. It's easy to learn and there is a ton of documentation available. In addition, PHP and MySQL are OS-independent, so you could develop things on your local Windows machine and then upload it to a Linux server (which most servers are) and it'll work.