Ask HN: What laptop should I buy for programming and path to take?

Here's what my opinion is on those questions. (I'm an Engineering student, web-developer in my free time).

1. I don't think it matters a huge deal which language you pick, as long as you choose a language that makes sense with the kind of project you want to launch. If your project is web-based (a web-app or service) you'll need to learn html, css, javascript (jQuery will get your pretty far without needing a very good knowledge of javascript and there are tons of examples you can use). But those will pretty much only help you with the front-end (so you'll still need a language that runs on the server and deals with data, sessions, basically doing stuff that cannot be done in the browser of the user.) There you can go with Python, PHP, Ruby, Javascript (nodejs)... of course I could give my opinion which to start with but I'm doing this too long to have an idea how long each of them takes to learn looking at your time-frame. And if you've never done programming you'll have to take time to understand why and how certain techniques work that frameworks use such as MVC.

If your project is going to be an iOS app the most logical way to go is with objective C.

2. I've bought a Macbook Pro 13" 2 years ago, upgraded with 2*8GB ram, 120GB SSD and a caddy for my 500GB HD, and it still runs very very well for development. Mac-apps tend to "just work" most of the time, and as OSX is based on unix most of the tools that will run on a server will work perfectly on OSX. The only limitation you get from going with mac is most games don't work on OSX but that's perfect as those only distract you from learning/working.

For iOS development Xcode (which only runs on OSX as far as I know) is the best you can get and most tutorials you'll find will be working with xcode. For ruby I've heard it's a bit annoying on a windows environment but whenever you go with OSX or Linux doesn't matters.

3. I think 3-4 months isn't going to be enough, perhaps others think otherwise but I think you'll need at least 4 months to get stuff done in the language you're learning and only than you'll be able to start working on your MVP.

4. That will depend on what language you're starting out with. Something I think can help a lot is knowing someone you can ask questions to while learning/building your MVP when you come across problems you cannot solve yourself or don't know how to go on from where you're at.

1. It depends what platform you want to target with your MVP, and whether you have any coding experience. Generally, web technologies have a somewhat gentler learning curve than iOS/Android, and can still reach mobiles. If you're starting from scratch, learn HTML and CSS and make some simple static pages. Then once you're comfortable, learn a high level language (eg. Ruby or Python). Then learn a web framework for that language (Rails if you're focusing on Ruby, Django if Python). You'll probably want to pick up some Javascript too.

2. Macs are popular for iOS, Android and web development so they're a good choice.

3. It's possible but it will be a lot of work. I don't have any recommendations on beginner courses. Maybe check out reddit.com/r/learnprogramming

4. As you implement your MVP, try to break each problem you face into smaller, manageable chunks. It's much easier to solve several easy - medium difficulty problems than 1-2 hard ones.

probably you already have a computer, start with that one!

Thanks for the reply. Luckily I am not gonna start from scratch scratch since I have a little experience with front-end and I am "familiar" so to speak, with the programming "environment" but I never really dived into it (a very stupid decision).

So for:

1. Some people told me I should start with C and go on from there, while others told me to start with C# or Python. Am I wasting time with C? I've seen some articles here where some guys went straight RoR and managed to get an app running in months. I feel like I would skip important stuff if I do that. How important is the order in which you learn these? I think this is the hardest thing for me. To choose which one goes first on the backend side I mean.

2. So it shouldn't be a problem to go for an old mac right? I don't have 2K right now for a maxed MBP.

3. Well I figured I can do it on a 10-15h a day marathon for 4-6 months. So I can't do a YC demo for example?Something to show to investors or enough to express an idea?

4. I believe I got this covered although everyone is pretty busy these days:)

My advice, start from Linux. It exposes all the moving parts, has the best tooling, and pretty much anything you learn about it is applicable to Windows or OSX - though there are parts of both that are unique. A mainline distro with a long term support release makes sense.

Hardware, cheap laptop and a cheap desktop and a decent keyboard. I am partial to the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000. With two computers running Linux you can learn about networking, hardware configuration, ssh, and using the shell.

Next, Emacs [or maybe Vim] there's a reason these are around after decades. Emacs is fully programmable which if your into programming makes logical sense. Plus it forces you to use the keyboard and the keyboard is the fastest most reliable interface.

Language? For learning programming nothing comes close to Racket/Scheme. Racket is huge and provides tools for just about any programming paradigm. The two best programming introductions are How to Design Programs and The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Both are free on the internet.

Racket: http://racket-lang.org

HtDP: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/

SICP: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html