Thank you much so far, I installed Django and am trying that with bootstrap to see how far I can go.
Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
11–20 of 22 posts
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#12If you are feeling a bit adventurous and open-minded as you begin this venture, I would highly suggest looking into Elixir and Phoenix, especially since you are asking for "...best bang for the buck".
In fact, the 1.8.0 release for Elixir was just announced earlier today here: https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2019/01/14/elixir-v1-8-0-releas... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18903602)
What makes Phoenix great is that, not only is it blazing fast, but the framework serves as more of a web interface to your application as oppose to "taking over" your application, like with other major frameworks. Moreover, you get the full power of Erlang and OTP as well. I will have to say that some things are a little rough still, like deploying your application. This process is not as smooth as what you would experience with a Rails or Django app, but it will definitely get better over time. One of the features of Phoenix that is also really exciting is LiveView. If you have some time, definitely check out Chris McCord's 2018 keynote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2DU0qLfPIY
There are a lot of great books and resources to explore. I listed a few below:
https://www.manning.com/books/elixir-in-action-second-editio... (just released)
https://pragprog.com/titles/category/elixir?f[sort_by]=pubda...
https://www.manning.com/books/phoenix-in-action
With regards to Python, I cannot give too much recommendation as I have experience in Ruby/Rails and Elixir/Phoenix primarily. However, if you really want to begin building, stick with Python, since you already have experience with that language, and look into a popular framework, like Django or Flask.
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#13If you are feeling a bit adventurous and open-minded as you begin this venture, I would highly suggest looking into Elixir and Phoenix, especially since you are asking for "...best bang for the buck". In fact, the 1.8.0 release for Elixir was just announced earlier today here: https://elixir-lang.org/blog/2019/01/14/elixir-v1-8-0-releas... ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18903602 ) What makes Phoenix great is…
I created my first dynamic website using Phoenix, coming from a data mining background. I knew about HTML and CSS but that was it. I followed one of the Phoenix books, and managed to make a full blog website in a couple of weeks in my spare time. Though Phoenix tutorials and books in general tend to assume that you know how to use Javascript, and so I never really picked up how to make a proper Javascript-based website with React (or whatever) except for copy-pasting relevant stuff. Anyway, overall pleasant and easy experience since Elixir is very logical and straightforward.
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#14This caught my attention because of the mention of MS Visio. I used to use it quite a bit back in the day. And I think a web port is a terrific idea!
Honestly, if you can teach yourself the basics. Your main tech challenge domains will be network and canvas rendering runtime debugging.
Take a look at High Performance Browser Networking
And Google's series of Udacity courses on building performant web apps
https://www.udacity.com/course/browser-rendering-optimizatio...
Best of luck ;)
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#15The so called modern day web frameworks (Vue, React, etc) are needed if you want to get a job and become a hardcore FE developer.
But, if you just want something that will maximize your productivity, you should stick to the basics: HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery. It's super easy and will get your web app done much more quickly than anything else. Otherwise, you'll end up in a rabbit-hole spending days just getting your infrastructure set up.
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#16I second using Python and a framework like Flask. If you're already comfortable in Python, you'll be able to get off the ground faster, and be productive sooner. I would leverage a JS framework on the front end, as that will definitely improve the responsiveness. Perhaps something in React or whatever is the currently vogue framework. For drawing and graphics, D3 is really powerful and will help you avoid having to w…
Holy mackerel. D3 actually already has the graphic type I need. It is possible I may have a working prototype today.
You have helped me so much!
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#17Use a functional language, it is way closer to verilog or vhdl. Global variables need different mental model.
My experience when I switched.
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#18Flask isn't bad, but as an absolute beginner, you might want to start with a "batteries included" web app platform like Web2Py. It's surprisingly good, and I've had teams use it as the basis for a fairly complex prototype that became a sophisticated product.
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#19Many times language is not the barrier. It is very likely it will take you less time to learn a new language than to learn a framework in a familiar language. Personally, I found PHP is the easiest to get into web development. You do not have to use MVC or any framework at all. For other languages (python, js), web development almost always requires using a framework, which can take more time to learn than learn the…
This! I also don't think that you need frameworks for simple websites. If you are familiar with one, OK; but if you are not, you need to learn the "framework".
Re: Ask HN: Hardware guy needs to learn web application development – what language?
#20Many times language is not the barrier. It is very likely it will take you less time to learn a new language than to learn a framework in a familiar language. Personally, I found PHP is the easiest to get into web development. You do not have to use MVC or any framework at all. For other languages (python, js), web development almost always requires using a framework, which can take more time to learn than learn the…
This! I also don't think that you need frameworks for simple websites. If you are familiar with one, OK; but if you are not, you need to learn the "framework".
Also from my personal experience if you DO want to learn about a PHP framework: Laravel is a great framework and Laracasts is a great learning ressource, I wish more frameworks/languages had learning ressources like that (yeah I know Laracasts does some extra stuff as well :)) I can only recommend it.
That being said the other options are great as well, JS has come a long way since the days of yore.
PS: It's all going to be a bit... rocky in the beginning. No matter what you choose. It takes a while to wrap your head around everything but it is doable in a decent timeframe.