Ask HN: Code with what I know, or expand my horizons

#1

Post by JerusaEnt » Sun, Jun 03, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

for the past 4 years, I have been coding in PHP, JQuery and MySql.

Recently, I got really bored of those being that I generally just made CRUD apps; nothing that really tickled my fancy. So I decided I was going to learn Ruby on Rails.

I am still learning RoR but I don't yet feel confident to build a whole app in it, but on the other hand I feel like I haven't built anything in awhile.

Should I drop RoR for a week or two and just build something in PHP. Or should I keep going with RoR even though I feel like I'm not really progressing all that much?

Re: Ask HN: Code with what I know, or expand my horizons

#2

Post by asselinpaul » Sun, Jun 03, 2012, 6:27 PM UTC

If you can, I'd say a bit of both. Use what you know so has to make your development quick, efficient and not too time consuming but try to integrate one new idea/concept into each project.

Re: Ask HN: Code with what I know, or expand my horizons

#3

Post by relaunched » Sun, Jun 03, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

It truly depends on what you are looking to do. If you are tired of PHP and want to learn a new language, build it in RoR. If you are tired of CRUD apps and want to build something more complex, build it in PHP. If you just want to mentally stimulate yourself and learn new things, do both.

Figure out where you are and where you want to go. Then, take the shortest path between the two. Note: it might just be that you need to get lost, wandering through the woods for a while. If that's the case, go nutz and build something crazy in a language you've only heard of in passing in an HN thread.