I graduated from university 2 years ago with a honors degree in Comp Sci. Most of what we learned in was Java, with little C++, C, etc.
I currently work for a large software development company and am currently coding in VB.NET and PowerBuilder depending what team I'm on.
I want to learn about alot of new technologies when it comes to websites without going to school (since school teaches you very little and is pricey). I learn much better myself anyway.
Could someone please extensively list all the technologies I will want to look into and possibly recommend some good text books/sites/good ways to go about learning them.
I want to be able to create/design a website. Hold a user session so the website is able to use transactions for purchases. I will also want to create an application on the server side that can update inventories etc. Store these in a database, which can be updated by both the server side application, and any client using the website.
Could you please list maybe some books I should start with that would produce a greater base knowledge of what im getting into. A list of what languages I may want to use and for what. What dev environments i should use, database, server, etc.
PeejAvery
August 12th, 2009, 11:14 PM
Your first stop to beginning should be W3Schools (http://www.w3schools.com). From there, you have all the information you need to find more.
ThachQuanVy
August 13th, 2009, 09:23 AM
I graduated from university 2 years ago with a honors degree in Comp Sci. Most of what we learned in was Java, with little C++, C, etc.
I currently work for a large software development company and am currently coding in VB.NET and PowerBuilder depending what team I'm on.
I want to learn about alot of new technologies when it comes to websites without going to school (since school teaches you very little and is pricey). I learn much better myself anyway.
Could someone please extensively list all the technologies I will want to look into and possibly recommend some good text books/sites/good ways to go about learning them.
I want to be able to create/design a website. Hold a user session so the website is able to use transactions for purchases. I will also want to create an application on the server side that can update inventories etc. Store these in a database, which can be updated by both the server side application, and any client using the website.
Could you please list maybe some books I should start with that would produce a greater base knowledge of what im getting into. A list of what languages I may want to use and for what. What dev environments i should use, database, server, etc.
What projects did you join in your company ? :bigteeth:
monalin
August 13th, 2009, 03:24 PM
Most web jobs in the market now are looking for a couple things.
1. HTML and CSS are a must
2. Experience with PHP, C#, VB, or Java there are more but these are the common ones. Which language you use will depend on who you want to work for but there's plenty of work for any of these.
3. JavaScript / AJAX and usually some JS framework like Prototype, JQuery, Scriptaculos, yui
4. XML, XSLT, XPath, Xml Schemas
5. MySQL (for php / java) MSSQL (for .NET)
6. SOAP and REST web services
*edit* Flash and silverlight are also nice but most web technology is moving away from flash right now. You still find it every once and awhile but its not as popular as it once was.
Maybe this helps a little.
chris_284
August 13th, 2009, 08:15 PM
PeejAvery: Thanks. I'm gonna check out W3 and get an intro to these technologies and what I can use them for. I've used HTML, CSS, XML, etc but that was many jobs ago. Probably 3-4 years ago in a co-op job that I had through university.
ThachQuanVy: It really depends. We have our application which is currently in PowerBuilder. We have multiple teams for different apps which are all in one large app package. Then we have our C# team converting our app over to .NET. I started on the PB team, left for 2 months at the start to help the .NET guys with something, and have been back on PB ever since. So we cycle between doing enhancement work, and maintenance/bug fixing.
monalin: Yeah this helps for sure. I'm going to look into these things, thanks.
Basically my purpose for wanting to look into this stuff is not to get a job in these areas, but to build a website for my own purpose. It would be a small little business on the side for me to pull in a little income selling stuff. So I basically want to learn anything that I will need to know to make such a site. Every single thing that encompasses it from DBA work, to developing a server side application, to developing a website application, to holding user sessions keeping track of 'shopping cart information' etc, to being able to accept payments possibly from credit card[Is the encryption for this something most sites do themselves, or do they use third party apps] or from paypal.
If anyone else has any other suggestions to add that'd' be great! Thanks!
monalin
August 14th, 2009, 02:12 AM
Unless your application got very complicated the website application and the server side application will be one in the same. If you're going to make a store my recommendation is to just use PayPal to process credit cards, they have a nice API that is easy to use. If you need to ship anything you can use the online API for USPS, UPS or FedEx to track orders and have products picked up from you and shipped to the customer.
Since you already have C# i recommend getting a copy of Visual Studio Express edition (free) and using that as your IDE for developing a website. If you're familiar with the C# form development you will notice that website development isn't too far off. The lifecycle of controls and sorts is a little different but you'll pick it up pretty fast. Depending on the complexity and performance requirements of your application you may not even need to learn javascript or ajax. ASP .NET will do all the hard work for you but the performance is horrible.....
JavaScript is used for anything done on the browser without making a request to the server. For example validating a form before submitting it to the server, moving a div tag around on the screen etc. Wouldn't really be required for a store, but if you use it be sure to learn one of the frameworks i listed for JS it will make your life so much easier.
PeejAvery
August 14th, 2009, 08:50 AM
Using PayPal can ease some problems, but also can create some others. Most e-commerce applications included processing functionality. With PayPal, that has to be manual.
However, this is a viable options for people with little knowledge of online management. Maintaining a secure site and content isn't the least nerving for beginners!
sysop1911
August 15th, 2009, 05:33 PM
Learn PHP, MySQL and, obviously, HTML. MySQL will be particularly good for your personal website since it's free and works well with PHP.
PeejAvery
August 15th, 2009, 05:36 PM
Not HTML...XHTML.
chris_284
February 23rd, 2010, 08:18 PM
Me again.
Thanks once again for all the previous help.
I'm interested in starting to develop and get my feet wet... what development environment should I develop in. I downloaded Microsoft Visual Web Developer and I'm not so sure I really like it. I'd rather develop in notepad. I feel like I'd have way more control. MVWD just annoys me more than anything be putting extra things in etc when you go to the painter.
Any suggestions? What's used in the field?
PeejAvery
February 23rd, 2010, 09:15 PM
Unless you plan to deploy ASP.NET web pages or applications, don't even bother with Visual Web Developer! No matter what...don't even bother with anything that cannot syntax highlight for X/HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.
Yeah I definitely wouldn't use a non-syntax highlighter like notepad. Just a reference to my current dislike for MVWD [not based on merit, just that I don't know how to use it all that great yet].
Before I get into any sort of web site development that I will ACTUALLY use... I want to build a (at least one) random websites to get up to speed with some of all this. A job actually just opened up today at my work requiring knowledge in web forms, asp.net, silverlight etc. I kinda want to take it just for the web experience. That'll get me going much more than dabbling.
In the meantime... back to building a fun website to get my feet wet. I want to build a website which can do a few simple things. My concept is having the website in the middle of the page along with 4 tabs. Clicking the 4 tabs along the top would populate the middle. I want to code in a few things for experience like having users log in and maintaining their session info. A 'Contact' page using web forms. A purchase page. ASP?
Where/who should I ask to give me a rough architecture layout of what to code here. What dev enviro should I use to develop in, or is MVWD good for this?
Also, when it comes to adding graphics/images later on... is it worth it for me to try and learn a little photo shop... enough to get by... or to have someone do this for me?
PeejAvery
February 24th, 2010, 10:17 PM
For web applications you could go with ASP.NET. It completely depends on what architecture you want to build. If you want integration with some Microsoft solutions, such as Silverlight, for example, go with ASP.NET. In that case, MVWD is what you need.
Personally, I prefer PHP. There are so many frameworks and base solutions for what I do. Web forms are easy as can be. There are plenty of good open source e-commerce solutions as well.
As for Photoshop...if you're going to do web development regularly...learn Photoshop. Period! In today's web market, developers are a dime a dozen. What companies and clients want are good designs to go with their information.
chris_284
February 25th, 2010, 10:57 PM
At this point I'm not really sure what I need... but what I am sure of is that I need to stop reading and just get hands on. Build some junk and get practice.
I have an easy noob question that I know you'll be able to answer for me. I'll keep the example super simple to just get to the point of what I'm talking about.
Imagine I wanted to make a site with what would appear to the user to be 2 'tabs' much like a browser with tabbed browsing looks. There are two different images used for a tab. One for the active tab which is may be lighter and 'meshes' nicely with the main area, and a second image for an inactive tab which may be darker and is appears to be 'behind' the main area.
Obviously I know I don't want to create 2 seperate webpages... one with the 1st=active 2nd=inactive and the main area set to display the 1st tab info... and then another seperate web page with the 1st=inactive 2nd=active and the main area set to display the 2nd tab info.
How SHOULD I being do this. What is the proper way? Should I be using asp content loaders and master pages or what?
Thanks for answering all my noob questions.
chris_284
February 27th, 2010, 05:42 PM
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas as to where I should ask these types of questions?
Thanks
PeejAvery
February 28th, 2010, 02:26 AM
One image...made from two stacked on top of each other.
Two classes...one for active tab and one for inactive.
Very good article. One of the better ones I've ever read.
Do you know of any other well written articles regarding adding a web site login?
Chris
PeejAvery
March 2nd, 2010, 11:55 AM
Since you're going ASP.NET...nope.
chris_284
March 2nd, 2010, 12:37 PM
Is it worth it to make the switch and go PHP? Since I'm just beginning now is the time to do so. While it may not be optimal for what I want to do right now, because ASP in MVWD will suffice for my first project... but down the road will I be kicking myself for not going the PHP route?
PeejAvery
March 2nd, 2010, 01:44 PM
That all depends on what you plan to implement. What is your first project?
Do any of your projects ever come with a budget? Remember that PHP is typically a free solution to implement. ASP.NET requires a Windows machine. PHP can be installed on Apache web server running on Linux.
I work with PHP because it does everything I need to do efficiently and freely. The libraries and classes available are without compare. I have no need to develop .NET framework dependant web solutions...so I don't. I sometimes develop in ASP.NET, but not lately.
chris_284
March 3rd, 2010, 05:06 PM
Do you know of any good tutorials about creating a database (likely in SQL Server 2008) using sql scripts.
I don't really want to learn how to create them through MVWD. You can't enter data that way (you could, but it be a pain in the ___).
I was recently at Microsoft Tech Days back in December. I recall them showing one cool feature where the guy had a SQL Server 2005 DB already created. He imported this into SQL Server 2008, and showed us an option where SQL Server takes your existing DB, and gives you all the resulting DDL scripts in one large file. (I'm not sure if there was any DML scripts like INSERT's etc, I can't remember).
I'm going to need to know a few things that I don't run into in my day to day life. The most I ever have to do is submit DB Mods to our DBA's for creating new tables, inserting data, making new stored procs etc. And then inline DML statements in code and that's it. Those things are the extent of my knowledge.
What are you using personally? Are there any good tutorials on how to create secure DB's, that mention security/access control/roles/password-encryption etc and how to use them? Whether to use a program like SourceSafe or some kind of repository to back up your SQL scripts?
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