[mod]

Pick one of PHP / Python / Ruby for the web.

With ruby, use rails. With python, use django. With PHP, be wary! (but it's incredibly widespread, so it should still be included here).

Learn javascript as well, as you can't avoid it entirely.

Use codecademy for the bare essentials, explanation, and then jump to framework-specific tutorials. Build your knowledge from there by building new sites or new features on your existing site.

If you want me to narrow it down and choose for you, here's basically your whole stack: Python, Django, Heroku deployment, Postgresql, jQuery, (HTML/CSS obv).

A year or two of full-time, focused work at this and you're more qualified than plenty of already-employed developers.

[pdpi]

> With ruby, use rails.

I'd suggest Sinatra instead, and find some smaller ORM to go with it. There's _way_ too much magic going on in Rails to make for a good place to start.

[shostack]

When I was looking at the Ruby/RoR path, I started with Rails, took a step back to learn Ruby, then went back to Rails. At that point I decided to play with Sinatra a bit because I was getting overwhelmed with the Rails learning curve.

Sinatra was cool to get something out quickly for sure. I'm definitely glad I ventured out of the Rails sandbox a bit. That said, the quantity and quality of Rails resources on the web far exceeds that of Sinatra. For a beginner that is likely to encounter a ton of errors and bugs, there are simply more answers online for Rails than Sinatra. That can make the difference between giving up and keeping the excitement going which is crucial for a beginner.

If you find, like I did, that certain concepts are interesting, you will start to naturally peel back the layers of Rails magic on your own to learn what is going on under the hood.

Beyond that, Mike Hartl's Rails Tutorial is something I'd recommend to anyone learning to program as it seems to give solid coverage on ideas that are framework agnostic. Things like version control/Git/Github, writing unit tests and TDD, DRY, REST architecture, proper handling of authentication, etc.

There are so many different rabbit holes to go down, but I'm glad I did, because while I'm not deep on any of these areas yet, it has definitely given me a more complete picture of my projects, how to approach them, things to watch out for, etc.

[G650]

So would you recommend Ruby over Python? That's the feel I am getting from your post. If so, why (besides the obvious resources you mentioned that are available for a noob like me)? Thanks so much by the way! Really excited.

[shostack]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to recommend one language over another for specific reasons. That said, from what I've gathered on reading more informed opinions on the matter, it is largely just that--opinion.

Many people prefer one language over another. Both core languages, Ruby and Python, have excellent documentation and resources online as well as strong communities around them.

My comment was speaking more specifically to the case of Sinatra vs. RoR. I feel like RoR simply has many more high-quality resources available on it than Sinatra does. This is likely due to how much more development occurs in RoR vs. Sinatra (pure speculation there).

[mod]

Perhaps, but then we delve down the rabbit hole, and at some point you might as well make your own sql queries, right?

I recommend rails mostly because of the incredible number of helpful resources. Also because you can use it as a beginner, ignore the magic while you don't understand it, and later try to understand it.

I committed rails code my first day on a new job with no prior ruby/rails experience, though I had used Django before. Pretty green there, as well.

[pdpi]

> I committed rails code my first day on a new job with no prior ruby/rails experience, though I had used Django before. Pretty green there, as well.

But you had _some_ programming experience, is what I'm getting at.

My problem with rails for a complete beginner is that you end up with too many rails-y things to learn, and you can't focus on the basics.

[G650]

thank you so much for your advice. I am going to start today so I really needed this. Looks like people agree phython and ruby are great places to start. I'm going to go with one of these.