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What to learn next?

Thread title: What to learn next?
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04-25-2008, 07:55 PM
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StormCat is offline StormCat
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  Old  What to learn next?

I'm in the process of majorly upgrading my skillset to better fit today's market, so I 'm seeking advice on what code languages I should learn, and in what general order (ex: XHTML, CSS, then....?). Also, any advice on where I can find good tutorials for the subjects (as I'm having to go it alone, no money or time for going back to school right now) would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks to tigzag.com (recommended to me by DaleM, thanks again btw) & w3schools.com, I've got a pretty good handle on XHTML, CSS, & javascript (just need to play around with them some more).

One suggested track I've gotten so far (again, thanks DaleM), is:


XHTML > CSS > Javascript > Ajax > PHP > MySql > PERL
You don't really need perl, but it does come in handy
I had figured Perl would be in there somewhere, but I'm still wondering where I should fit in Visual Basic, the various C's, Java, .Asp, Oracle, etc. Also, isn't PHP part of Ajax, so shouldn't I learn that first? (Yes, I realized I probably seem a little nuts to be trying to do all of this via the "self-taught" road, but, as I said, not much choice on that front right now.)

04-25-2008, 08:24 PM
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solarisedesign is offline solarisedesign
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  Old

I'd definitely say to learn (X)HTML first - it's the language the internet is built on. Then CSS adds a bit of flair (although that's more on the design side of things, you can deal with functionality without ever even touching CSS)

Learning C(++) isn't really vital for today's web-world, but it helps get you a good idea of how programming in general works. It's a tad more complex than PHP though, so I'd probably say PHP is best to learn first

ASP is just another language similar to PHP - you can get by fine only knowing PHP although ASP would be handy too, you could come back to that later

AJAX doesn't really have anything to do with PHP, and it isn't really a language, more a "way of doing things" - it's the way Javascript (yep, important number 3!) can communicate seamlessly with a webserver running PHP - but it doesn't need to be PHP, it could be ASP, or C, or Perl, or anything like that.

I'd also recommend looking into a Javascript framework, like MooTools, or jQuery, as it makes all the cross-browser issues that Javascript has a lot less complex, but learn a spot of Javascript first, just to get a feel for what it does. Then apply a Javascript framework to take all the hassle out of it

Hope that's been useful

04-25-2008, 08:36 PM
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Originally Posted by StormCat View Post
XHTML > CSS > Javascript > Ajax > PHP > MySql > PERL
You don't really need perl, but it does come in handy
XHTML and CSS should be learned at the same time, as should PHP and mysql.

CSS and XHTML are the same discipline, it would be bad for you to learn an XML style language as from a non-semantic perspective. CSS holds the stying, don't learn XHTML and CSS separately.

For PHP and mysql, databases are an integral part of any server side language. You will never be able to be an effective programmer without knowledge of both. Learn mysql when it becomes relevant in your PHP studies.

Ajax is useless without knowing a server side language, ajax is using javascript to communicate with a server though the document object model (DOM). You will need to know both javascript and a server side langauge before you can start ajax.


Originally Posted by StormCat View Post
I had figured Perl would be in there somewhere, but I'm still wondering where I should fit in Visual Basic, the various C's, Java, .Asp, Oracle, etc. Also, isn't PHP part of Ajax, so shouldn't I learn that first? (Yes, I realized I probably seem a little nuts to be trying to do all of this via the "self-taught" road, but, as I said, not much choice on that front right now.)
-Perl has become obsolete, I believe it would be a waste of your time to learn it.
-Visual basic is not a web programming language (unless it is in asp.net). If you do asp.net, use c#.
-C/C++ is a computer programming language, one of the most advanced in common use. PHP was made in C, you can make extensions to PHP in C or C++.
-Java is a computer programming languge, Java also has a browser platform. Although few decent applications are made in it, it is not common.
-ASP is almost completely obsolete, it is a not as good copy of PHP.

PHP is not a part of ajax, I explained what ajax is above.


More important than learning everything, is learning it well. I can code in (X)HTML, but I am not good at it since I have not put great time into it. My specialty is PHP and that is all I do. No one will want to hire an average jack of all trades, most worthwhile clients will want someone who is good at what they do.

07-30-2008, 03:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Village Idiot View Post
More important than learning everything, is learning it well. I can code in (X)HTML, but I am not good at it since I have not put great time into it. My specialty is PHP and that is all I do. No one will want to hire an average jack of all trades, most worthwhile clients will want someone who is good at what they do.
Quality post. As a client provider i can agree, my saying is "everyone is an expert but nobody is a professional"

12-17-2008, 09:57 PM
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Originally Posted by lamans View Post

Village Idiot
More important than learning everything, is learning it well. I can code in (X)HTML, but I am not good at it since I have not put great time into it. My specialty is PHP and that is all I do. No one will want to hire an average jack of all trades, most worthwhile clients will want someone who is good at what they do.

Quality post. As a client provider i can agree, my saying is "everyone is an expert but nobody is a professional"Quality post. As a client provider i can agree, my saying is "everyone is an expert but nobody is a professional"
I think it's a rubbish post: PHP is a tiny tiny language out there out of all the possible ones you can learn. You can learn and be excellent at much more than that, so stop trying to justify mediocrity...

04-26-2008, 07:53 PM
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Thank you to both of you (and anyone else who choses to chime in). As I mentioned in my initial post, I've already learned XHTML, CSS, and javascript, I just need to play with them a bit more to get in practical experiance. I've seen most of the requests for stuff like C++ and such in the gaming/animation industry.

solarisedesign, I actually do have a bit of a programming background from years and years ago - BASIC, quikBASIC, & turboPASCAL, not that I remember much of the specifics offhand, but they've given my a good base to work from when I first got into HTML, UNIX, actionscript, lingo, some proprietary thing Coke tried to use at one point, & MEL scripting (the latter is an animation scripting language). Are mootools, jquery, etc, basically like libraries? (library tools rock, and are another thing that helped a lot when I worked for Coke)

Village Idiot, I want to learn these kinds of things for a few reasons. One reason is because most of the jobs available in my area right now are requiring these languages; for the few that are design oriented, designers who are familiar with advance coding languages are given preference over those who don't. Also, it'll increase my flexibility as a designer, both in the range of what I am capable of doing myself, and in understanding the requirements of designing things to make it easier for any advanced coders I might work with to do what they need to do.

04-27-2008, 04:10 AM
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Originally Posted by StormCat View Post
I've seen most of the requests for stuff like C++ and such in the gaming/animation industry.
Virtually all games for all systems are made in C++ using either OpenGL or DirectX. Many big programs are also made in it. This is a partial list of things made in C++
http://www.research.att.com/~bs/applications.html

05-05-2008, 03:52 PM
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I think what's missing is you telling us what your goal is in learning programing languages. There's no list of languages you must know, just ones that would be helpful to know given what you're trying to accomplish.

Do you want to be a Game Designer/Programmer? If so, you need to learn C/C++.

Do you want to be a corporate web-designer? If so, you probably need to learn .ASP.

Freelance web-programmer? PHP

Backend IT Coder? Perl

Of course none of these are 100% precise, but different jobs and projects call for different skillsets. What's your goal?

05-05-2008, 08:14 PM
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Originally Posted by gluc0se View Post
I think what's missing is you telling us what your goal is in learning programing languages. There's no list of languages you must know, just ones that would be helpful to know given what you're trying to accomplish.

Do you want to be a Game Designer/Programmer? If so, you need to learn C/C++.

Do you want to be a corporate web-designer? If so, you probably need to learn .ASP.

Freelance web-programmer? PHP

Backend IT Coder? Perl

Of course none of these are 100% precise, but different jobs and projects call for different skillsets. What's your goal?
right now? to find a job; it's just that so many design jobs in my area are requiring advanced laguages, including .ASP, PHP, the various Cs, etc....

05-05-2008, 08:31 PM
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I think, then, it would make sense to take up PHP. The learning curve isn't as steep as with a language like C/++ and it is much more versatile for now.

I used to have a few very intro PHP Tutorials that I wrote. I'll try to find them.

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