[Pro] Learning HTML, XHTML, PHP, and Javascript?

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1

It’s clear to me that I’m driving really helpful people like Walter, David, Ernie, Todd, and Tim mad because of my ignorance of HTML, XHTML, PHP, and Javascript. This is not anyones fault but my own. Quite frankly, I never thought I would want to get involved with coding, but it has become evident to me that a working knowledge of these languages would be extremely helpful in designing better websites. Plus, it’ll allow me to communicate coherently with others in the community.

I’ve decided to take it upon myself to learn these coding languages but I need help in developing a curriculum. Quite frankly, I’m not good with books. For some reason they always put me to sleep. Instead, I’ve found that online study systems tend to work best for me.

So, in what order should I attempt to learn these programming languages?

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2

What makes you think we weren’t mad as all get-out before you came along?
:smiley:

I’d start with HTML/CSS they kinda go together. Freeway Pro is a good tool
to start with - you know what your page looks like in the layout mode, try
to work out what the page code is doing to drive that. Get used to looking
at HTML without any CSS, and you’ll begin to see what CSS is doing to your
HTML.

Then Javascript. Any good web developer should know a bit of that. PHP too,
but my opinion is there is only Basic PHP and Super Advanced Brainiac PHP.
I’m in my 6th year of PHP basics.

Try to be exposed to a little all the time, so you are not overwhelmed. The
knowledge has to seep in, I think, till eventually you have the “a-HA!”
moment.

I trained in martial arts many years ago. On reaching my first black belt,
my teacher told me that I was finally fit to start learning. It’s kinda
like that. Patience and humility will help you more than anything else. :slight_smile:

–
Ernie Simpson

On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 1:35 PM, RavenManiac email@hidden wrote:

It’s clear to me that I’m driving really helpful people like Walter,
David, Ernie, Todd, and Tim mad because of my ignorance of HTML, XHTML,
PHP, and Javascript. This is not anyones fault but my own. Quite frankly, I
never thought I would want to get involved with coding, but it has become
evident to me that a working knowledge of these languages would be
extremely helpful in designing better websites. Plus, it’ll allow me to
communicate coherently with others in the community.

I’ve decided to take it upon myself to learn these coding languages but I
need help in developing a curriculum. Quite frankly, I’m not good with
books. For some reason they always put me to sleep. Instead, I’ve found
that online study systems tend to work best for me.

So, in what order should I attempt to learn these programming languages?

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3

Thanks Ernie. One question. How do you and the other esteemed FWP members I mentioned, remember all of the coding syntax. For me, that’s one of the most difficult things. Are there any good books (I can handle reference books :slight_smile: )or online references you recommend?

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4

http://quirksmode.org is the canonical reference to HTML + CSS + JavaScript and the browsers that munch on them.

“PHP and MySQL Web Development” by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson is my favorite book on those topics for new readers.

“Learn to Program” by Chris Pine is an excellent introduction and master class in basic programming. It’s also a gentle introduction to the Ruby language and a great way to learn how to think like a computer (harder than it sounds). It will utterly spoil you for any PHP or Perl or Java or whatever else you do later in life.

Your companion for any of these must be a good – or great – programmer’s text editor. Us Mac users are blessed with an embarrassment of riches in this regard. Any great editor will feature color-coding of programming syntax, automatically divined from the filename extension of the text you are editing. This can show you errors before you even try to run your code, because maybe everything after where you forgot to close a parenthesis is the wrong color. I’ve used many of them, here’s my current leader-board:

  • TextMate 1.5 (or 2.0 if you like alpha-quality software)
  • Chocolat (really solid near-clone of TextMate 1.5, coming along quickly)
  • BBEdit (the original – I used it steadily from 1997 to 2008 or so, when I picked up TextMate. Still use it for some things.)
  • TextWrangler (free version of BBEdit, fewer tools)
  • Coda (very nice editor, but also combined with Web preview and SFTP and console and a reference library – I find it too confusing to work in)
  • Espresso 2 (made by MacRabbit of CSSEdit fame – bought it because it was the “upgrade” path from CSSEdit 1, don’t like it very much, wish CSSEdit was updated instead)

Any of these will do you very well.

Walter

On Oct 1, 2012, at 1:57 PM, RavenManiac wrote:

Thanks Ernie. One question. How do you and the other esteemed FWP members I mentioned, remember all of the coding syntax. For me, that’s one of the most difficult things. Are there any good books (I can handle reference books :slight_smile: )or online references you recommend?

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5

Got that book from Walt’s recommendation some years ago. Personally I learn more if I’m actually using the code in the real world so take time out to experiment. As Ernie said try reverse engineering what Freeway creates.

I find learning code is like a map of a city. It’s easiest to learn small areas of interest and as you try other areas they all start to connect up and you’ll get that Ah ha moment.

The other important thing to learn is how to search the web for reference. If your starting with HTML the basic tutorial sites http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp are good for quick reference. They even have demos you can practise on.

Keep an open mind and consider you’ll always be learning.

David

On 1 Oct 2012, at 19:18, Walter Lee Davis email@hidden wrote:

“PHP and MySQL Web Development” by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson is my favorite book on those topics for new readers.

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6

Funny Ernie, very funny.

Kelly, speaking for myself your questions haven’t driven me mad and I applaud your decision to take the leap. I recall not so long ago you were (like many FW users) highly reluctant to have anything to do with code but that changed pretty quickly when you embraced Perch. I think it’s cool.

I second Walter’s book recommendations and Ernie’s suggestion about starting with HTML/CSS. HTML is easy to pick up and you will spend a lot of time in the CSS pool no matter what you do/build so definitely get a firm grasp of it. Plus there’s just so much that can be done with it. Javascript is a close second these days. And PHP basics, especially when using a CMS (like Perch), is useful. Just don’t try to learn everything at once: a little here, a little there and before you know it your understanding will hit critical mass and you’ll experience, as Ernie said, that A-ha moment when it comes together. Baby steps.

It’s a brave new world. Embrace it.

Todd

On Oct 1, 2012, at 12:50 PM, Ernie Simpson email@hidden wrote:

What makes you think we weren’t mad as all get-out before you came along?
:smiley:

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7

I have been working my way through CodeAcademy

The more you learn about this stuff the more you are going to hate FW for the way it handles CSS.

I’m using:
TextWrangler
CSS Edit
Espresso 2 just because it was a familiar interface and an upgrade offer from CSS Edit

I have also been messing around with http://foundation.zurb.com and and picking the code apart in Espresso 2

Marcel

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8

[Laughs] Now there’s a true statement if ever I heard one.

Todd
http://xiiro.com

On Oct 1, 2012, at 3:55 PM, Helveticus email@hidden wrote:

The more you learn about this stuff the more you are going to hate FW for the way it handles CSS.

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At 13:57 -0400 1/10/12, RavenManiac wrote:

Thanks Ernie. One question. How do you and the other esteemed FWP
members I mentioned, remember all of the coding syntax. For me,
that’s one of the most difficult things. Are there any good books (I
can handle reference books :slight_smile: )or online references you recommend?

You do have to learn the coding syntax for each language, but don’t
be surprised when you forget, especially after intense use of another
one.

I learned Unix shell scripting 30 years ago, and have used it ever
since. But after a heavy bit of PHP work I make the simplest mistakes
in a shell script. Likewise with Perl and Awk. (I have written web
CGI scripts in shell, Awk and Perl before PHP came along).

PHP (and Perl) has two ways of doing things - Procedural and Object
Oriented. JavaScript is Object Oriented. I would advise starting PHP
in the OO direction. It’s less efficient in cpu terms compared to
well crafted procedural code, but it’s easier to get right once
you’re used to it. And you have to get used to OO for JavaScript
anyway.

You should be able to learn (X)HTML & CSS together, but I would
suggest initialy doing small pure JavaScript and pure PHP projects
alternately. That way you pick up the OO approach quickly and learn
what the two have in common and where they differ as you go along.

David

–
David Ledger - Freelance Unix Sysadmin in the UK.
email@hidden
www.ivdcs.co.uk

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10

I tried Chocolat a while ago when it still had that new app smell (alpha) and naturally it was pretty buggy but it looked promising. Just downloaded the newest version and it’s nice. Looks to be priced fairly too.

Todd
http://xiiro.com

On Oct 1, 2012, at 1:18 PM, Walter Lee Davis email@hidden wrote:

Your companion for any of these must be a good – or great – programmer’s text editor. Us Mac users are blessed with an embarrassment of riches in this regard. I’ve used many of them, here’s my current leader-board:

  • Chocolat (really solid near-clone of TextMate 1.5, coming along quickly)

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