I want to learn web development, how do I Start
Before saying anything, I’d like to congratulate you for choosing the noble path of programming. It’s a daunting but highly rewarding path and I wish you luck on your journey.
Now to the meat of the matter.
Pick a (programming) language
Firstly, you'll need to pick a programming language of your choice. The most common are JavaScript, Python and PHP. Spend two or three weeks with the basic syntax of the language of your choice;
- variables,
- operators (addition, subtraction, multiplication, boolean operators etc.),
- functions (how to define them and how to use them),
- Looping (for loop and while loops)
- conditions (‘if’, ‘else if’ and ‘else’ statements)
- (white) spacing and indentation (how and when is it important in your programming language),
- primitives (lists/arrays, dictionaries, arrays, sets etc.) and
- basic Object Oriented Programming (OOP). Here you should learn how to create a basic Object, how to call attribute methods and function methods.
This shouldn’t take you more than three weeks.
Learn HTML and CSS
Secondly, you’ll have to learn html and CSS.
I advice that you don’t spend more than 3weeks on these. For now you only need the basics:
- Html boilerplate
- Heading
- Paragraph
- Forms
- Images
- Anchor tags
…A few other tags
Basic CSS like:
- Changing font styles, size and colour
- Changing image size
DO NOT try to learn all html and all CSS before progressing.
At this stage, it’s a great idea for you to learn bootstrap. It shouldn’t take more than two weeks to learn it and practice it.
Learn some JavaScript
Next you’ll need to learn basic DOM manipulation with JavaScript.
You should learn how to:
- define a variable
- use an array
- call and use event handlers
- use JavaScript conditionals and loops
This should not take more than two to three weeks to learn the basics, if you have a good teacher.
Learn Some SQL
Then, you'll need to learn some SQL. For now, just learn how to basically create, read, update and delete records on a database. You'll come back for the rest later.
Finally, pick a framework for your backend.
This depends on the programming language you chose in the first stage. If you chose Python then it’s either django or flask. If you chose JavaScript then it’s typically Nodejs. If you chose PHP then it’s usually laravel or WordPress.
So, in about three months you have covered all the fundamentals of web development. What's left is the intermediate level. You'll need an experienced programmer to assess you and recommend what next.
My one Kuwaiti Dinar.