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General Discussion

Cedric Brusselmans
Cedric Brusselmans
31 Points

Hello everyone!!

Hi there,

Hope you are doing well! I am brand new to Treehouse :) and joined the community as I would like to know which programming language I should first learn to code and turn the application I recently built using a patchwork of web apps into a fully-fledged web application:

CONTEXT:

  1. The current app is available here https://www.bimmodel.co/bim-price-calculator. I have built it by mixing and linking JotForm, GoogleSheet, Zapier, Webmerge, etc.

  2. I would like to turn this patchwork - that works :) - into a 'real' and nice web application that I can then scale up (especially the algorithm behind), tailor the look & feel to embed into partners' websites, make a basic (free) version and a more advanced (paid) version, and potentially a mobile app too in the future

QUESTIONS:

1) What language should I choose to have it done within 3 to maximum 6 months on my own? (I may try to find a programmer to help me out thereafter, after the core version is done)

2) Could Python do it all?

3) What are the other language(s) I should consider (e.g. PHP/SQL, HTML/CSS, Javascript) taking into account that I need time to learn and sleep too :)

Many thanks in advance for your help and guidance!

All the best, Cedric

2 Answers

Jake Salo
Jake Salo
13,175 Points

I would recommend either Python or Java for the main framework. Personally i feel that python is easier to learn, but is slightly more limited compared to Java. You may want to research additional libraries for the language that you go for, as this can exponentially increase the functionality of your final application. When it comes to the mobile version, Java is always a good language, but for iOS you can always learn objective C (personally i don't like using it). But to be perfectly honest, you're going to need to learn multiple languages, and you're going to struggle immensely to learn all of them and develop the entire application from scratch. Good luck to you, it is possible, but only if you have a strong will to get this done. Happy Coding :)

Cedric Brusselmans
Cedric Brusselmans
31 Points

Thank you Jake - I love struggling :)

Jake Salo
Jake Salo
13,175 Points

Perfect! Good luck to you Cedric :) If you do manage to finish it be sure to share with us here, I would love to see what you come up with.