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General Discussion

Andrew Sena
Andrew Sena
7,851 Points
Posted by Andrew Sena
Andrew Sena
7,851 Points

If I'm looking into being a back-end developer what languages should I focus on?

I already have a little knowledge of html, css, javascript and php.

4 Answers

Caleb Kleveter
MOD
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 Points
Caleb Kleveter
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 Points

PHP, Python, and I believe Ruby are all back-end languages that Treehouse has courses for. Sense you now a little PHP you should probably focus on that.

Justin Horner
STAFF
Justin Horner
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Justin Horner
Justin Horner
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Hello Andrew,

You really can't go wrong with any of the back-end languages. I personally favor Ruby and Ruby on Rails for web development because I feel I'm more productivity in that environment but it really comes down to the best tool for the project. I'd recommend trying the Ruby, PHP and Python courses here on Treehouse to get a feel for each.

I hope this helps.

Andrew Sena
Andrew Sena
7,851 Points
Andrew Sena
Andrew Sena
7,851 Points

Thanks Justin, I think I might focus on PHP for know since I've already dipped my toe in and then follow up with Ruby.

Michael Hess
Michael Hess
24,512 Points
Michael Hess
Michael Hess
24,512 Points

Hi Andrew,

It seems like you're off to a great start so far! In addition to HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript you may want to learn SQL (Data Manipulation Language and Digital Definition Language) this will include writing SQL queries and designing and creating tables and the different relationships that tables can have (primary keys, secondary keys, composite keys, 1:M , M:M, 1:1 relationships) -- a whole course can be made on the material, so it would take me a long time to go into details. You may also want to understand the concepts of object oriented programming and have a programming language like Java , Python, .Net and/or Ruby under your belt.

Hope this helps :)

ibbhfsmeaf
ibbhfsmeaf
4,568 Points
ibbhfsmeaf
ibbhfsmeaf
4,568 Points

You already know one: php.

I used to ask these questions all of the time and I kept getting the same answer: there is no answer. You have to choose what you want to do specifically and choose a programming language that best suits that. In otherwords, specialize in something. A JavaScript master will get more work than someone that knows JavaScript the same as everyone else.

Many languages can do the same thing, so to say one is better than the other in general is sort of nonsensical. However, some programming languages do certain things better than others and that is where you would want to choose one over the other, but again, you can't really decide that until you know what you want to do. If you just want to be a "back-end developer" then my answer is you could choose any of the back-end languages, really.