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Dylan Carter
4,780 Pointsweb development, serverside and clientside languages question?
one quick question, with web development it seems that languages break down into the "design/content" html css, and then client-side languages and server side languages. I know that different purposes for websites will dictate what will be needed, but i am wondering, do you need to know multiple languages for client side and server side for different purposes, or rather does picking one serverside and one clientside language and just using those suffice for all purposes? for example, can i pretty much do anything with web development, with learning for example, html&css, javascript, and php?
i hope this makes sense, still new to all of this and I'm not really sure if I'm even asking this in the right way.
1 Answer
Simon Coates
28,694 PointsClientside, you need to know html, css and javascript. Javascript can include a bunch of libraries, but those three languages are the common to web projects. For more information about the suitability of PHP look at https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-top-10-websites-built-with-PHP. The gist is that you can build serious websites in it, and a lot of what you'd be doing in another language is a version of what you'd be doing in PHP (a lot of the problems solving translates). It's good enough to begin with. There might be some other languages tied to specific platforms you might want to use, or which might have advantages for certain types of problem. In the short term, simplifying what you need to learn will help you (i recall a pluralsight video series recommending mastering one language to begin with), but longterm, most programmers expand their skillsets to include multiple languages and trying to limit yourself to what you're comfortable with is not a good mental habit (see https://www.quora.com/I-want-to-learn-learn-PHP-If-I-only-learn-PHP-HTML-and-CSS-is-it-enough-Or-do-I-need-to-learn-more ). I'm not being critical, i just know some guys in IT who fenced themselves in 15 years ago and now are now gambling on whether the work holds until they can retire. Quora is good for asking these types of question.
Simon Coates
28,694 PointsSimon Coates
28,694 Pointsi'll clarify. If the languages you learn are fairly core and develop overtime, they can be the core part of what you do for a long time. For example, there are people who have gotten 20 years out of java, or 30 years out of c. PHP is clearly not a niche language. If you get something that pays the rent for 5-10 years, then mission accomplished. I just wanted to stress that IT on an ongoing basis is training heavy. Even if PHP is used on an ongoing basis, you'll still need to learn new PHP frameworks, integrations with new APIs etc.