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General Discussion

Posted by John McCart
John McCart
Courses Plus Student 1,965 Points

Would it be necessary to learn html/css before programming languages?

Hello, I am wondering if I should learn html/css/javascript before starting any programming languages like Python. Also, would it be difficult to learn both at the same time?

2 Answers

Erik McClintock
Erik McClintock
45,783 Points
Erik McClintock
Erik McClintock
45,783 Points

John,

It's all subjective, really. Ultimately, it depends on who is learning what, and what they want to do with it. HTML/CSS/JavaScript are going to be your essential tools for Front-End Web Development, while languages like Python or PHP are going to be more for Back-End Web Development (or other programming efforts beyond web work). They can certainly be learned in tandem, it just depends on your ability to keep things straight between them! Each of them has different (though similar, in the case of a lot of the programming languages) syntax and ways of doing things, so if you take on too many different technologies at once, it can be a bit difficult to keep track of which languages does what and how. That said, it is certainly not impossible! It just depends on the person :)

This is also subjective, but I would say that learning Front-End technologies is going to be a bit simpler than learning the Back-End languages. If you're looking to get your feet wet, I would recommend starting out with HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Again, though, that's if you want to get into Front-End Web Development. If you're more interested in Back-End, it may be beneficial for you to just get a grasp of the Front-End tech, then dive into your programming languages like Python or PHP.

The best way to find out what works for you, though, is to just jump right in and give it a shot! You may find that you gravitate more towards one language or portion of development over another, or that you want to learn them all, or maybe even none of them!

Hope this helps!

Erik

Konrad Pilch
Konrad Pilch
2,435 Points

I just wanted to add that it doesn't have to be web related. You can always look into OBJ-C or C++, C#, C , Java, Python, Ruby, Swift and more. You dont really need HTML for them, not at all.

Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points
Jacob Mishkin
Jacob Mishkin
23,118 Points

I agree with Erik, it just depends on what you want to do. If you want to learn python or Ruby, you will still have to work with CSS and HTML, but not as if you are a front end dev. The important thing to know is Logic. Make sure you find some logic classes to supplement your learning here. I would check out MIT open courseware.. Its very important to know if you want to know programming.