[lug] First Programming Language

[Scott Jackson]

I would recommend Python 3, specifically running a server on Flask. Dead simple.

Ruby using Sinatra is another good option.

Both provide good options for quick implementation with easy http/restful implementation.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 3, 2018, at 7:40 PM, stimits at comcast.net wrote:
> 
> I haven't done a lot of this recently, but probably before answering some of it it might be useful to know more about the requirements of what web server is being used...if it is Apache on Linux, versus Tomcat, and versus something really bad like Windows IIS, it might change things.
>  
> You won't program in Javascript (EMCAScript is the start of the definition) as a general programming language. You can test and use Python in many ways independently of a web server and Python is very nicely done in many ways. There are many ways to connect to a database as well, most of them being unpleasant. I think if your end web browser is to run a database instead of the server, then sqlite is probably the way most applications go. Javascript is also not strictly typed...which isn't always bad...but it can lead to some nasty issues which not all loosely typed languages can run into...it's sort of like that nursery rhyme thing where it says "step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly".
>  
> HTML itself isn't bad, along with CSS, and there is a lot published. Pointer her here though, tell her to use the validator whenever she thinks something is done...it's free advice based on standards:
> https://www.w3.org/
> https://validator.w3.org/
>  
> It's very easy to build something which works on one browser, but not another...fixing it depends on knowing whether it is bad HTML/CSS or if it is a bad browser.
>  
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Steve Sullivan <steve.sullivan at mathcom.com>
> To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> Sent: Thu, 04 Jan 2018 02:29:01 -0000 (UTC)
> Subject: [lug] First Programming Language
> Hi,
> This is a bit off topic but I'm hoping for some help ...
> My daughter wants to learn her first programming language.
> She's a business major in college, and as part of an independent
> study class, she can choose which language.
> The demo task is three layers ...
> 1. A front end, probably just HTML/CSS
> 2. A web server -- not her problem.
> 3. A back end, to query a simple DB and return an answer.
> This is where she would learn her programming language.
> One of her friends is recommending learning Javascript, but I
> think Python3 would be a much better choice. It's more general
> purpose, and more likely to be useful in her future. Here are my
> thoughts on the demo project, starting at the back end.
> 3. The backend ... She could learn Python3 and Sqlite, and use
> the Python WSGI interface from the web server. The backend might
> be slow, but it would give her an overview of Python3 and WSGI,
> and a taste of SQL.
> 2. The web server ... Either find someone else's existing web
> server, so she doesn't have to fight setting up Apache or
> whatever, or find a very simple web server offering Python the
> WSGI API. She shouldn't waste time fighting web server
> configuration issues.
> 1. The front end ... She already knows the basics of HTML and
> CSS, so this should be straightforward. No Javascript!
> What would you recommend?
> As far as Python3 beginning books and sites, are there any you'd
> recommend? Looking at Amazon, Matt Harrison's Illustrated Guide
> to Python 3 looks good.
> Rather than ask her to learn a full IDE, my thought is just use
> the Python3 command line interface.
> But then I'm old fashioned ... would you recommend command line?
> Or is there a simple to learn IDE you'd recommend?
> Many thanks,
> Steve
> --
> ========================================
> Steve Sullivan steve.sullivan at mathcom.com
> 720-587-7498 http://www.mathcom.com
> ========================================
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