Switching to web development

Question

I'm new here. Seems to be a great site. What are the most important programming languages for web development? Since now I created desktop applications in C++ but now my boss is forcing me to create webapplications. Maybe someone can provide me with an overview.

Answer 1

Well, you'll need to master (or atleast be able to use) several languages.

Client side: You'll need a client side language like JavaScript or VBScript (plus expirence with libraries like jquery) and expirence with HTML/CSS for formatting

Server side: You'll need a language like php, perl, C#, etc. to call database functions and format HTML for output

Database: You'll need SQL experience (MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, etc.) to store your information in a database (and get it out again!)

This is a BIG subject. Read the Wikipedia article that Spencer pointed you to, then come back with specific questions.

Answer 2

• HTML is the basis of all webpages. It's pretty simple to get the hang of, and very fun when you're just starting out.
• CSS can style the HTML pages in awesome ways; it gives color to elements, and helps determine their size and position.
• JavaScript is dynamic script that can run on your webpage, interacting with the user and changing page elements. Anything that changes on a page involves JavaScript (or a plugin, below)
• Flash and Java are both plugins; Flash is generally used for animation and uses vector graphics, while Java applets are more heavyweight and programmed like traditional applications, only embedded into your webpage.
• PHP can be used to customize a page to the user. Logins, account features, anything that is customized to individual users is usually made using PHP (or another dynamic language, which I'll avoid here because PHP is fine)
• MySQL is a database to be used with PHP

Many content management systems today, such as Wordpress or Drupal, don't require much knowledge of the above languages. You can pretty much just copy them to your web server and then browse to a specific install file, and go from there, customizing your website from within the browser.

Answer 3

I think the most popular technology in Web Development at the moment is Ajax. The term is used quite loosely to describe knowledge of JavaScript and HTML to create websites where some features don't require you to navigate away from the page. Often JavaScript frameworks such as JQuery, Dojo and ExtJS are used.

Apart from that I would say more in the enterprise arena - technologies such as J2EE (JavaFaces, Spring MVC), and ASP.NET are common.

If your company purchases most of its software from Microsoft it is likely you will end up using .NET, either C# or ASP.NET, or perhaps Silverlight.

Answer 4

Different answers will come from different people!

The ones to look at for back end development are ASP.Net (c#... VB is easy, but serious devs will hate you!) and PHP... there are a lot more, but in my mind, these are the two "big" ones.

For front end development, you want to look at some javascript frameworks such as jquery or prototype as that seems to be where all the cool stuff / functionality is at the moment (and... your boss probably wont care what you do backend, he will just want to see something good!)

Answer 5

PHP, Java, Asp.Net, Javascript/AJAX seem to be the biggest ones I see around. If you choose the Asp.Net route, you can choose between either VB.NET, or C#. With your C++ background I would assume you would make the jump to C#.

Answer 6

If you're familiar with C++ you may want to jump into C#, but there are tons of languages out there that do all sorts of different things. PHP is a good open source language that a lot of people start out with. Personally I prefer .NET languages (C# and VB.NET), but any can serve nearly whatever need you may have.

Answer 7

Well I could try to describe it but anything I come up with will fall short of the great Wikipedia article on the subject.

Perhaps after you read that you'll have a more specific question that one of us can answer.