For a programmer/cs student that wishes to dive into web development and freelan

Question

For a programmer/cs student that wishes to dive into web development and freelancing... what are some good books/publications/portals/blogs? Please take into consideration also that I'm used to developing websites by googling my each step to find an example.

I'm interested in technologies like php, javascript, jquery, ajax.. And maybe later: ruby and ror.

It would be great if there would exist a book (or a collection of books) on web development that would cover the whole process of development, plus different techniques, principles, examples.. etc.

Explanation / Answer

I would recommend you just create little websites and follow http://www.w3schools.com/ or whatever language tutorials you can find on Google.

When I started, I actually ended up confusing myself a lot because I didn't go in with a clear understanding of what server-side scripting was so I didn't even fully understand why I was using PHP.

So don't fall into that trap. Also, don't take on too many new technologies/languages at first. You mention 2 languages (PHP & Javascript), 1 library (JQuery), and 1 programming methodology (AJAX). I was just like that when I was learning and I wasted too much time spreading myself thin. If I could do it over again, I would do it just like this:

Create a simple website with HTML & PHP
Create saved content via HTML forms & a database technology (preferably MySQL if you're using PHP)
Try to create some dynamic content on one of your webpages by incorporating some javascript
Combine your new knowledge of javascript & database by attempting to create dynamic content using AJAX
Learn about jquery and rewrite your javascript & ajax using it.
There's great tutorials online for doing all of this, and I just don't see much value in spending $ on getting some sort of collection that is subject to being the author's way of doing things. It may be smart, it may be good, but I'm a big fan of do it your own way, screw it up yourself, and learn from your mistakes. When you've begun to do things in your own certain way, you'll begin wondering can I do this better? And that's where the best learning comes from. Questions.

Anyway, just my two cents, good luck.

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