Ambitious projet, what language?

[BenneMus]

Hello there everyone,

 

So, I have decided to undertake a very ambitious project, in the form of creating a website for my EvE Online corporation. Not only am I hoping for a lot of features on this site, but I am also doing this as my first web development project, ever. My time frame is huge, meaning I'll take however long I need to, but I wanna make sure that I pick the best language for the job, seeing as I want to be able to expand on the site as more ideas come up, and I want to be able to optimize it in the future as well, though that is not a top priority at the moment.

 

The site needs to be able to use the EvE Online API, which has the following XML language libraries:

Node.js

Ruby

.NET

Python

PHP

Java

 

Other features I want is login systems and messaging/forum.

 

I don't want to neccesarely build the entire site from the buttom up, but so far I haven't been able to find something I can modify to my needs. If you have any ideas, feel free to throw them at me. 

 

 

What do you guys think I should pick language wise? It's need to work well with the API and be O.K. for a new programmer, doesn't have to be the best starting language, but hopefully not the hardest one either.

 

Thank you

BenneMus

[MistSaint]

I have't dealt much with web programming, but I assume php and javaScript are good way to go... In orther to make dinamic website you would need php (users,log in etc.). On the other hand if you are going to do the whole project yourself you might as well start learning MySQL side by side with PHP.

 

If you have absouletely no idea about web programming, my suggestion would be to start with HTML and CSS which you can learn in about 10 days or so and it woul be really rewarding to see what you can do. That would be equivalent of let's say cout<<"Hello World";

[BroProStudios]

Hey there sounds like a cool project. To be honest Programming is not my strongest area. I just wanted to say good luck and hope it all turn out for the best

[BenneMus]

I have't dealt much with web programming, but I assume php and javaScript are good way to go... In orther to make dinamic website you would need php (users,log in etc.). On the other hand if you are going to do the whole project yourself you might as well start learning MySQL side by side with PHP.

I might have a corpmate helping me out, maybe a third who was interested by the idea, would that change what language to pick?

 

Hey there sounds like a cool project. To be honest Programming is not my strongest area. I just wanted to say good luck and hope it all turn out for the best

Thanks! I hope so too!

[MistSaint]

I might have a corpmate helping me out, maybe a third who was interested by the idea, would that change what language to pick?

 

Thanks! I hope so too!

 

Basically what we tend to do, and I assume everyone else is to pick assignments. So 1 guy would make the database, 1 would write the code and 1 would do the design... and if anyone of us gets stuck anywhere we would all gather and try to fix the problem. I guess you should sit down and talk with them, then after the talk you can see what interests you and them so you can split assignments in the way that everybody will be happy. 

[madknight3]

Choosing a language is tough. Each will have their pros and cons. Have you, or anyone else that will be joining you, done any programming before?

[BenneMus]

Choosing a language is tough. Each will have their pros and cons. Have you, or anyone else that will be joining you, done any programming before?

At the moment I am the only confirmed "developer" one of the two that has shown an interested in joining does some programming professionally I am not sure what kind thought, I think he said back end webdev, but not sure. 

[madknight3]

At the moment I am the only confirmed "developer" one of the two that has shown an interested in joining does some programming professionally I am not sure what kind thought, I think he said back end webdev, but not sure. 

 

If he did indeed say "back end webdev" then he will know one (or more) of the languages you listed. Find out which one and consider using that. If he does indeed join you in the project, it should help that he has experience already. Even if he doesn't join you, he still may be someone you can turn to for help.

[Guest]

I would use python and one of the excellent Python web frameworks. A framework is what you need if you don't want to write the thing completely from scratch - it won't be plug and play, but a lot of the boilerplate of writing any application will be handled by the framework. There'll probably be more of a learning curve as in addition to the language you'll need to learn the framework, but in the end it will be better in terms of robustness and maintainability.

 

As to what not to pick, obviously PHP tops the list. After that I would say Ruby because I don't care for the Ruby frameworks, and the language is hard to pick up. Also no to .NET because it is certainly overly bloated and complicated for what you'll need, plus I don't see it as desirable to be tied down to Microsoft's stuff.

 

Java or Node.js would be good alternatives, however, if Python doesn't work for you.

[BenneMus]

Basically what we tend to do, and I assume everyone else is to pick assignments. So 1 guy would make the database, 1 would write the code and 1 would do the design... and if anyone of us gets stuck anywhere we would all gather and try to fix the problem. I guess you should sit down and talk with them, then after the talk you can see what interests you and them so you can split assignments in the way that everybody will be happy. 

 

 

Choosing a language is tough. Each will have their pros and cons. Have you, or anyone else that will be joining you, done any programming before?

 

 

I would use python and one of the excellent Python web frameworks. A framework is what you need if you don't want to write the thing completely from scratch - it won't be plug and play, but a lot of the boilerplate of writing any application will be handled by the framework. There'll probably be more of a learning curve as in addition to the language you'll need to learn the framework, but in the end it will be better in terms of robustness and maintainability.

 

As to what not to pick, obviously PHP tops the list. After that I would say Ruby because I don't care for the Ruby frameworks, and the language is hard to pick up. Also no to .NET because it is certainly overly bloated and complicated for what you'll need, plus I don't see it as desirable to be tied down to Microsoft's stuff.

 

Java or Node.js would be good alternatives, however, if Python doesn't work for you.

 

Thank you so much for the answers guys, I think I am going to go with the Python frameworks, my friend who has done backend knows a lot about Python so it seems to be the language to go with, but he won't have much time to work on it, except maybe check for errors / weird code on my part. 

 

So my question now is, how in the hell do I start such a project? I know to split projects like these into smaller parts, such as "The main page" "The login system" and so on, but since I have never really done much programming, how do I start?

 

My thoughts so far would be to build the actual layout, the site itself with design, buttons and so on, but no actual functioning buttons or anything, and then slowly start adding functionality to the buttons, but how do I start? Any pointers would be nice on how to start this project, or how to layout my work so I can learn as I go. 

 

Thank you again for the answers so far.

[Guest]

Thank you so much for the answers guys, I think I am going to go with the Python frameworks, my friend who has done backend knows a lot about Python so it seems to be the language to go with, but he won't have much time to work on it, except maybe check for errors / weird code on my part. 

 

So my question now is, how in the hell do I start such a project? I know to split projects like these into smaller parts, such as "The main page" "The login system" and so on, but since I have never really done much programming, how do I start?

 

My thoughts so far would be to build the actual layout, the site itself with design, buttons and so on, but no actual functioning buttons or anything, and then slowly start adding functionality to the buttons, but how do I start? Any pointers would be nice on how to start this project, or how to layout my work so I can learn as I go. 

 

Thank you again for the answers so far.

 

I would start with the Bottle framework, linked above, and see how far that get's you. It's simple so it should be a good way to learn the ins and outs of working with a web framework. Go to their site, the documentation there should be enough to get you started. Beyond that, you can find lots of resources online, such as this one.

 

I further recommend that you develop on a Linux machine (virtual or otherwise) but development on Windows is also possible, with a little effort to get set up.

[madknight3]

First I would spend a little time just getting familiar with regular Python. Next you'll want to get familiar with a Python web framework (Django, Flask, Pyramid, Tornado, and so on). Choosing which one can be another confusing task. I don't have any experience in web development with Python so I can't provide any help on that matter. Maybe your friend can.

 

Once you have some familiarity with both the Python language and the web framework you choose, then I would create a sample web app and do up the classes that interact with the EvE Online API. The web app itself would be very basic, probably just one page without any styling, but it's there to allow you to develop and test the parts of your site that work with the API. Then I would do up a general plan for the look/layout of the site and build the UI and functionality at the same time. Remember to build it mobile friendly from the start.

[BenneMus]

Well thank you, I think I'll go with Django for the project, seems to be widely used so should be easy to get help, my friend is also very familar with it so once again, should make everything run a bit more smoothly.

 

Thanks for the help! 

BenneMus