BenWhit

We have a few clients that were affected by this as well.

The only article I came across was from Business Insider (unfortunately, paywall).

https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-review-all-marketin...

I've seen Spectrum pop-up a few times, there is a way to search for communities too. https://spectrum.chat/

Slack has active channels. Finding them can be a challenge. Try: https://slofile.com/

IMO, learn pure js but while learning the basics, get your hands dirty with some frameworks, small side projects or tutorials and workshops. This will help you find what framework you enjoy or really "clicks" with your personal preferences. Its also more fun then learning the syntax and structure of a new language. There will be another framework to learn next month but pure js is going to be around for a while.

Some good resources for learning JS from the ground up (pure js)..

Books (highly recommended):

- Javascript: The Definitive Guide

- Eloquent Javascript

- Professional JavaScript for Web Developers 3rd Ed.

Resources:

- https://learn.thoughtbot.com/javascript

- http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly...

- http://www.reddit.com/r/learnjavascript/comments/1oq8ns/lear...

- http://jstherightway.org/

For Angular (http://egghead.io) is a great resource for short/dense screencasts (from what I've heard/read)

I had them use the free trial of Magento Go to try and ease them into it but they seemed to be overwhelmed. Shopify however looks very ease to manage and a good starting point for beginners into the e-commerce scene.

I had heard the same thing but I'm located in the US so I don't think that should be an issue but thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for the tip. I often get wrapped-up in the buzzwords then end up splitting my attention between a million different areas that I forget to build up the basics or start small. Sinatra looks like a good gateway to understanding the 'magic' behind Rails.

Ask HN would have been a much better place for this post. I hadn't realized that if you include a link, hn automatically directs you there. I'll re-post in Ask so comments are easier to make.

Lenovo Thinkpad Edge430 looks like a great deal.

The laptop I have now..or had..is an HP Dv7. I missed the recall date on the Motherboard problems and it just recently died on me. It lasted about 2 years but I'd like to avoid HP's if I can. I added the last part about linux distro because its why I tend to avoid Macs (the price too), but what about running a VM instead of dual-boot?

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions!

Definitely a smooth install and setup for Heroku. Michael Hartl's tutorial is great. I've actually been going through it today!

I definitely am enjoying Heroku's free-tier to test and practice on. And I have gone through a good bit of Michael Hartl's tutorial, at least enough to get up and running. I do like being able see my end result immediately with little setup..for now at least. I'll be sure to check out Webfaction. Thanks!

I do want to be able to host my own servers..one day..as for now I think I will "just get this project out there". I think I've got enough Rails under my belt to get the few pages I need up, and Heroku's free-tier seems perfect to learn and practice on.

Yeah, LAMP seems to be the best route to get up and going faster, I think I'll start with that. I need to be learning those DB and process skills to begin with, which makes taking the LAMP approach probably the best option. Thanks.

Thanks! That's good to know about Apache. I haven't even had a chance to look into it thoroughly. Maybe I'll dive into it this weekend :) So if I want to get up and running quickly my best bet would be to grab a linode with a LAMP stack?

I completely agree and I do want to be a total pro but am too spread out. I need to start focusing on certain aspects...maybe learn the ins-and-outs of a complete framework?..like Rails while continually learning more and more in-depth HTML, CSS, and JS? I guess my aim is to be a full-stack developer but am struggling finding my footing on the server-side of things.

Thanks for the great reply to start. I clearly am a little over my head and am always looking for the "right direction" to go and end up getting caught up in buzzwords. I only have a few web pages that I need hosted, so frameworks aside...would hosting options such as linode or rackspace be the best option?