Coding

[Aidanx]

Ok, so i have been dabbling in a little bit of coding here and there. Html, Python, Basic but nothing really major. And I was wondering if anyone has any advice on where to start when becoming a serious coder?

[chechu]

Practise, look and learn, look at codes in other sites and try to remake them. Read the threads on the forum, and see if they make sense to you. If they don't, then read more about it.

[Twey]

Python's pretty major. If you know Python well, you've already started

[Aidanx]

Python Command Line [v2.5].
Its really crap, like you type:-

Example:
PRINT "Hello my name is Bob"
Hello my name is Bob
6+5
11

-:which is really boring. I want to step up. I am very fluent in COMAL but that too is very basic.

I want to move onto maybe, PHP or MySQL. Maybe even Javascript.

[Twey]

which is really boring. I want to step up.

How about you learn to write proper programs in Python rather than just fiddling with the command line, then? If you're already familar with Python, I suggest you take that to the next level rather than starting a whole new language. Python isn't basic at all, once you know what to do with it; it's a fully-featured language, considerably more powerful than PHP or Javascript (although obviously if you're going to be doing web development you'll want Javascript for client-side scripting; Mozilla are planning to introduce client-side Python scripting for Firefox 3, but I expect it will take a while to catch on).
If you already know Python, there's really little need to learn PHP as well; with a framework like Django, it's easy to use Python for server-side scripting, and your code ends up being a lot nicer than the equivalent in PHP, too.

Python Command Line [v2.5].
Its really crap, like you type:-

Example:
PRINT "Hello my name is Bob"
Hello my name is Bob
6+5
11

-:which is really boring.

Try installing wxPython and doing:

>>> import wx
>>> a = wx.App()
>>> f  = wx.Frame(None, title="My First wxPython App")
>>> a.SetTopWindow(f)
>>> wx.StaticText(a, label="Hello, world, this is my first GUI app!")
>>> f.Show()
>>> a.MainLoop()

[Aidanx]

How to I convert Python to "program-writing" mode then?

[Twey]

Uh, I don't think you really have a solid understanding of Python (or interpreted languages in general, actually). Put your program in a file, then run the Python interpreter against it:

twey@peordh /home/twey $ python sample.py

[mburt]

How to I convert Python to "program-writing" mode then?

I think we are straying away from the idea: it's basically the "programming" (not web-programming) aspect of Python.
If you're looking for some languages to look in, here are some:

Server-side - deals with forms, data, database management
PHP
ASP

Client-side - not as important, has to do with dynamic content
JavaScript
AJAX (extension of JavaScript)
CSS

[boxxertrumps]

Server-side - deals with forms, data, database management
PHP
ASP
Client-side - not as important, has to do with dynamic content
JavaScript (functionality/behavior)
AJAX (extension of JavaScript)
CSS (looks)

Fixed...
You mixed them up, mburt... Try not to confuse the new ones.

[mburt]

Oops... I definitely mixed them up, but I do know which from which.
It makes sense:
Client - literally the client's computer
Server - from the webserver

I don't normally mix them up