<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I have love coding and after a lot of research I have decided to try web development. I was thinking that it would be more enjoyable and even faster to learn, if there was a community to help learn and motivate each other. So if you are interested in getting some programming experience before college feel free to post on this forum and if enough people post maybe we can get this thing started.</p>
<p>I do have previous programming experience C++/ Java (AP computer science), but even if you are a completely new to programming and have a interest in it feel free to post and who knows with the help me and any other people maybe you'll find your calling :) </p>
<p>I don’t really have room to add in any more projects personally, but I could help guide development / act as a consultant to bounce ideas off of. I have done many web development projects (PHP/SQL mostly, currently planning to learn Javascript / AJAX / Node.Js at an internship) and have worked in Java / C etc as well. I feel like I could be a good source to help with direction.</p>
<p>First obvious question, is there a specific idea you have in mind? Any specific languages you want to develop proficiency in?</p>
<p>@PengsPhils Ya, my plan is to learn html,css, and java script then move on to jQuerry. With all that under my belt I would tackle either ruby on rails or learn C# and ASP.net </p>
<p>I think I have a solid plan and I am using “code school” (a website that does an amazing job teaching programming languages), but the only problem is that the whole learning basic languages such as html can be dry compared to the challenge of more functional laguages as java script and ruby. As I stated above I think this could be solved if a bunch of people that were interested came together and formed a community, because I have noticed that either a the high school communities of coders virtually do not exist and the ones that I have heard of are closed off (as in very small and not very inclusive). Thanks for the offer of support. I have seen a lot of your posts on programming related discussions on CC and I sincerely think that your contributions are making a difference for all of those that wish to pursue programming. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>@youTalkintoMe </p>
<p>I am very interested in this idea. I have been trying to find someone that really loved coding for a while now haha. Have you tried posting this on the AP Computer Science discusion? I met tons of people that were reviewing for the AP exam lol</p>
<p>@youTalkintoMe: You might want to check out The Odin Project, which is an extremely rigorous introduction to web development through RoR. I am planning to complete the entire course over the summer, but it’s going to be rough. If you’re interested, here is the link: <a href=“http://www.theodinproject.com”>http://www.theodinproject.com</a></p>
<p>After that, I’m really going to dedicate myself to theory, and I’m hoping to spend a fair amount of time with TopCoder and USACO algorithm competitions next year.</p>
<p>Ruby on Rails is a great web development language to learn in my opinion, though I do not know too much yet. I hope to learn it before I get out of college, probably over next summer. I think that would be a good decision, it is a very popular language though still relatively new, which means it has the potential to become one of the industry standards if it already couldn’t be called that today.</p>
<p>Glancing through The Odin Project, that looks like a really good approach, especially since you don’t want to spend too much time in HTML/CSS. I think I may actually use that myself when I start RoR, thank you very much @DiscipulusBonus</p>
<p>So is the idea here to get a community of programmers together for a collaborative project or for the community itself with tangent projects made through the community? I completely agree that finding a community of programmers can be really hard in high school, and would gladly be a member of said community. My AP CS class had 4 people in it, and only two of the people in it have any intention to code beyond the class. I can count the young programmers I have met in real life on one hand, though I am happy to find many on CC and some other websites.</p>
<p>One piece of advice beyond this proposal: anyone that you see with a good coding mind (there are plenty out there, they just never really try it out), tell them to give it a shot. You may actually be able to make your own community at your high school. I tried this myself, but with only a semester left in my senior year it was too late. My best friend is trying Java though because of it, so it really can work.</p>
<p>@youtalkintome I’m just glad there’s people who are interested, I know I would have loved to have someone helping me when I was first getting into this. I wasted a significant amount of time simply trying to navigate. I didn’t even know what CS was until I was already a year into coding HTML / CSS / Python.</p>
<p>@DiscipulusBonus Thanks! I had heard about odin project before, but I was not convinced of its usefulness. I’m definitely going to give it a shot now. Anyways, I am very interested in the contests that you mentioned. This is the exact reason why I want to create sort of a community, because I was completely in the dark about these competitions before you mentioned them. With a programming community we can inspire each other become better programmers before college. @PengsPhils I wasn’t going to aim the community at creating collaborative projects (unless people wanted to), I intend for the community to be more of a base for new programmers and experienced programmers, alike, to get advice on what language/project to tackle next and to just provide that motivation to learn more about programming with peers.</p>
<p>@youTalkIntoMe: If you are interested, we could start with something like a Google+ Community and later expand to a more functional platform if needed.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what grades are you guys in? FYI, I’m currently a rising senior.</p>
<p>This sounds interesting. I am a rising sophomore, and have coded in C++/Python. My experience is mostly with “problems” on sites like Project Euler and USACO (I am silver level). I would like to mess around with some “real world” stuff like web development. Having a community of like minded high schoolers sounds really cool!</p>
<p>@DiscipulusBonus @JWK750 @PengsPhils Hey guys I made the community for all of those that are interested. Check it out at: <a href=“https://plus.google.com/communities/114043280427301566253”>https://plus.google.com/communities/114043280427301566253</a></p>
<p>If the above link doesnt work search google+ for “topchefcoding” </p>