62
edits
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added link to Jenn Riley's Seeing Standards site
====Tools/Resources====
=====Books or Things to read=====*O'Reilly Head first series* Visual QuickStart Guides http://www.peachpit.com/imprint/series_detail.aspx?ser=335245* [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlVSWa90m8umdGg3U0h4bjdMT0ttVUJBU3RCaUc0WGc#gid=0 QA Collection Purchases for Code4Lib listserv]* [http://www.worldcat.org/title/pragmatic-programmer-from-journeyman-to-master/oclc/42038638 "The Pragmatic Programmer"] by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas. A book that teaches beginners how think like a programmer, IRCand reminds experts of good practices.* The top 9 in a hacker's bookshelf: http://grokcode.com/11/the-top-9-in-a-hackers-bookshelf/* "How to Design Programs" http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/. Good for newbie coders.* Kernighan and Ritchie's [http://www.worldcat.org/title/c-programming-language/oclc/17650642 "The C Programming Language."] A keeper for life, and surprisingly readable and directed to the newbie.* [http://journalwww.code4libworldcat.org journal/title/agile-web-development-with-rails-4/oclc/852808602&referer=brief_results Agile Web Development with Rails 4] is a well-paced introduction to Rails and Ruby. Covers a lot of core concepts (duhMVC, agile development, testing, AJAX).** To dive further into Ruby, there's [http://www.worldcat.org/title/programming-ruby-19-20-the-pragmatic-programmers-guide/oclc/855706057&referer=brief_results Programming Ruby] (aka The PickAxe Book)* http://www.w3.org/International* Guide for the Perplexed on the code4lib wiki: http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed* Video series on command line basics from Lullabot: http://drupalize.me/series/command-line-basics-series
* Vi- because it keeps me (you?) focused.
* [http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit Komodo Edit]
* [http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ Notepad++ IMO best open source lightweight editor on Windows]
*AMP (LAMP, WAMP, MAMP) stacks for an easy install of Apache, mySQL + perl/ python / php.
*A @rdio subscription. :) And a text editor with syntax highlighting.
* Git (Version Control)
* Github, Bitbucket and Other Remote Git Services
* Emmet, http://docs.emmet.io/ (supersedes Zen Coding, http://code.google.com/p/zen-coding/ ) The idea is that it lets you use CSS-like selectors as tags that can be expanded into full HTML snippets.
* [http://sass-lang.com/ SASS Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets]
* LESS http://lesscss.org/
* Compass http://compass-style.org/ - extends SASS with reusable patterns
* BareBones's [http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html BBEdit]
* Sublime Text & Zen Coding (recently reborn as [http://docs.emmet.io Emmet]). Saves a lot of keystrokes when writing web content.
* The best one IMHO is [http://www.sublimetext.com Sublime Text 2]. Oh, okay, I can't resist - I'm going to cheat and list a second: everyone needs to stop writing just CSS and complement it with SASS (syntactically awesome stylesheets) & Compass - http://sass-lang.com/. Totally invaluable for any front-end work. It makes CSS fun.
* [http://www.virtualbox.org VirtualBox] to make new VM setup and deployment easier we use [http://vagrantup.com/ Vagrant]
* Version control. My own strong preference is for git (either managed locally or through github.com), but really, just pick a version control solution and use it. If you value your work at all, it should be in version control. Smart use of version control can make finding and fixing problems in code much, much easier - but even fairly naive use of it leaves you with much, much better tools for fixing screw ups than you have without it.
=====Websites=====*Building things that help people mattersCode4Lib listserv, IRC, [http://journal.code4lib.org journal] (duh)* Google is more useful than any reference book to find answers to programming problems.* [http://stackexchange.com/ StackExchange] (by extension, [http://stackoverflow.com StackOverflow]) is a great site for questions.* [http://lynda.com lynda.com]* [http://www.pluralsight.com/ PluralSight.com]* JS Fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/* CodePen http://codepen.io/* [http://css-tricks.com CSS Tricks ]* [http://openhatch.org/ Open Hatch] - to learn tools you need to participate in open source development and find friendly projects to be a part of* [http://drupalladder.org/ Drupal Ladder], which teaches you what you need to know to participate in developing Drupal* [http://rubykoans.com/ Ruby Koans] - learn Ruby by fixing failing tests* [https://librarycarpentry.org/ Library Carpentry] - Free, open-source lessons for non-techy librarians on coding, data analysis, and related topics. They also give in-person workshops upon request.* [http://jennriley.com/metadatamap/ Seeing Standards] - Let's be frank, there is a giant pile of metadata standards awaiting any newbie to this field. Jenn Riley's map of these standards, and the accompanying glossary, is an invaluable resource. It may be tempting to try to print the PDF of this visualization, just be aware that it is absolutely gigantic. You will need access to a poster printer to do it justice. Don't let that frighten you, feel free to explore it on your computer, save it, keep it as a reference. This poster will help you, you need empathyit.
* "How to Design Programs" Perl Mongers http://www.ccspm.neuorg/groups/* Python Local User Groups http://wiki.python.eduorg/homemoin/matthiasLocalUserGroups** Look for user groups running an incarnation of the [http:/HtDP2e/bostonpythonworkshop. Good com/ Boston Python Workshop], a women-and-their-friends day-and-a-half introduction to Python which assumes no prior knowledge.* R Users Group Meetups http://r-users-group.meetup.com/* Drupal Groups http://groups.drupal.org/* Ruby User Groups http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/community/user-groups/** Look for newbie codersgroups running an incarnation of [http://workshops.railsbridge.org/ RailsBridge] (like Boston Python Workshop except it came first, and covers Ruby)* Haskell User Groups http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/User_groups* ColdFusion Meetups http://coldfusion.meetup.com/
* The top 9 in a hacker's bookshelfResources for lots of languages: [http://grokcodepear.comly/11/the-top-9-in-a-hackers-bookshelf8ohL pear.ly/8ohL]* Guide for the Perplexed on the code4lib wiki: [http://wikicatcode.code4libpbworks.orgcom/index.phpw/A_Guide_for_the_Perplexedpage/49680175/Resources Catcode]* Sublime Text & Zen Coding (recently reborn as Emmet<[http://docsfoss4lib.emmetorg/ FOSS4lib]* I can already feel the collective rolling of eyes for this, but what about Twitter? It's not a guide or manual, but start following and engaging talented developers and library geeks on Twitter and you'll soon have more help than you know what to do with.io> Plus, no Zoia ;). Saves * Practice! No matter the learning material, nothing will really sink in unless you apply it in the wild (like a lot of keystrokes when writing web contentsmall project). * Reusing peopleIt's public dotfiles<http:still useful to learn a little something about configuring a webserver /database /dotfiles.githubetc.com/>,my favorite being Mathias Bynens'<https* The [http://githubconnect.comala.org/mathiasbynensnode/dotfiles>. Using a mature dotfiles collection can help bootstrap you to use the command line more 167971 Library Code Year Interest Group], an ALA group (joint between LITA and start grabbing vital tools from package managers like Homebrew or npm that you might not think of otherwise. I'm still a newbie coder but reusing dotfiles gives me the confidence ALCTS) for librarians who want to tweak things here learn and there without building a ton from scratch.apply code
=====Advice on what to do=====
*Building things that help people matters, and for that you need empathy.
* Reusing people's [http://dotfiles.github.com/ public dotfiles],my favorite being [https://github.com/mathiasbynens/dotfiles Mathias Bynens']. Using a mature dotfiles collection can help bootstrap you to use the command line more and start grabbing vital tools from package managers like Homebrew or npm that you might not think of otherwise. I'm still a newbie coder but reusing dotfiles gives me the confidence to tweak things here and there without building a ton from scratch.
* I'm taking "tool" to mean a piece of hardware. I'd recommend some old laptop with your favorite linux distro less desktop. Why? Well the main thing is that it puts them into a position where they're not learning to be a google copy/paste coder given the lack of the desktop, mouse and distractions like email. They can also learn to setup the server environment on their new dev box and eventually do all sorts of cool stuff.