Subject: Want to know where to start

From: Matt Thompson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 18:29:16 -0600

Hello, I have a few questions.  Everyone always says that the best way to 
learn programming, is to find something you want to program, and then figure 
out which language woul best suit your needs.  Well, I am very interested in 
creating a fantasy sports league manager software.  I was thinking of making 
it web based, since i'm guessing most fantasy baseball owners are windows 
users.  The only programming I know is basic, and some very basic cobol, from 
a college class I took.  I am very interested in using this a a learning 
experience.

The final program hopefully would have a good draft program, player 
transactions, automatic scoring updates, and a player database going back 5 
years or so.  

I want to make this using open source tools, so I was wondering what you guys 
thought i should tackle first?  If this is an improper list to ask these 
questions, where would you suggest i ask?

-- 
Empty_One
_________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."--Benjamin Franklin

---

From: Omer Zak <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 03:35:48 +0200 (EET)

On Sun, 17 Feb 2002, Matt Thompson wrote:

> thought i should tackle first?If this is an improper list to ask these

In my opinion, this question is both off-topic to the mailing list, and
on-topic.

Giving advice to the guy is off-topic.  At least, I'd hate it if we got
more messages of this kind in the mailing list.  But discussions about how
to start programming are on-topic.  I would not mind seeing discussions
about how someone started programming, what hurdles did he have to
overcome before he could proclaim himself to be an expert hacker, and the
like.

Now, to the guy's issue:

I think that the project he wants to tackle is too big for a single bite.

First, he has to take inventory of the skills which he needs (GUI design,
GUI tool [such as Python/Tk or Perl/Tk] usage, database design, database
tool [such as MySQL or Postgressql], Web scripts, ...)

Then, he should decompose the project into steps (as said above), such
that at each step he'll need to master only one new tool.  Each step
should also be useful in its own right.  I'm too happy to leave the damned
details to other helpful Hackers-IL members.

There is also the question which tool is the right tool for each task
(MySQL vs. Postgressql religious war, anyone?).

                                             --- Omer
There is no IGLU Cabal.  No one wanted to attend to all those pesky
details, which need to be taken care of when organizing organizations
such as Cabals.
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