Posts Tagged ‘programming languages’

I’m a senior computer science major and would like to get into web design. I have basic familiarity with programming languages such as Java, C++, COBOL, etc., and am pretty adept at HTML and CSS.

I wanted to find out what I should focus on learning if I intend to persue a carreer in web design in the next year or two.

What programs, languages, and concepts make up the primary areas of focus these days in web design? What are the most important aspects to understand?

My understanding is that these are very important:
Flash
Dreamweaver/Frontpage
ColdFusion or .NET (database connectivity)
Graphic Design Techniques
HTML, XML, PHP

I wondered how those of you that are actually working in the field would change my list?

Is there a particular order of concepts that would help me learn it best (a curriculum, if you will)?

I’d appreciate all the help I can get in understanding what direction to go in. There’s so much to learn, and I really don’t know where to start.

I have a good grasp of HTML and a beginners grasp of CSS. I need to develop my languages over the summer. Specifically I might need to have a better grasp of HTML and CSS, completely learn .xml from scratch, maybe perl or python or other such languages. I am going to get a few books and try to learn that way, but I was wondering if an online class might work better? Any tips?

I would like to eventually be able to program a high-quality website that would include having user content submitted to the website. What programming languages would I most likely have to learn? And what is the best, and cheapest, way to go about learning how to program these languages?

Are there good online sources that are free? What about a manual from Amazon? Should I expect to learn HTML? XML? C? C++? Javascript? Visual Basic?