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Dave Jacoby

I would recommend that you start with a task. A reasonably modest task, but a task.

  • a web page (or simple web app)
  • a native app for a mobile device
  • a web spider
  • a program that interfaces with an internet-connected light, turning it on at sundown and off at midnight
  • something that solves Sudoku or another puzzle game for you

Each of these is going to work differently. Honestly, you could probably do most if not all of these with Node/Javascript, but they're going to work differently depending on what you need done.

When you get to a point of added complexity, choose the most easily understood decision and go forward, until it is painfully clear you need to change.

My first "big" solo "project" was for the campus computing center as a CS undergrad, around 1998. I was in charge of the documentation library, and I put it up on the web. I was encouraged to use flat files for data storage, rather than dive into learning SQL, because I was already trying to force so much into my head already. This was both a learning experience and of practical use for me.

I don't know you, and I don't know what you need, but if you can find a problem with a technical solution and create that solution, you will be well on your way.