Ask HN: Where can I go to ask/get answers for general web app dev questions? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Where can I go to ask/get answers for general web app dev questions?

2 pointsnstart3 comments

The original question I was going to ask was "I'm worried about maintaining my database and backups. Should I use a web based DB instead?". The details of the question were basically me wondering how I can learn enough of DB management to have an okay (90%) confidence that my data is securely stored, and being backed up everyday or whether I should use something like Amazon RDS instead.

I realised that I've asked quite a few of these kinds of questions on HN and stack exchange forums. The question type being general, non application, non language specific web app related questions. These are questions anyone developing any web app will probably have to answer. The answers expected would be mostly in the lines of abstract strategies to solve the problem as opposed to concrete "your solution for this case" ones.

To clarify a little bit, some example questions:

* How to securely store passwords? (answer would be discussion on hashing and encryption with no domain/language specific answer)

* How to handle reset password links? (answer would involve strategies for generating links, how to store the reset link etc)

* The above DB related question.

Is there a good single resource for asking/reading up on these types of questions?

Try the web_dev and learnprogramming subreddits. And no, there is no "good single resource"...it's a staggeringly wide and convoluted field and no one source prioritizes the exact mix of things you're interested in.

If you're interested in network security and so forth, r/netsec is also a great subreddit. Honestly, I don't think it's very productive to try to teach yourself database management and security unless you are actively running a database-backed product and need that knowledge, like, immediately. I learned databases because I needed to learn how to join different databases when doing research on governmental agencies...that led to learning more about programming on how to build workflows and clean data. I learned websites because, well, I wanted to publish my work online. Through that learn-as-I-need-to path, I was able to pick up a good amount of security practices. But honestly, nothing trains you better for DB admin and security than doing it in the workplace. As a hobby, it strikes me as one of the least appealing ways to get into programming.

Agreed on the wide and convoluted field part. I was hoping though that there'd be some kind of resource along the lines of "the must know things of developing web apps" that covers the various topics from how to manage user data, to managing transactional email using parallel processes, to managing your data.

Initially when reading your answer I thought I might be giving the wrong impression in that I'm looking for security based answers. But the longer I think about it, I realise that most general web app related questions will be security related stuff too.

/r/cscareerquestions is good as well. There's a large variety of non-CS tech people there.

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