Ask HN: Creating an App for Fun. Need Advice ! | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Creating an App for Fun. Need Advice !

2 pointstikna8 comments

I have a small web-app Idea which I want to implement for fun (actually, I am too bored with my day job). I want to do this for learning purpose. No strings attached.

The thing is I am ok with PHP/MySQL. With this app, I want to:

- Learn how to code in MVC architecture.

- Learn to design/implement very basic design using CSS/jQuery (no Photoshop. i am no good at it, and my job does not give me time to learn that)

- Making it scalable (that is it should withstand high traffic). (I am not saying it will receive traffic, but I want to learn to implement it in minimum resources and optimized as far as possible)

Can someone guide me where to go from here for above three? I get roughly 2 hours of time daily after my job and weekends (Sat/Sun) are free. Although I love to spend them with family and friends, but you can consider 11-12 hours free time in weekend.

I want to finish this thing in 2 months. Coding is not too complicated, the thing I want is to implement it with elegance.

Where to start? How to proceed.

> Learn how to code in MVC architecture

First you need to pick a framework, unless you plan on implementing one yourself. I used to like CodeIgniter when I used PHP, although there are many more.

Follow the "hello world" tutorial for the framework you choose - even if you are familiar with PHP it will help you be efficient with the framework from the beginning.

> Learn to design/implement very basic design using CSS/jQuery

Google for some getting started tutorials for each language. Once you are happy with the basics, update the website you created in the framework tutorial so that it uses your new design.

> Making it scalable

Do the other two first, then come back to this. I am not suggesting you ignore it completely, but simply being aware of things like caching and optimising SQL queries is probably enough to get your first project done.

In a recent reply to someone asking how to scale I advised testing it under heavy load to see what breaks. Fix the thing that breaks, then test it until something else breaks. And so on.

"Making is scalable" is very broad topic - you need to break this down in to many small, easy to Google problems.

Thanks. Really helpful suggestions.

Since you're going the PHP route, you should have a look at http://phpfog.com for hosting. They offer 6 months free hosting. You'll also get exposure to source control via Git and scaling which they assist you with.

Thanks. Its invite only?

Yes, but it only took a day or two for me to get an invite to the Beta after signing up. And I think if you sign up and refer 2 people you get in immediately (although they might have removed this by now).

It might be stupid to ask, but isn't there any limits on usage?

No, you are just limited to one app and instance at a time. But this should be more than enough to host your average website that gets a couple thousand hits a week.

From the FAQ (not sure if you can access it without being logged in though):

"Will you offer a free version of hosting?

Yes. You get one free application with one instance for 6 months. If you have one app that is using the free instance, you can delete it and you'll be able to create another free one to replace it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development_process

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