Ask HN: How did you get a Solid understanding of the full web stack?

1 pointpchekuri2 comments

Im pretty sure a large portion of this community has a strong understanding of the web stack so I figured Id ask: What is a good book to read to get a Solid understanding of the full web technology stack (e.g. HTTP, cookies, headers, asset loading / caching)? or what resources would you use to understand the above concepts?

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In my personal experience the best way to learn how the stack works is to use the stack even if you don't know how it all works yet. You'll pick up pieces here and there and you'll eventually have your "aha!" moment and everything falls into place. If you're a complete beginner it will take you a couple months to understand the basic concepts and practices I'd say, but you learn exponentially from there. Just think of a project you want to do, no matter how complicated it seems, and do it. You'll be googling things every other minute but that's fine, that's how you learn this stuff. Books are good to get an overall perspective, but things change very quickly on the web, so the web is the best way to learn and stay updated.

The stack always change, but the concepts remain. Make sure you have a good foundation in CS.

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