Programming Languages for Beginners

Question

Hi - new to programming and developing in general, but work in the GIS world and use ArcGIS Online and associated apps a lot!  I would like to start learning how to customize apps and web pages.  What languages should I start with - JavaScript, HTML, & Python?  Which one first?  Any recommendations on where to start would be great - thanks!

DavidMartinez · Answer

Hi Pamela,

Just based on your description of ArcGIS Online and associated apps, I would first start with HTML and JavaScript. There are a ton of online resources to assist you with this process. There are also some free and paid coding schools (w3schools.com,code academy) online that can help you learn the syntax and understand the language. Of course our own ArcGIS JavaScript samples, DevLabs (learn how to build an app in 15 minutes),  Esri Training courseshttps://www.esri.com/training/catalog/search/ (some are free) and the Geonet community is a great starting place to ask questions. After you get a feel for the language and syntax the best way to learn is to work on an actual project. Do you have an app that maybe uses a template that you would like to extend? Remember feel free to always ask questions, that is how we all learn.

Cheers,

David

AdrianWelsh · Answer

Hi Pamela,

It is hard to figure out where to start. Nearly any learning-your-self-type of sites will be useful. I used Code Academy and found it fun and useful (they kind of gamify things, making you want to get more "accomplishments" which helps me sometimes!). I like Tim Witt's answer in that thread and used that Build your first application  website.

I also found that just modifying existing stuff helped me a lot too, sort of seeing what is already there and what kind of things I can do to make good changes. Playing around in the "Sandbox" is good too.

I have the Getting to Know Web GIS but I've been too busy to read it, unfortunately. I also obtained this book: Web GIS | Principles and Applications and still need to go through it. It's a forever learning process!

I hope this is helpful!

PamelaLocke1 · Answer

Perfect thank you!  did you find any of those sites more useful than the others?  So hard to figure out where to start!