Hi everyone,
TL;DR Completely new to coding and programming, but I want to learn enough to be able to run a home server, my own website and tinker a bit with Arduino. Is there any programming language or path that you could recommend?
I don’t know if those things are related or not. I’ve been looking at books a bout Arduino, but it’s just following instructions to do xyz, but not explanation of the basics.
About the server and website, I’ve wanted to try it out since I stumbled upon the Low tech magazine. Many of the projects there and the philosophy behind it speak to me, so I would like to be more knowledgeable about it and be able to do some stuff myself.
EDIT. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for the replies. It’s so cool to see Lemmy populated with cool people willing to chat and put knowledge in common :) I might be updating this post when I get to do something about… well all the resources you gave me!
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The most pragmatic answer is to learn Python.
The most pragmatic approach to that is Automate The Boring Stuff with Python which is free to read online. But it might be a little dated and you said you want to learn some basics which I take to understand as underling fundamental theory of programming which it doesn’t provide.
Think Python, 3rd edition, which is also free to read online and was just updated to use Jupyter Notebooks, is a great introduction to the fundamentals of programming theory, but it is lengthier and will take more time to get to practical projects.
If you really want to get into an introduction to Computer Science theory, it would be hard to find a better introduction than A Data-Centric Introduction to Computing which is used at Brown University as well as others in their introductory Computer Science courses. It’s can also be read online for free.
For website things, the MDN Web Docs hosted by Mozilla is the best resource out there.
For Linux server stuff, Linux Upskill Challenge is a wonderful resource.
Have fun!
Automate the boring stuff with Python sounds like something I would enjoy reading, even if it’s a bit outdated. Mozilla’s website seems a good approach for me too, since it starts from complete beginners.
I don’t think I have the time to learn much about computer science theory if it’s not something mandatory. Linux, on the other hand, is something I’m somewhat familiar too (I’ve used it a lot for uni and such as a “distraction free” OS haha) and it looks like any server that I could run on a Raspberry or similar is going to be running Linux.
Thanks for the information!
The good news is that the author has a third edition coming out with updated material. But it won’t be ready until August 2024. I’m assuming you won’t want to wait for that, so I suggest using the current edition to get used to the language and then going through the list of updates and differences in the blog post and “figuring out” how to do some of them on your own.
Also, the author has a book for people who finished Automate the Boring Stuff and want more guidance on good, effective practices with less focus on people with no prior knowledge of programming, Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python, is also available to read for free online.
I should mention that if you have the means, I encourage you to pay for the eBook version of these books on the publisher’s website since this allows the author to continue creating updated and high quality content that’s free for those who feel that $35 is a strain on their budget. If not, no worries, that’s why I paid for his first edition a while back. Al is pretty active online and in the fediverse (@AlSweigart@mastodon.social) and seems like a good dude. He deserves some love, so please give him a thank you at a minimum.
This was a weirdly long reply, but I hope other people subscribed to the Learn Programming community on Programming.dev see it and find some value in it too.
Nice picks for hobbies. I’d just like to say that all of that are rabbit holes with quite some span and things to learn… Tinkering with electronics, learning how to program and webservers and sysadmin stuff like networking and services deployment.
Considering the self-hosting I’d recommend to start out with an out-of-the-box solution. Like yunohost.org or DietPI or a few others. It gets you some results and is usable in the real world without studying textbooks and larning Docker and Linux for a few weeks full-time.
With programming Arduinos and microcontrollers: Have a look at projects like MicroPython and CircuitPython. You can also install the Arduino IDE and see if you like it but programming in C is a steep learning curve. Maybe less suited as a first programming language. I can recommend the ESP32 microcontrollers. They’re awesome and have wifi and you can do lots of home automation projects in addition to everything an Arduino can do.
I think neither of that is low-tech. The chips and software itself are state-of-the-art technology. From my perspective you’d need to add the “low”-aspect with some context. Make them solar-powered or host a blog on those services.
It is true that I thought it would be easier to know what learning is essential to me and not. I find myself now saving stuff for later and with loads of new stuff that I didn’t even know that existed before haha So far it’s fun though! I’ll probably stick to python and learn a bit of HTML and CSS for now.
I think neither of that is low-tech. The chips and software itself are state-of-the-art technology. From my perspective you’d need to add the “low”-aspect with some context. Make them solar-powered or host a blog on those services.
This is something I plan on doing. Going solar is something I definitely want to do for my website and, to be honest, I want to learn more about electronics for that same reason. It would be a sin not to since I live in Spain lol
Spain? Nice. The low tech magazine is operated from Barcelona. I’m occasionally envious about the amount of sun and the temperatures in late autumn while it’s cloudy and rainy here in Germany…
Yeah. I’d pick something to start with. Depending on how much you want to delve down, it’s quite some amount of time you can sink into every individual field. And if you’re like me and constantly try too much at the same time, you’ll either get overwhelmed/disappointed from time to time because there isn’t much progress. Or end up with the drawer of unfinished electronics projects we all have 🤣
But that shouldn’t stop you. And that’s mostly something you should keep in mind while starting out. Luckily we have tons of tutorial videos, online documentation and stuff available to us. If you start with some pre-made stuff and already existing projects it’ll make it considerably easier to get some results early on.
I mean you do you. I’ve learned programming from textbooks and I think this is the way. At least it teaches you things properly and why you do something instead of just copying code. It takes some patience, though. I don’t know what learning type you are. I think computer stuff and social degrees require a bit different ways of thinking. But it’s not rocket science. Just have fun and explore. If you experience major setbacks or want to get a bit more serious, consider going to the library and get a book on Python or find one online (or a course).
Hosting stuff on your Raspberry is also rewarding. But I’d really consider starting with something pre-configured. All the sys-admin stuff (when starting from scratch) takes a good amount of knowledge with several topics, and some experience with the specific tools and frameworks. Other people might disagree but I think it’s less rewarding than for example programming and you’ll get a steep learning curve early on. On the other hand it’s super useful to run your own internet services. And we have the projects available that make it easier.
So, happy tinkering… Keep us posted in case you start another low-tech blog coming from Spain to us. And don’t let any complexity stop you 😊
We’re suffering a serious drought here though, even Barcelona’s tap water might be not available this summer! We should split our sunny and rainy days! We visited Frankfurt and Heidelberg and loved the cold and rainy days… which makes sense: we barely had any winter this year 😅
You make some good points, and being overwhelmed after trying to bite too much at once is something I’m used to, sadly, so I’ll try to think about how to approach all this. Probably pre-configured hosting as you said, so I can see the website running sooner, and we’ll then see how it goes or what calls my attention!
So, happy tinkering… Keep us posted in case you start another low-tech blog coming from Spain to us. And don’t let any complexity stop you 😊
That would be so cool! I don’t know much about practical stuff, but I plan on putting my reflections about morals and society online. It would be nice to have some kind of low-tech website like that and inspire some conversation on the topics. I’ll keep you guys posted for sure!
PS: I’m pretty sure I had a coffee with Kris, but I didn’t know about the website back then. I thought it was a cool guy, we had a good time (well me at least lol).
[…] serious drought […]
Sh*t, damn climate. Yeah I remember that being covered on TV and them saying it’s a catastrophe in Catalonia for several consecutive years now. I kind of forgot, because nowadays all the news is about Trump or Putin or Gaza (or our own issues). Wish I could send you some low-pressure weather areas. And I probably also owe some water to the south, because I occasionally buy paprika and other fruits from there. I think this year we got enough rain here in North Rhine-Westphalia so the water levels recovered a bit. I don’t really know what to say… It’s unfair. And one of the major tasks to tackle in the very near future… Probably also a really big investment to sustain a major city.
I’m pretty sure I had coffee with Kris
Hehe. Every so often I check that site and see what’s new. I think the solar powered website is an awesome project. I always wanted one, too. And I already have a small solar panel. Unfortunately the house is facing all sorts of directions, but there isn’t any surface pointing to the south. I’ve tried running an Raspberry from it but that draws too much power and I’d need a bigger solar panel for an usual day. Maybe I should try a more efficient ESP32 and see if anyone implemented a proper webserver for that.
