Creating an Application

[JohnJ]

Programming has always fascinated me, but I've never had a consistent drive to learn a language. Recently I've been watching a lot of PHP tutorials and I plan to begin referencing a PHP & MySQL book I purchased last year to familiarize myself with the language. I have had plans for a Web application for quite some time and I'd like to turn it into a learning project. My question is this: if my goal is to create a Web application that thousands of people would use, would it be an OK idea to code it from start to finish as I learn? From a user's aspect I'm sure the primary concern would be security -- being green, I'm sure it's easy to write code that is not secure. What can I do to mitigate this risk? 

 

I want to learn to code PHP by creating my own application because I do not believe I would follow through in learning the language if I did not have a specific goal that would benefit myself or a third party. What are your thoughts? I hope that makes sense... I haven't slept yet.

[Jessica]

Moving this to Misc.

[ignace]

If you have an idea for an application it's best NOT to create while you are learning. But create it once you have learned. Pretty much the same thing that you don't build a house while learning how to build a house but only do so when you have learned the required skills.

 

The reason being that you will spend too much time on details while your learning should be put on a central spot. Also avoid learning stuff you know how it will be/is accomplished and only focus on the things you don't know.

 

What this means is that you will for example create only a form (for example because you are learning about login), or only a button, because you are learning about google/facebook login. Don't spend any time on unnecessary details, like creating a layout or something.

Edited May 6, 2013 by ignace