testnet2 (the current one) will provide installers etc. so no code required. You will start to see apps form the different projects very soon after that I imagine. This is the exciting part now, we will get the next 2 sprints done and you will start to see some pretty cool things happening
This is great news, but @whiteoutmashups has a great point when extended to apps, etc. I understand that Javascript is easier to get started with than many programming languages. Would that be a place to dive in to be able to start making apps on the SAFE platform?
I know there are many people who are miles ahead of us mere nerd-wannabes, but getting some digital dirt under my fingernails would help my sense of helplessness, at the very least. Might even be able to do something useful.
Apps would probably be easier to start with than the main codebase
And API is like a toolkit, right? So it should be something that helps people get started?
And OK, so would you recommend us noobs to start looking into Python, perhaps? We’ve said javascript but I looked it up and it looks like python is also simple but sounds like its really powerful as well.
(just to be safe, I’ll start practicing with it anyways lol)
Personally, I prefer JS. It feels more like the language of the web, and you will end up using it anyway (whether it will be just jQuery or Angular/Ember/whathaveyou, or nodejs, or full stacks like MEAN or Meteor).
Also, regarding codecademy. I’d advise using it as an additional rather than primary tool for learning. It sometimes gives you the fake sense of acomplishment, and (for me at least) was always less useful than just writing a piece of code and firing it up on my own.
@chrisfostertv
The reason I didn’t list it is that it is not a resource in itself, rather, it leads to two non-free books, plus I think it’s a pretty demanding course for a complete beginner. ‘JavaScript: The Definitive Guide’ is a really good albeit a big book (it could serve as a murder weapon, for sure), I haven’t read the other one.
If you feel like you can commit time to it, go for it, but don’t get discouraged if you struggle to keep within the timeframe of the course. Personally, I doubt if I could make it in 7-8 weeks but maybe it’s because of my being more of a humanist kind of thing.
Oh, and one thing that I find constantly useful is Firefox’s Scratchpad (Developer > Scratchpad) that allows you to write JS and test it pretty nicely with the Console.
Ok question, and I know this may be rather silly at this point, but what with all the rust talk and what not I’m wondering. What language is maidsafe being coded in at the moment? I’m confused. If I was to try to learn to theoretically help (good luck with that but hey a guy can dream) what language would I aim to learn? What is it a combination of C++, python and Rust?
The core layer is being developed in Rust. Apps that run on top of that can be written with all kinds of languages, as they can just send commands and requests to the core layer. They don’t need to be written in the same language to be able to do that.
No, that’s not really unique. The big advantages of Rust are that it enforces best practices through the compiler, it makes the build and testing process easier, and it’s concurrency model is supposedly better (execution of multiple tasks in parallel). Anyway that’s how I understand it, I’m still a Rust novice.
There’s a lot in that “best coding practices” bit.
For example, Rust removes scope for a lot of bugs (especially memory leaks which also increases security).
Rust makes documentation, testing, even benchmarking all very easy to code and do automatically, plus sharing of libraries and handling of dependencies between code is all very much easier.
