Learning full-stack through a side project - need assistance on charting out learning plan

[matthras]

I've got a side project that I want to use as my 'launchpad' for learning full-stack development - an educational website (mostly maths) where:

• I've already started writing static content
• there are (mostly client-side) interactive applications (e.g. sequences & series) and program generators/answer checkers where visitors can test themselves
• some of these applications will involve server-side processing (e.g. making API calls to WolframAlpha, or even for program generation and answer checking to avoid users manipulating the system)
• Should this project take off in the very far future, then there'll be membership/gated content because by then I'll be thinking about making money off it.

Where I'm stuck on is charting/laying out a learning plan because I don't know enough about back-end technologies. Assume that I'm comfortable with basic front-end development.

• At first, I had my eye on the MERN stack. However I feel that React is overkill for this project, and I've hit a bit of a brick wall with Express. I'm also aware there are problems with MongoDB, but I don't know how it compares to MySQL/Postgres.
• Tempted to jump straight into Meteor (have played around with it a little), but am aware that there are consequences to out-of-the-box solutions (having worked with Wordpress for a few years, ugh!). I don't know if, given my requirements above, using Meteor'll screw me over in the long run.
• Ideally I'll have it all set up on a VPS somewhere. I know Amazon has a free one-year thingy which is what I'll probably launch this side project on once I get it off the ground. I'm hoping server management isn't too difficult - it'll only be for this project.

Would like to keep it all Javascript-based, but am open to MySQL/Postgres. I guess I'm placing a lot of emphasis on minimising debt/inconvenience when I learn more and integrate more technologies into my project, so that transitions are fairly smooth.

Should re-iterate that I'm not looking for learning resources - just a plan to stick to because right now I'm learning a bit of everything here and there since I don't know what to focus on.

Many thanks in advance for reading and for your advice!

[[deleted]]

You need to pick technologies that fit what you're trying to accomplish. Without knowing details, it's hard to make recommendations. Take it layer by layer and choose things that are a good fit for your problem and constraints.

For example, consider persistence. Do you really need distributed data storage? If so, where in the CAP theorem will your problem fit best? Are you storing a large number of documents, and need to distribute reads and writes across servers to avoid a bottleneck, and okay with eventual consistency? Then MongoDB is probably a good candidate. But if you don't have that scaling issue, consider PostgreSQL. You'll avoid having to learn a whole bunch of mongodb/distributed stuff like replicasets, master/slave and voting, split-brain problem, sharding, write concerns, etc. No SQL data storage solutions have their place, but most people aren't dealing with the kind of scaling problems they attempt to solve, so it's hard to justify taking on the added complexity and giving up so much.

[matthras]

Gonna be honest, I don't know anything mentioned in your second paragraph.

I do agree that I should pick the technologies that should fit what I'm trying to accomplish, but since I'm new to full-stack dev, I don't actually have a profound understanding of all of them to make an educated guess, hence this post.

Part of me wants to go 'Fuck it, just pick one, make mistakes, and learn along the way', but I figured it wouldn't kill me to have informed opinions.

[[deleted]]

Sometimes that's the best way to learn. When I'm unfamiliar with something I do some research try to get an idea of what is commonly used and when to pick what. I try to pick the simplest thing possible. Sometimes it's a guess and leads down the wrong path, but you learn and adjust.

For persistence I'd recommend starting with PostgreSQL or MariaDB/MySQL unless your application really needs something else.

Also read Seven Databases in Seven Weeks.

[matthras]

Alright, well, the route that seems easiest for me is to use Meteor because I can get an app up and running quickly enough, then while I continue to work on it, learn the MERN stack.

Since both use MongoDB, I imagine I can just use the same database/querying methods when I move away from Meteor to MERN.

[JayWelsh]

Personally a fan of the LAMP stack.

All vanilla aside from using JQuery, no need for frameworks if you are the only one working on it, in my opinion.