Learn Programming

1631 readers

1 users here now

Posting Etiquette

Ask the main part of your question in the title. This should be concise but informative.
Provide everything up front. Don't make people fish for more details in the comments. Provide background information and examples.
Be present for follow up questions. Don't ask for help and run away. Stick around to answer questions and provide more details.
Ask about the problem you're trying to solve. Don't focus too much on debugging your exact solution, as you may be going down the wrong path. Include as much information as you can about what you ultimately are trying to achieve. See more on this here: https://xyproblem.info/

Icon base by Delapouite under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What's best suited for low-tech (lemmy.ml)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Regarding home server, get yourself a Raspberry Pi. Doesnt need to be the latest one, whatever you can find. You can install linux and get yourself a webserver up and running in no time. Check out any of the selfhosting communites for more ideas. Be aware that this is not really programming, its more system administration, although the line can get blurry.

As for arduino, my advice is to hop on aliexpress, and get some ESP32 dev boards (Comes with wifi, bluetooth, and supported by arduino IDE. RP2040 also viable), and some sensors (temp, humidity, airquality, whatever, displays?). Work out how to interface the sensors with the esp32 to output the sensor values to a webpage (or some other interface). All the parts are inexpensive, so I suggest getting multiples as youll probably kill one or two when wiring them up. Youll probably need dupont jumper cables as well, and maybe access to a soldering iron, but you should be able to go a long way with dev boards.

I personally find learning by doing is going to be better than reading books and articles, but your learning style may be different.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

My brother-in-law gave me a Raspberry P1, so I might be able to do something! I'll be checking those communities, thank you!

As for Arduino, I bought years ago an Arduino Super (?), but it doesn't have wifi nor bluetooth is it essential, or I could use this one? I'll have a look at those sensors. It came with a little screen, so I might be able to do some of that!

Probably because of my background I'm used to learning and understanding something before getting my hands dirty, so to speak. This might prove as a good chance to try another approach. Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Your Arduino not having Bluetooth or WiFi is fine (obviously depending on what you want to do with it). Arduinos are for much lower level projects than PIs. Where a PI might run a webserver, an Arduino might just start and stop things based on timers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

No wifi is fine, my first arduino was a regular one, but I've found that its kinda limited. Making an LED blink is a bit dull. But given it has a screen, you can probably display the sensor data on it, so its probably worth starting with it? Like i said, parts are inexpensive, so upgrading later is a recompile away.