Ask HN: What laptop should I buy for programming and path to take?

Here's what my opinion is on those questions. (I'm an Engineering student, web-developer in my free time).

1. I don't think it matters a huge deal which language you pick, as long as you choose a language that makes sense with the kind of project you want to launch. If your project is web-based (a web-app or service) you'll need to learn html, css, javascript (jQuery will get your pretty far without needing a very good knowledge of javascript and there are tons of examples you can use). But those will pretty much only help you with the front-end (so you'll still need a language that runs on the server and deals with data, sessions, basically doing stuff that cannot be done in the browser of the user.) There you can go with Python, PHP, Ruby, Javascript (nodejs)... of course I could give my opinion which to start with but I'm doing this too long to have an idea how long each of them takes to learn looking at your time-frame. And if you've never done programming you'll have to take time to understand why and how certain techniques work that frameworks use such as MVC.

If your project is going to be an iOS app the most logical way to go is with objective C.

2. I've bought a Macbook Pro 13" 2 years ago, upgraded with 2*8GB ram, 120GB SSD and a caddy for my 500GB HD, and it still runs very very well for development. Mac-apps tend to "just work" most of the time, and as OSX is based on unix most of the tools that will run on a server will work perfectly on OSX. The only limitation you get from going with mac is most games don't work on OSX but that's perfect as those only distract you from learning/working.

For iOS development Xcode (which only runs on OSX as far as I know) is the best you can get and most tutorials you'll find will be working with xcode. For ruby I've heard it's a bit annoying on a windows environment but whenever you go with OSX or Linux doesn't matters.

3. I think 3-4 months isn't going to be enough, perhaps others think otherwise but I think you'll need at least 4 months to get stuff done in the language you're learning and only than you'll be able to start working on your MVP.

4. That will depend on what language you're starting out with. Something I think can help a lot is knowing someone you can ask questions to while learning/building your MVP when you come across problems you cannot solve yourself or don't know how to go on from where you're at.

1. It depends what platform you want to target with your MVP, and whether you have any coding experience. Generally, web technologies have a somewhat gentler learning curve than iOS/Android, and can still reach mobiles. If you're starting from scratch, learn HTML and CSS and make some simple static pages. Then once you're comfortable, learn a high level language (eg. Ruby or Python). Then learn a web framework for that language (Rails if you're focusing on Ruby, Django if Python). You'll probably want to pick up some Javascript too.

2. Macs are popular for iOS, Android and web development so they're a good choice.

3. It's possible but it will be a lot of work. I don't have any recommendations on beginner courses. Maybe check out reddit.com/r/learnprogramming

4. As you implement your MVP, try to break each problem you face into smaller, manageable chunks. It's much easier to solve several easy - medium difficulty problems than 1-2 hard ones.

probably you already have a computer, start with that one!

My advice, start from Linux. It exposes all the moving parts, has the best tooling, and pretty much anything you learn about it is applicable to Windows or OSX - though there are parts of both that are unique. A mainline distro with a long term support release makes sense.

Hardware, cheap laptop and a cheap desktop and a decent keyboard. I am partial to the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000. With two computers running Linux you can learn about networking, hardware configuration, ssh, and using the shell.

Next, Emacs [or maybe Vim] there's a reason these are around after decades. Emacs is fully programmable which if your into programming makes logical sense. Plus it forces you to use the keyboard and the keyboard is the fastest most reliable interface.

Language? For learning programming nothing comes close to Racket/Scheme. Racket is huge and provides tools for just about any programming paradigm. The two best programming introductions are How to Design Programs and The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Both are free on the internet.

Racket: http://racket-lang.org

HtDP: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/

SICP: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

Start with Ruby, build some command line apps. Make a chess/checkers/other complicated game to cement in object oriented programming. Move to Rails. Learn some SQL(sqlzoo is probably enough). Rails has a lot of magic, if something seems magical learn what it does until it is no longer magical. After that, add some javascript/jQuery to your rails apps. Once you feel comfortable with that move onto a frontend framework like Backbone or Angular.

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Ruby-Novice-Professional-Exp... this is a good book for the Ruby path.

http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ This is the go-to rails tutorial. But beware that he doesn't explain things in super fine detail, so if Hartl tells you to do something that you don't understand stop and do some research on whats happening. Expect to spend a day or two on each chapter.

First question for you is I want to develop an MVP for what type of project? Depending on what you want to create, that will g a long way in determining your language and possibly your platform for developing it.

As far as equipment goes, I heart my MBP, but anything with an SSD drive that runs some flavor of Unix/Linux is what you need for most development. Adjust what you buy according to your budget, but unless you're wanting to do 3D graphics, the SSD is a much bigger usability factor than the processor in most laptops.

The learning curve for web related tech is much gentler than iOS or other compiled programming in that you can produce usable projects more incrementally and learn more about how stuff works as you go along. Just pick up an oreilly or other tech book on the framework you want to learn and it'll walk you through. You don't need a CS degree to learn how most of it works and it doesn't take long hours. It just takes patience and being willing to Google/man -k the things you don't know. And there will be alot you don't know.

Django is very friendly on the learning curve side, but deployment can be tough. I don't know about Ruby on Rails as I haven't touched it. PHP has a low learning curve, but also a large community of less capable users which can give it a bad rep.