Your wish list is all over the place. It would help to pick one of the goals listed (i.e. Ruby, or Node, or Python) and hone in on that. Once you figure out what language you want to learn, devour everything on the topic from these sources:
* Peepcode tutorials
* Slideshare slideshows
* Youtube videos or other longform tutorials
Get a Hello World example running in your new language, and then see if you can get it wired up to a database. Congrats, now you're up and running...
It's not sexy or new, but the book the Pragmatic Programmer is the bible on how to become a good programmer and not just a hack.
RE: How to build a web app - read Getting Real by 37signals, this will give you a nice high level approach. This is also a great introduction to agile development principles.
"but I never really have an itch to scratch" sounds like you're not brainstorming hard enough. Even in your post there's the seeds of many different itches. Find the most basic thing you trip over every day, and write a tiny tiny software tool to fix that problem.
Last but not least, sounds like you could use some more experience with front-end concepts. I recommend Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm as a great overview.
Technology moves too fast for anybody to keep up, just do your best and always keep learning! Good luck
Your wish list is all over the place. It would help to pick one of the goals listed (i.e. Ruby, or Node, or Python) and hone in on that. Once you figure out what language you want to learn, devour everything on the topic from these sources: * Peepcode tutorials * Slideshare slideshows * Youtube videos or other longform tutorials
Get a Hello World example running in your new language, and then see if you can get it wired up to a database. Congrats, now you're up and running...
It's not sexy or new, but the book the Pragmatic Programmer is the bible on how to become a good programmer and not just a hack.
RE: How to build a web app - read Getting Real by 37signals, this will give you a nice high level approach. This is also a great introduction to agile development principles.
"but I never really have an itch to scratch" sounds like you're not brainstorming hard enough. Even in your post there's the seeds of many different itches. Find the most basic thing you trip over every day, and write a tiny tiny software tool to fix that problem.
Last but not least, sounds like you could use some more experience with front-end concepts. I recommend Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm as a great overview.
Technology moves too fast for anybody to keep up, just do your best and always keep learning! Good luck