Try the other two scripting languages - Ruby and Perl. I would prefer Ruby. See if you like the way things are done there.
If you find that you are more at home with this language than Python, try analyzing what makes you prefer it over Python.
I would suggest you to start with the basics of the Ruby language, and then try building a simple web app with Sinatra. I find the Ruby style much more comfortable than Python.
But if you don't like any of these languages, its still well and good. If you get can shit done with C#, thats all it counts.
I learned a lot of bad habits this way - because there are always two (or more) ways of doing things, and one of them is usually better than the rest. I just figured out that I was doing those things wrong when reading the book.
Case for example: Increasing Performance with Event Delegation - http://www.rebeccamurphey.com/jqfundamentals/#N20DAA
When I started learning jQuery, I scratched my head over this issue - I assign event handlers for a class, but they don't apply for elements that were added later to the DOM. Had the aha! moment when I figured out what was happening. The best solution I could find was to keep on assigning the event handlers whenever I added something to the DOM.
It served me well but Rebecca just taught me that there is something called $.fn.live and $.fn.delegate designed solve exactly this problem. This I would not have searched in the docs because I did'nt know that there existed something to solve this; and even if I thought there did, I might not have been able to frame the right question.
And there are lots of other gems that I picked up from this book.. jQuery really needs this. Especially for beginning developers who discover the power of jQuery - it helps them learn the right habits from the get go.
And the book is very concise and informative that the author deserves great praise for an excellent job.
Thanks, Rebecca Murphy!
C based webapps... lean, mean and blazing fast. And a little masochistic to code.
Make the link to comments section for each article more prominent.The hyperlinked area for comments ('n comments') is too small. I need to point my mouse with more care than what is required for clicking the link to the article in the upper line.The comments section is a very important attraction of HN. So why not extend the hyperlinked area to the entire second line? ie, clicking anywhere in...
I was introduced to Ruby through Sinatra. Developed all my web apps using that though I used to play around with Rails. I had an initial idea that Sinatra was meant for small apps, and for anything serious you should go Rails.
However that idea seems invalid now; the way I'm now used to Sinatra, it is kind of getting almost all the goodies of Rails without the Routing layer (which I find hard to follow - as mentioned by the OP).
Sinatra+ActiveRecord+ActionSupport+ActionView = Rails - Routing - ActionController