Programmimg a Forum.

I've used the search option to deter from making a topic but it obviously did not work too well in my favor. Anyways to the matter at hand, could someone point me in the right direction of how I could begin to program a forum from scratch?

 

I think phpBB is one of the most easiest and free Forum available. You have to just simply download it and deploy on your apache server. The forum is easy to configure with just few necessary steps. I haven't used any paid Forums, but have heard that vBulletin is a good one.

 

programming a forum from scratch is possible only if the coder is an expert of php, database (esp. mySQL) and javascript etc..
moreover it is a team work as it also requires a graphics designer, security analyst ... etc. as above member had suggested ,
perhaps it is better to use already available forum systems . MyBB , PhpBB and SMF are three free scripts for forum development.

 

There are languages other then PHP...

To the OP, I would start with figuring out what language you want to write your software in and go from there.
It's not an "overnight" job.

 

In all honestly you wouldn't need to be an "expert" at all to write a functional forum/message board, but you probably would want to get a team together to build a fully functional, fully comprehensive one. I've never written my own message board but the "standard" functionality of a forum is basic. The JavaScript wouldn't be very taxing, but the bulk of the server-side code will undoubtedly get a little out of hand if you're not careful.

To the matter at hand, if you need to be pointed in the right direction on this, it's probably a task a little out of your depth. Not to condescend or be rude about your level or skill as a programmer, but you really should be able to plan out and document your process before you begin. In other words, you'll need to become a software architect as well as an engineer.

The most obvious language to use would either be PHP or ASP; personally I'd go with PHP because I don't like Microsoft's languages very much. JavaScript is easy, and so is MySQL. You'd need some security testing done too if you wanted to make anything worthwhile. It would also have to be efficient because no one is going to want to use forum software which is slow and takes up resources.

If you're interested in this as a learning project, I applaud your efforts; however, if you're just wanting to create your own for ego purposes or because you aren't satisfied with the standard software, it may be worth seeking alternative routes.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I took it all into consideration. I think I will begin with PHP. It is as you said Sitesupplier I am trying to create one to better my skills. It has been years since I got back into programming and designing. I am hoping to support myself for now and than as time goes on gather a team.

 

Sounds like a great project to build your skills. Take a look at Pinax - it's a collection of Django modules.

PHP is obviously the most widely used language, but if you really want to get better and you'd like access to higher paying jobs learning Python and Django is the way to go.

 

I have heard of Python but not Django. I will look into that. thank you for the advice.

 

Any websites to point me in the right direction?

 

Start with the official tutorial, it is awesome: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/intro/tutorial01/

After that you can check out Pinax: http://pinaxproject.com/

By the way, what OS are you on? I know that plenty of people program on Windows, but web programming is inherently a unix-y trade, so check out Linux/OSX if you're currently using Windows.

I'm a big advocate of learning to program, so feel free to keep me updated and ask any questions you have.

 

Not sure why he would write a web based message board in Python given that he doesn't know the language and would have to spend months learning it. Python is a general-purpose programming language; when PHP is available and would be perfect for the job, it makes no sense to use it. All the best known message boards are written in PHP, there's a ready why: PHP is optimised for this kind of thing (Hypertext Pre Processor).

 

Here's some good reasons:

1. He wants to improve his skills - learning Python will certainly help with this.
2. Being a Python programmer pays much better.
3. Python would not take months to learn if you already know PHP, and if you don't know PHP then it's a moot point.
4. There are plenty of fast, stable, popular sites in Python, it certainly is useful for web programming.
5. Projects like Pinax make it easy to get a complex site like a forum up and running relatively quickly.
6. You can host Python sites for free on Google App Engine


I don't really care what the OP does, I'm just trying to be helpful by sharing my experience and hopefully giving a different perspective than others have offered.

 

He certainly wants to improve his skills, but he was not clear in which direction he would like to take them. He said he wants to create his own message board; which would lead one to believe he's looking at web development and not general-purpose programming. Granted, Python has many uses on the web but PHP is still the language of choice for any web developer. Python programming may also pay better, but he wasn't clear on his ambitions in this regard. Being a "Python programmer" is also a generic term which would be applied to many forms of programming. For example being a C++ programmer doesn't mean you can get any job you like in C++ programming. C++ game developers who write OpenGL and/or DirectX can't simply get a programming job working anywhere they like just because they know one form of programming.

I wasn't aware of Pinax until you mentioned it, but it appears to be a framework. I don't think learning a framework is the best way for a beginner to go at all. Yet another post promoting frameworks when the OP clearly demonstrates a lack of programming experience. Frameworks are not all good and most are inefficient, resource hogging waste-of-space tools that teach one nothing meaningful about programming. I would never advertise a framework to a beginner simply because it damages their learning experience.

Anyway, I'm not here for an argument or debate. I'm just helping out too.

 

Here is the basic idea of what you need.

1. A system to handle user registration
2. A database to store user posts, posts need to be sanitized to prevent easy exploits
3. Admin control panel to manage user privileges

Break it down into the specific things you need to do. User registration is easy enough. Storing posts in a database is also fairly easy. The hardest part is simply securing the forum and making it look good.

 

Hello Guys.

The important thing is that it pays to be a good learner as well as a good sport. You should first read the guidelines of the forum, looking over most discussions and then give a relevant comment on one of your interest. Don't play around when people are already engaged in a serious discussion and most importantly do not start your own query in the middle of another- that's called 'hijacking' a discussion and is considered pretty offensive on all help forums. If you follow the above points, you can surely get some good and timely advice on all your current and upcoming problems like web hosting, internet marketing, Java script, PHP, HTML, CSS etc. You can start your own discussions on web hosting, web designing, graphic designing, server hosting and how to get it for your site, internet marketing, content management, SEO campaign, coding, backlink techniques etc.

All your comment for programming development are welcome.

Thanks in advance.