In the post Script add Domains to Sav.com cart Abdulrahman asked what SEO-specific programming language he could learn.
I’d like to make it a post so others can benefit from it too.
In general, I would recommend Python and Go. To some extent also PHP.
Let me explain why:
Python
Python is around for very long. It’s very easy to learn. It has some incredible libraries for web automation tasks (BeautifulSoup, Selenium, …). You can write multithreaded scripts. Most of the machine learning (AI) stuff is based on Python. If you are hardcore you can even run C code from it.
You can run it with your webserver in theory, but I haven’t seen many of such configs in the wild. I would say it’s not really made for serving websites.
Recommended for:
As mentioned above, Python is used in machine learning a lot. So everything that has to do with data, also large amounts of data, is well covered in Python. Python also has a very long history in science. So if you plan to work with lots of data, statistics, diagrams and all that, you will have an easy time with Python. It’s also great for writing web scrapers.
Drawbacks:
It is a script language. Thus it’s slow.
Python’s indentation can be annoying sometimes.
Go / Golang
But there comes Go to the rescue. Go comes from Google, which is the reason why I avoided it for years 😂. Until someone luckily suggested it to me again.
This language is a beast. Programs are compiled, which means it is a ‘real’ programming language. The language is kind of ‘new’ which means it is well-thought-out. Almost everything makes good sense. Compared to Python and PHP this language is sheer power. Coming from a strong C/C++ background I instantly felt at home. I really like the syntax. The code is easy to write, read and maintain. I write almost everything in Go nowadays.
The language is made with the idea to write server programs, stuff that runs in the background.
There are some features I wanted to write on this blog about, making it a little Go tutorial. Some of the features are a template engine and the possibility to write a complete webserver in a few lines of code.
The 12 servers post I wrote about today, that’s Go.
Recommended for:
If your plan is to write solid programs that you can rely on. If speed is an issue, and I don’t mean optimizing your list processing from 40 seconds to 30 seconds, I mean milliseconds. If you plan programming lots of net tools.
Drawbacks:
I think if you never programmed before, some of the details of the language could be overwhelming. It’s a full-fledged programming language and comes with a bit more complexity than most scripting languages.
PHP
Well… I want to mention PHP too… would be fair 😂.
I don’t like PHP, I never liked it. I tried everything to fell in love with it, but the language avoided it with everything it had. BUT – the web runs on PHP. WordPress and most of the other CMS, there’s no way around PHP. Some rants about WordPress and PHP could fill up 10 posts at least easily 😂
I also created most of the tools I used with PHP. I had a larger automation system for site generation, XRumer and GSA automation, domain registration, cloudflare, nameservers, all that. I still use parts of it. It was all written in PHP.
Even PHP4, long before they added all those more advanced OOP features.
So if you plan to do a lot for your websites, things that actually run there, then PHP might be interesting.
One interesting aspect of PHP is that you can also run it from the shell, which makes it nice for some quick tools.
Many will say Javascript runs the web, which is true to some extent, but that’s only for User Interfaces. Try to load data from a Database with Javascript, or save a file…
Recommended for:
I would recommend PHP only if your main goal is getting data in and out a database and presenting it in the browser. If you plan to work a lot with WordPress or a similar CMS and plan to build Plugins, well, then there’s no way around PHP.
Drawbacks:
Come on… really? You don’t want that. 😂
TL;DR
If you have no coding experience: Go with Python.
If you have some coding experience; Go with Golang.
If you are heavily into frontend programming: Go with Javascript
This is a concise and actionable guide. Thank you! I started learning python some time ago but dropped it after getting stuck. I’ll take it up and try to be more accountable by applying what I learn on my sites.
By the way, this is the first time I’m hearing of Go. Thanks for mentioning it.
You can use ChatGPT as a help. It can create skeletons for you as a start, or you put in code and let it explain it to you. Or just ask it for help when you are stuck.
this is a ralf appreciation comment.
but would also like to add this for abdul.
Besides the programming language suggestions, I’d recommend you also start with “glue” languages/skills.
These are sql, shell scripting and linux server management.
There’s many others: git, cdns, cloud services, network/traffic/port management, proxies etc.. but the 3 glues mentioned above – sql, server and linux server stuff – these are also required to take your programmatic seoing to the next level.
I’m not there yet myself. I know these only in the context of my coding job. Using them to serve my masters. But using them for building own websites is cool.
Ralf, would like your opinion on this!
Second that, good recommendation. Your programming skills won’t blossom if you are living on kind of an island. Tech became complex and different parts have to work together, especially if you are working as a solopreneur and can’t easily just work together with collegues.
Taking web development as an example. It’s not just PHP or Javascript, it’s HTML, CSS, (SQL) DB, UI, hosting, understanding the overall technology. And also SEO. If you are working in webdev and don’t know even basic SEO, what kind of a webdev are you then? At least not a very good one.
You don’t (or can’t) need to be a master in every discipline, but at least know basics. One or two disciplines should be picked to become a master in. Will take at least years, if not even a decade to really become a master in any discipline. And after you become one, you need to constantly work on staying at being a master at the discipline.
I think it’s best if you never achieve the status of a master. I think this will slow down your learning process because you think you know it all, which never ends well =)