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Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsHosting provider for developers?
I've had my personal hosting at Bluehost for years, and while they're fine, I feel they don't quite fit what I'm about any more. They seem much more focused on WP these days, so I'm guessing their primary niche is bloggers who who use WP. Again, there's nothing at all wrong with that, I'd just like a hosting provider with a different focus.
I don't mean entirely developer focused but maybe the kind of hosting provider where Devops, system admins, developers, crazy hobbyists, etc., might go to work on projects of various sorts. Ideally, this host would have a simple, uncluttered interface with easy access to the command line. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for but hopefully those who've used Bluehost, Godaddy, Hostgator, which are all fine services, know what I'm talking about.
If it makes a difference in what you recommend, I've done the JavaScript Full Stack and just started the Python track. While I love JavaScript, especially Node, I knew that Python was what I was looking for after "Hello World." :-)
5 Answers
Greg Kaleka
39,021 PointsSo, depending on how hardcore you want to go, I would recommend a VPS hosting service like Digitalocean or Linode. It's 100% developer focused, but there is no handholding. You get a virtual linux box, and free reign on the command line. SSH in and have at it. I've been migrating all my sites to a Digitalocean droplet. For $5/month, I've got all my sites (almost at this moment) on Apache virtual hosts on an Ubuntu machine.
Marco Arment, an iOS and web developer (of Tumblr, Instapaper and now Overcast fame), convinced me to dive in to this world with this blog post. You can do it. It's hard, but it's worth it - you will learn a ton. Check out this walkthrough on how to set up virtual hosts on a digitalocean droplet. If it sounds crazy, you might want to stick with shared hosting for now.
If you do, I've been using Dreamhost, and have no complaints. It's your standard shared host, but they have a bit of a nicer version of cpanel, and I've never had any issues SSHing into my account. Was very pleased to have moved from Hostgator.
Not sure if this is frowned upon or not (as a mod, I should know...), but I have referral links for both services.
- Here's a link with $10 free on DigitalOcean
- Here's a link without any savings associated with it for Dreamhost
Happy Coding!
Cheers
-Greg
Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsGreg, outstanding idea, thank you. What makes the install so hard?
That part concerns me a bit but I've installed Linux on PC hardware a number of times and was even an active member of the Portland Linux User Group (PLUG) for a few years, so I'm hoping it'll do alright. The thing is I've not gotten that into messing around with hardware in years so I'll be starting fresh on some things.
Your idea has me excited and the challenge of the install is part of what makes it exciting as usually that comes along with full access and freedom, which is exactly the question behind the question. And really $5? I've not followed the links you posted yet but will check things out. Thank you so much!
Greg Kaleka
39,021 PointsNo problem! It's really just difficult to get started setting up a brand new linux box with all the settings you want, managing mysql, etc. You're just almost guaranteed to run into snags, and server administration is harder than it seems like it should be at first. Once you have it set up, you'll be fine. In fact, with your linux experience (assuming you spent a lot of time in the console), you might have a much easier time than I did initially.
Hah yeah, $5/month. It's billed hourly, too, rather than actually monthly, so if you get frustrated after a couple days, you're only out like $0.75 
I'm in Portland as well, by the way. Drop me a line sometime if you'd like to meet up - I'd be happy to help you get started.
Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsGreg, It'd be awesome to meet a fellow Treehouse student. It'd be cool to have a beer at Basecamp or something. I'm curious, since you're a research economist, why not more Python courses?
I'm kind of obsessed with Python at the moment so it'll pass, or maybe there's a cure, but I notice a lot of data oriented people are big into it as a tool, sort of excel on steroids to understate it a bit.
Greg Kaleka
39,021 PointsHah yeah, I was into python for about 5 minutes. Never really got started using it for anything useful, though, so it didn't stick. Maybe I should give it another go...
Basecamp sounds good to me!
Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsBasecamp's one of my fav pubs around town. I like Python because it stays out of the way so I can focus on coding not the actual syntax.
I'd read an article by Eric S. Raymond saying, in effect, that after a glance at the documentation, his code flowed as easily as pseudo code, enabling him to immediately write some simple apps that ran error free the first time. Of course, I was able to reproduce that by writing "Hello World" error free. Anyway, here's Why Python.
What's been your most enjoyable language or course here so far? Or we can save that question for base camp.
Greg Kaleka
39,021 PointsI really really enjoy programming for iOS. I've got my first app in the app store, Plate Calculator, and I'm working on a second one, which will be a currency converter. Swift is a very elegant language, and I find it highly readable as well. It does have curly braces, though :).
Neil Anuskiewicz
11,007 PointsHi Greg, the Plate Calculator looks super useful to have around while working out. I haven't worked out with free weights in a while but I do know it's good to get it right quickly. Cool app!
Neil