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kevin lee
47 PointsI have an idea for a website but I'm a beginner and don't know which tools I need.
I'll try to explain as best as I can.. Basically what I want to do is post live stats updated every 30-60 seconds during professional sports games (NFL, NBA, etc). I'll need the game score along with individual player stats, all updated in real-time. I'm not sure what the best way to do this is. I can pay for the live data but I'd rather do it manually. Screen scraping is a shady practice from what I heard, so I looked for RSS feeds that might supply live stats. What would I need to learn to utilize these tools?
This project is actually for fantasy sports, not just sports fans, so I'll need to have each athletes' fantasy score posted as well (using a simple formula). All this info would be displayed neatly on the main page using tables along with various sorting options. I'll also need to set up a login feature where people can register as a free user and do other things. Eventually I hope to offer an inexpensive premium membership so I'll need to set up a secure payment system.
Again my coding knowledge is really limited, I know I'll need to learn html/CSS--I don't think wordpress fits my idea, feel free to correct me though--but beyond that I'm lost, which is why I joined treehouse to get started! I really want to turn this idea into a reality, thanks for any help guys
1 Answer
miguelcastro2
Courses Plus Student 6,573 PointsThis is not a beginner project.
You will need to learn about databases to store your information and some kind of programming language to develop the backend. PHP, Ruby, Python, or Java - take your pick. PHP may be the easiest to get going. You will need to gather the stats via an API like Fantasydata.com and that will be an added expense. The data will be published more than likely by a REST API, so you will need to learn about JSON and making REST queries. Parsing the data and presenting it to your app. You will need to learn Javascript to create the front-end functionality necessary to interact with the application. Someone needs to setup the infrastructure - web servers, database server, and some basic security layer.
There is a lot of learning to do before your idea can take flight. If you work hard and remain patient then you can achieve this down the road, but it won't be easy.
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsKevin Korte
28,149 PointsPretty much agreed with all of this here. Forget wordpress, you're way beyond that. Could you build this in wordpress? Sure. But it would be so modified and hacked apart you might as well start from scratch.
This is a very complex project. Realistically, you're probably looking at 9-12 months of learning, and probably another 3-6 months of developing before you're ready to go live.
By all means do it though. It'll be a great experience, and this forum can be a great asset on your way.
kevin lee
47 Pointskevin lee
47 PointsThanks for the help. I know this is not an easy task and I'm willing to be patient and work for it. I might hire someone to do some of the developing but I want to learn as much as I can myself
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsKevin Korte
28,149 PointsGood deal Kevin. I'm currently developing a complex enough website myself that started as a dream just like yours, with no idea how to build it. I'm about 2 years in but I've worked on other stuff as well, and it's truly been a "side" project. Get on Twitter and start rubbing elbows with more skilled designers and developers, and you never know what kind of friendship or mentor-ship you might be able to develop.
kevin lee
47 Pointskevin lee
47 PointsThanks, I've heard that Treehouse is great for getting started but what other resources have you used to learn development after treehouse?
Kevin Korte
28,149 PointsKevin Korte
28,149 PointsTreehouse has kept me engaged the most, but I'll gladly share what else I frequent.