"The reason for this is because I’ve had some entry-level web dev interviews, but I didn’t know enough of the basic foundational questions to get past the 1st round." i would guess that it isn't a lack of "that theoretical background" that's holding you back, but not having a deep understanding of very practical skills. most udacity/codecademy-type sites will teach you programming syntax, but not design patterns. other resources like railstutorial.org will teach you how to use web frameworks, but not give you the deeper understanding of what the framework is actually doing if you don't understand web programming already.
on the programming side, i'd suggest familiarizing yourself with object-oriented design; i've heard that http://www.lynda.com/Programming-tutorials/Foundations-of-Pr... is a great video series. i'm not sure of a good resource to gain a deeper understanding of web development, but i don't think protocols are the right place to start. i'd look for resources that really dive into the http response cycle, mvc pattern, and the guts of whatever framework (such as rails or django) you're using.
Thanks! I actually went through all the links in this thread and found quite a few books, specifically Head First Design Patterns + Head First Object Oriented Analysis & Design.
You succinctly described my plight, "knowing the syntax but not having a deep understanding" as well.
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"The reason for this is because I’ve had some entry-level web dev interviews, but I didn’t know enough of the basic foundational questions to get past the 1st round." i would guess that it isn't a lack of "that theoretical background" that's holding you back, but not having a deep understanding of very practical skills. most udacity/codecademy-type sites will teach you programming syntax, but not design patterns. other resources like railstutorial.org will teach you how to use web frameworks, but not give you the deeper understanding of what the framework is actually doing if you don't understand web programming already.
on the programming side, i'd suggest familiarizing yourself with object-oriented design; i've heard that http://www.lynda.com/Programming-tutorials/Foundations-of-Pr... is a great video series. i'm not sure of a good resource to gain a deeper understanding of web development, but i don't think protocols are the right place to start. i'd look for resources that really dive into the http response cycle, mvc pattern, and the guts of whatever framework (such as rails or django) you're using.
good luck.
Thanks! I actually went through all the links in this thread and found quite a few books, specifically Head First Design Patterns + Head First Object Oriented Analysis & Design.
You succinctly described my plight, "knowing the syntax but not having a deep understanding" as well.