Recommendations for my project
Posted by MiserablePiano5211@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 4 comments
My project is to build a basic repair booking system that allows staff to book in repairs and view details, status and repair logs. Doesn’t need any invoicing or online booking, but it would need to be accessible by multiple devices on the network.
I have limited experience with coding. I’ve done some HTML with CSS in school which I would have to relearn and DOS for some fancy batch files.
To me the ‘easiest’ solution would be to build a basic HTML site and put the files in a network share/setup a simple web host but I want to know if there’s a better solution and good resources for learning.
To be completely honest I despise coding (ADD and Dyslexia doesn’t help lmao), but I despise being stuck using Google Sheets and Forms even more and I feel like the accomplishment at the end will make it worth it.
TLDR: What are the easiest to learn/use languages for a beginner to build a basic Repair Booking and Management system that I can host on a local network. No invoicing, payments, or online booking required.
Comfortable-Map-7389@reddit
given your constraints (no java, already know some html/css, hate unnecessary complexity) the simplest path is probably this:
python + flask for the backend. flask is tiny, the docs are readable, and there are hundreds of tutorials for exactly "simple crud app with flask." python is already allowed on your machines which removes one obstacle
sqlite as the database — no setup, no server, just a file. perfect for an internal tool with a handful of staff
for the frontend, your existing html/css knowledge is enough. you don't need to learn a framework, just basic forms and tables
the whole thing can run on one machine on your network and everyone accesses it through a browser. no installs on other devices
if even that feels like too much — seriously consider Notion or Airtable first. i know you said you're done with sheets/forms but these are genuinely different. airtable especially can do exactly what you described (booking, status tracking, repair logs, multi-device) without writing a single line of code. you could have it working today instead of in a few weeks
but if you want to build it yourself: flask + sqlite + plain html. there's a good official flask tutorial called "the flask mega-tutorial" by miguel grinberg that walks through exactly this kind of app
MiserablePiano5211@reddit (OP)
I’ll have a look into this, thank you!
Stefan474@reddit
tbh if you are a complete beginner just use ai and try to oneshot the app.
If your goal is the app ofc. But since you say that you hate coding no point in actually learning since the app sounds simple enough.
Try to download cursor, open it in an empty folder, open an ai agent window, use composer 2.5 as it's cheap enough that you can try like 50 times to one shot an app and you will still have tokens on $20 and go from there.
explain the app to cursor, in detail what its supposed to do, tell it to make an implementation plan and ask you questions about anything that is unclear, answer the questions and let it do it's thing.
After the first pass you can also tell it to look at whatever the latest and greatest is in agentic coding setups and ask it to pull relevant skills from respected repos.
If you were an aspiring engineer of course I'd give much different advice, but I think with this as someone who doesn't know much you can probably generate something useful and pretty for $20, just be detailed and look at a few vids maybe how to use cursor.
Rain-And-Coffee@reddit
Python with Flask should be enough