What should I learn?

[KMDcomp]

Hi guys, I've been doing network and desktop support, repair, and installation for 7 years now. I now find myself as the head IT guy of a small health clinic. In other words, I can pretty much whatever I want with the network.

We are currently moving to a new patient information management system and I've got a pretty good handle on how to administrate it, the basics as least. The database the system uses is called Cache? Anyone familiar with apps built with it? Do you think this is something I could learn so I could add extra functionality to our system? Custom reports, better menus, etc....

I'm comfortable doing some basic programming with VB.NET, and I've also done some assembly and C programming for microcontrollers in college. I’ve never done any website design or programming.

I want to be able to tackle some small and medium projects around here. We are partially government funded so everything just takes FOREVER to get done. Because of that, I sometimes have a lot of time on my hands.

We have a website that is currently informational only; I want to make it much more interactive. I would like to create a calendar that can display upcoming events (we do a lot more then just health care), allow interested visitors the option of submitting their email address to get timely reminders about events, allow visitors to donate to our programs, etc.....

I'm just kind of at a loss of where to begin. I'm willing to pay for books and such and my boss will hook me up with just about any kind of software I need. We have volume licenses for 2003 server, xp pro, office pro, and a few extra computers ranging from 3 to 7 years old. I've never been in a position like this before, so I'm not sure what I should be concentrating on.

Thanks for any advice.

[superbovine]

I have done web development on linux, os x and windows before, and I familiar with PHP and ASP.NET.

If you want to build on your current web site, what kind of server is it running on? I am assuming it is IIS 6 on W2K3. The easiest thing to do is goto add/remove programs and add the asp.net component and download visual web developer express and SQL Express unless you have the MSDN subscribtion then go for visual studio 2005, and maybe SQL 2005 dev edition. I recommended ASP.NET because your business seems to be using windows .NET will transfer to standalone windows apps as well, and since you are going to learn C# or VB in the process it very easy to write windows apps as well.

The advantage to PHP is it will be portable to different platforms. Since .Net/C# is a published RFC there are projects like Mono that will run the code on Linux. There is A LOT of free libraries and prebuilt free application for PHP as well. All the software you need is free. You can run PHP on IIS6 or install Apache and microsoft has commented to a partnership with ZEND to make PHP faster on Windows.

If you are familiar with C (which you are), c# and php will both be easy to learn.

[Hack]

As you are already familiar, and doubtless have installed, VS 2005 (assumption as you say you have done some VB.NET) then I would also suggest looking at ASP.NET.

[KMDcomp]

I'm working my way through a couple ASP.NET books now. I've never done any web development before and I'm having a hard time comming to grips with layout flow and getting my components to end up where I want them.