Hi, I think you are a bit confused in your understanding of what a server is. The answers below explained it a bit. You can think of it as a computer that hosts your application or content. That's not too be confused with creating your own backend code. While creating your own server side code with languages such as java, node.js, php, etc will allow you a large amount of benefit and additional functionalities (such as interacting with a database to your liking), you can also deploy a static client-side website on someone else's platform, such as bitballoon or amazon s3. I recommend bitballoon for beginners, since you simply have to drag and drop your zipped up application to deploy your website.

Hey guys, update on this: Ended up going with Elementary OS for its ease of use. It works as well as Ubuntu (at least I haven't run into any major issues with it). Appstore is a little small, but I mostly install packages through my terminal anyway. Everything looks nice and functions well, so no issues yet. Generally if I want to install an application and there's a stackoverflow question on downloading/installing that specific application for Ubuntu, the directions will work for me too (using ElementaryOS).

I've never used them for big projects even though they seem like a perfectly viable option particularly for code sharing. But I do use repl.it frequently to test ~100 line programs, algorithms, etc and for intro lessons for when i want to get my students coding right away to get them interested instead of spending time on setting up their dev environment first

Try replacing header("location: thanks.php") on line 11 with echo "<script> window.location = 'thanks.php';</script>" to force a location change

No, as long as you don't have a timeline/deadline to learn for a class or for some work related activity, you can take as long as you want and people learn at different paces. While I don't know java in depth, I know that people commonly spend multiple classes in college (so years of studying it) studying java and even intro java classes are commonly 4 month (full semester) courses.

Your school's website probably has documentation on what main language you learn through comp sci major (it is probably java, or c++). If you can't find this try connecting with a comp sci group for your school on facebook and ask them what language is predominately used in your school's cs classes. Then I would suggest picking up some cs fundamentals using those languages. Learn what variables are, what an if else statement is, how to use a loop, the different data types, and what functions are and you should be ahead of the curve. In terms of online learning, I suggest looking up derek banas on youtube and tutorials point as a reference website. Do this and you should be ahead of the curve.

I use these often because I'm used to them and jsx requires them, so if I use them in my standard html I won't forget to use them in my jsx