Beginner needs advice for learning PHP?

[aracaris]

I'm wondering what resources are good in your opinion for someone just starting to learn PHP. I mean what books and websites do you think are good for beginners to look at? What do you think is a good first step for learning PHP?

I know C++, which is obviously not going to be the same, but I'm assuming having a little bit of programming background will help me learn a bit faster perhaps right? Are there some things that the two languages have in common?

 

[3dmagicaldesign]

I hope these links are useful for you:

http://php.about.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/
http://www.php.net/
http://www.mysql.com/
http://www.phpdeveloper.org/
http://forums.devnetwork.net/

Download the Wamp Server to start doing tests and developing tasks in localhost.

Good Luck!!

 

[craftygeek]

I started to learn using a PHP & MySQL course from Lynda.com - I also found W3schools (link above) to be very useful as a user friendly reference.

 

[jemountfort]

You might want to download a php from "for dummies" and "apress", and breifly skim through that, keep www.php.net in your favorites. I dont have links to them, youll find them on torrent search easy

The only problem with php youll find, is syntax, its messy, and obscure, unlike C++ and variations.
And assuming you know your way around a databasing language mysql shouldnt be too hard

But if you have programming knowledge, youll pick it up sooner or later.

For the start I would recommend building a simple web page, with a form in it

and the submit taking you to another page, and learning how to grab $_POST[''] variables

then learn how to INJECT that data with a SQL query

then learn how to UPDATE data

Most things branch off the above areas

 

[jemountfort]

some handy functions for you to remember that youll be using ALOT

mysql_query("SELECT .. FROM .... WHERE ")
mysql_query("UPDATE ... SET .. = ... WHERE .... ")

mysql_fetch_array($query), will set a generated set of rows from a query to an array variable, i use this alot in while loops to loop through all the data for instance

if you want to return first names, and youve named the column as "name"
while ($x = mysql_fetch_array($query)){
echo $x['name'];
}

Some info to keep handy

 

[rwebber77]

Most useful piece of information I learned in PHP was the "include" statement. You can update one file and it becomes uniform on every page it is included on, as opposed to updating every page individually.

 

[craftygeek]

Most useful piece of information I learned in PHP was the "include" statement. You can update one file and it becomes uniform on every page it is included on, as opposed to updating every page individually.

Agreed - included files for template & page assembly are incredibly useful & make life a lot easier!

 

[jemountfort]

include statements are definitely a HIGH SELLING POINT for php, most of my pages are constructed with things like if ($_GET['page'] == "about") include("./includes/about.php");

i would have to agree, very very useful

 

[aracaris]

Thanks I'm going to start working with the WAMP server when I have a chance. I also got Head First PHP and MYSQL to start reading.

I've been using SSI a lot, sounds like PHP includes are pretty similar to SSI includes, am I correct? I really do like SSI includes, very handy, and extremely simple that's for sure.

 

[saviola]

Here you can find some examples PHP Tutorials and one site with good explanations of PHP features. But my advice is to start learning some CMS or Frame Work like Zend Framework.
Good Luck!

 

[aracaris]

Here you can find some examples PHP Tutorials and one site with good explanations of PHP features. But my advice is to start learning some CMS or Frame Work like Zend Framework.
Good Luck!

Thanks, I'm actually really familiar with WordPress as a CMS, and starting to learn Drupal, and since I figure I should be familiar with the three that I see requests for the most I'm looking into Joomla as well.
Anyhow I've jumped in and started learning PHP, in some ways it's like C++, but I'm finding it's much easier to write so far.

 

[sjohn]

Here I can write some important point to remember for beginner PHP.

First of all you can download XAMPP here. Then Install it in your PC. There , you do not need anymore a live website to run PHP scripts.Download any PHP editor , you find free editor in internet just like this.Learn PHP online thorugh internet.In google you can find many of free php materials.