Where did you learn PHP?

I'm somewhat of a novice at PHP, and I just want to know where you learned it. I have ordered a book that has a lot of great reviews, and hopefully that will help me learn PHP better.

Where did you learn PHP?

Thanks.

 

Assuming you can program. www.php.net is really all you need.

Learning programming is not about the language IMO.

 

I'm no programmer so I went to this class last week.

http://www.netcominfo.com/bootcamps/9030/PHP_Certification_Boot_Camp_training.html

It was pretty decent class!

 

What level of experience was this course targeted at? First time programmers where you learn basic loops and conditions? Or is this assuming you can program and covering the functions library and what is available compared with other languages and how to transition?

 

I learnt everything from searching google and looking on phpfreaks for the tutorials.

 

Self Taught Personally.

Books Help, classes help, but I think experience helps more than anything. Just going out and starting to code, will get you good fast. As stated above, everything can be found online. The more functions and complex scripts you get into the better off you will be. There are 50 ways to perform the same operation in php. Figure out how to do something any way you can first and figure out how to do it easier, faster, more efficiently later.

Some topics I think require some more advanced instruction, (web services, encryption, etc.) or a lot of time. But, for most application requirements, you can be completely self taught.

 

Thats where I went!

 

Self-taught and always still learning. I bought a book, but trying to read through dozens of pages to get to one little gem wasn't worth it. If you know what you want to do, just search for it using terms like: php code example keyword(s)

I've been meaning to start a section on my blog to document code examples I use often and/or find useful. This is a good site for beginners http://php.snippetdb.com/

 

I read an O'Reilly book online and then wrote my own CMS to make sure I really understood what I wanted to know. I already knew how to program, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to apply my C++/Java background onto PHP programming.

Php.net is a decent site and you can learn a lot from the comments of each function. However, I still like to hit google before PHP.net when I have a problem.

 

My two cents would be to learn programming basics first, it doesn't matter what language or platform. Looping, modules, etc. A good intro book should cover it.

Then go directly to apply it -- any other language or the same. The first computer language that you learn and then when you go to apply doesn't matter.

But get a good intro book and work all the way through it first.

Eric

 

Yea, I already know all the basics, and what I need to learn now is the actual PHP-related stuff.

Thanks for all of that, guys. I do hope this book helps me. The reason I don't really like to use php.net for learning php is that it's just too broad... I'm not going to go down the list of thousands of functions to learn it. I won't remember anything

 

You can read it in a book or you can read it online. But the fact is, you WILL read it.

After a while you will get familier with the functions in groups and be able to find a function for your needs in smaller lists.

I've been at it several years. I still lookup functions almost everytime I code.

Also, as pointed out, using the search engines can help you find examples pretty quickly. Search for what you want to do and chances are you'll find a snippet.

 

Here's what the course covered:
http://www.netcominfo.com/courses/9030/Zend_PHP_Certification_Boot_Camp_training.html

The girl that taught it was very sharp. I leanred a lot. I took the class w/ a few very experienced programmers and they got a lot out of it too.

 

Self taught: I learnt it myself as well. I would advise doing the same. Do buy a book though. Anything from "PHP for Dummies" to "PHP Bible" depending on how comfy you are with programming. Then, start with a simple program and work your way up.

Ex: For a start, type in the following code into your web page (This is the traditional "Hello world" program):

<?php
echo "Hello World";
// This is a comment line

/*
This is a comment block
*/
?>

Then, move on to slightly more advanced concepts:
1. Use a loop to display the message a few times.
2. Use an if condition to display different text based on that condition.
3. Save the text "Hello world" in a file. Open the file and display the text from it.
4. Save multiple lines of text in a file and do the same.
5. Create a table in your database (if you are working with MySQL) with just one column. Enter the text in that column. Then, access the database and display the text that way.
...... and so on

To get you started with databases, here's some code. This opens a database, runs a query and displays the results one by one. You will use this format for select queries, but you can actually use "mysql_query" for any kind of query (delete, insert, update etc.):

<?php
$conn=mysql_connect("host_name","user_name","password");
// Usually, you can just have "localhost" for "host_name"
mysql_select_db("database_name",$conn);
// mysql_select_db selects the database that you want to work with
$rs=mysql_query("Any SQL query here");
// Run any query using this command
while($row=mysql_fetch_assoc($rs))
{
echo $row['column_name_1'];
}
// The while loop above displays the query results one at a time.
mysql_close($conn);
// Close the connection
?>

As you can see, all PHP code is enclosed in "<?php" and "?>". You can have this PHP code anywhere in the HTML body, even as a part of HTML tags. Ex:

<h1> Hello <?php echo "world"; ?> </h1>

Hope this helps get you started.
Regards,
dfsweb

 

when you hit a problem or block, try posting on PHP binary newsgroups.

Amazing how many coders there are out there that are willing to help!

Also,

sometimes it's faster to perform simple examples on your own computer, instead of uploading to server & testing.

Search for 'Sokkit' which installed Apache on Windows. Includes MySQL as well as an add-on. Believe there is a trial. Others to look in to 'PHPTriad' (name could have changed by now)

Best tips:

- Start simple
- Code, test, code, test.

Good luck!

 

Easter 2002 in about 3 weeks at student halls mostly between 10pm and 9am. The PHP Bible being my main source of info (no net connection = no php.net).

 

I learned bits and pieces just by following tutorials, and going on php.net.

But i decided to buy a book so that I completely understood what it was I was doing, and to tidy up my code.

If your looking for a good book, theres one by Larry Ullman calld Dynamic Quick Pro Guide, Dynamic Websites with PHP and MySQL (or somehting like that).

I want to startr looking into ajax, but I dont know any javascript whatsoever!

Good Luck with the learning

 

I personally started my php life with nothing but a text editor, php + apache and trial and error.. lots of it..

 

I learnt from a php book and trying to code into a computer without a php interpreter or apache. Quite annoying when none of the code compiled