I'm looking for the best way to learn PHP

I have a very limited knowledge of programming in PHP. I know how to install things and I am slightly familiar with most codes but I am definitely classified as a beginner.

Would you recommend getting a certain book? what's the best way to learn?

 

I bought several books, but none of them did any good. They all either assume that you've never touched a computer before, or that you have an understanding of some other programming language. I just started writing things, like plugins for WordPress and editing similar codes for my own needs, or little nonsense scripts to learn new things.

 

If you're willing to spend money on it, I would take a few classes. You can learn 'correctly' from the start and get a really good boost into it. phparch has some great training courses / packages - http://www.phparch.com/c/phpa/training.

Otherwise a good beginning php book would be a good place to start. There's probably 10,000 right now. Find a best seller at amazon with good reviews. Also make sure it is on php5 and not 4 or 3.

Think of something you want to do with php and figure out how to do it. Start small, and you should be able to pick up larger things as you go. Everything you want to know is probably on the web.

Lastly get to know http://php.net. It has information on just about anything you will need to know.

 

I would prefer to do classes they just tend to be costly. And some of the books annoy me because they assume you are an idiot. But, i might go with a book first, I've been looking at the best sellers. thanks for your advice.

 

Check out PHP & MySQL Bible. It rocks

 

Bro, you can always begin at www.w3schools.com they got tons of tutorial there...

 

also look at youtube i find it better within videos than text got a couple of starter tuts on youtube

 

i'll recomend the book "spring into php 5" a short and summarizing book that have it all in a very conclusion way.

 

Everyone learns in different ways. I personally learn by doing, so if I want to learn a new code I will find an open source program or something like that then play around with the code to familiarise myself with it. Then from that I would start to create my own codes.

You can try tutorials, there are thousands out there and there isnt one particular site I would recommend. But don't buy a book. There are so many internet resources for PHP it will just be a waste of money.

 

I am learning 'php5 and mysql bible'.And i found it the most easy and best book I ever read.search in google and download or buy.

Better if you want to buy.

This book has targeted everyone who know c,perl and even to one who don't know HTML also.

10/10 for this book.

 

http://php.net has great examples on how to use each function.

eg: http://php.net/echo

 

I relying on http://php.net from the first day of my php (2003) and find it extremely helpful.

 

I read wrox publications begining PHP5 and I highly recommend the same