Hi Im just beginning to learn php at the moment, and i mean literally just starting, im curious as to your own preference when you first started learning php and what you preferred to do. Did you mostly concentrate on working through tutorials or did you spend more time with the php manual and basically read through the manual and practice till things started making sense? Do you find that it is easy to pick up too many mistakes, misinformation and less than ideal methods when using tutorials or would you not be without them? I was recently working my way through a tutorial, it was a basic user membership tutorial, various things were not as they should be when i reached the end, i looked through it to see that the author of the tut had left out various things, it wasn't all bad though as it helped me notice things, i haven't got a clue yet but found myself discovering what had been left out of the code of the tut. What im thinking with php is that i want to avoid picking up other peoples bad habits, i realise that sometimes a tut or an article can be put out there by someone who doesn't necessarily know enough themselves to be writing tutorials on the subject yet, or its rushed and full of mistakes.
Definitely you need to read the manual, this is essential, especially if you want thorough knowledge of PHP. Tutorials are always a huge helper, but as PHP is constantly updated, new versions are released, functions are dropped/changed/added, you need to look at recent tutorials. I was helping a friend learn PHP awhile back, and they had purchased a book called "Learn PHP5 in 24 hours". I read through it myself, and there was some very good resources, tips, tricks, and even tutorials in there. Also PHP5 for Dummies is also another great book. You also want to make sure you learn the aspects of database (preferably MySQL) integration, as this is a major aspect to any decent PHP application. Also, there are some video tutorials on YouTube, that I've heard from some users have been helpful - it's really about how you learn yourself. PHP manual is essential though, whether you use tutorials to just get you started and learn the basic syntax, you need to read the manual as there is so much in there that's not even documented well by these 'tutorial expects'.
I'm self-learned. I havent read one book about PHP. I started when I was younger, reading other peoples source, searching on the manual and modifying other peoples source. There's a lot of great information freely available.
Thats what got me thinking about it too, how php is updated and a tutorial may not be taking certain things into account. Yes i think its worth me taking a look at some of the professionally written books on php and mysql. Now that i know that actually ready through the php manual is one of the best ideas, il definately do that. thanks very much for your advice phprightnow. Thanks aGor, i think using a combination of what both you and phprightnow have mentioned will help me pick it up gradually.
start with tutorials - even old ones - until you got the spin. Then use the manual, or ask people who know better than you. most of them will happily explain.
Professional books are out there and they are very cheap at Amazon. They have working programs in them that you can tweak for your own purposes. You still need the tutorials and something that has a list of all the commands as well.
You'll need to read the manual and buy a decent book. Tutorials online are often filled with bugs so are not recommended unless they are from a reputable source (such as zend). I mean yeah you can learn by trial and error but you'll get there much faster just by investing $25 or so. And you'll know your code is written as it should (provided you got a good book)
You have to read the manual. Not the reference chapters but the first ones. You have to read about HTML and HTTP too, if you want to be good at PHP. As for the quality of the material out there. I would recommend you to stick to www.php.net
Thanks locpicker, i will have a look and find something suitable for me. Thanks ThomasTwen for your advice. Thats what i noticed while looking through some tutorials, i noticed comments made by people on some blogs with tuts that there were various mistakes made within the tuts. I will definately look at purchasing some books, worth the investment, thanks premiumscripts. I have read plenty and got an understanding of html, plus a better understanding now of css, so im up for learning php and mysql and will dedicate a good amount of time over the coming months to try and get to grips with some of the basics, thanks for the advice too caprichoso.
You certainly should invest in a good PHP/MySQL book. And after reading the book carefully your best friend will be the PHP manual helping you in your development work.
Figure out the syntax, then you slowly learn the billions of functions as each is needed. The best way to start is to tear apart existing PHP apps and see how they work!
I have been programming in various basics for 30 years. When I picked up PHP a year ago, it was a shock. What is your background? If you are new to programming, you may be better off. However, if you have been programming in other compiled languages like VB, you may have some UNlearning to do. Scripted languages are quite different and have required a different mindset. I have found it quite helpful to learn how to essentially translate code sequences that I am familiar with into PHP. The logic and tools that I am familiar with are all there -- they just look and act different. I found HTML, XHTML, and CSS for Dummies very helpful because it ties all of it together including MySQL and PHP Good Luck
Not a bad approach to learning things. Thanks d3wlin, some books are on my list to get hold of. That sounds like a good idea too, thanks renownedmedia. Hi jimdickens, im new to programming so maybe it's better off that im starting from where i am. Thanks for the book recommendation, i will get hold of that.