For a while now ive been reading about PHP (yes too much reading) a little scared at times to actually try things out. Ive made my way through some books, and tonight for example ive searched and looked at tutorials but im know finally realising one thing, and its something that ive read many times before and that is that it makes more sense to just go to the php manual itself. I dont know why i didn't do it that way to start with, maybe many people have made the same mistake as me, but ive thought "oh php books, they will teach me" but ive found that im doing things the wrong way around, as in my approach, because ive read a book then reached the end and realise that yes i understand what a function is, a variable etc etc but then i still have no clue what to do. I still haven't built anything, not one thing yet. Finally tonight though im beginning to realise that i just need to tackle it, just try and code, and constantly use the manual. Have you made a similar mistake as me? Im not saying the books wont be useful in the future, i just now realise that i need to at least get comfortable with the language.
I've been using PHP for about 4 years now, but I still find myself looking at the PHP manual sometimes for functions or parameters that are new or that I'm not as familiar with. I would say 80% of my knowledge comes from the manual, 10% from looking at other people's code and 10% from online tutorials. I can't really see myself reading a programming book, that's too old-fashioned for me. I just think it's so much easier to use the online manual and online tutorials, since it's easier to come back to for reference by using a search bar rather than flipping the pages of a book and looking at the contents page. Also, there's a much wider range of information available online for free.
I thought at first that the books were right for me, they are great books and i do learn from them but i always then still dont know how to start coding, i follow the small examples in a book, see the outcome and see how something happend but left with that "where do i start feeling" Last night, before posting this thread i was looking at something within the php manual and i felt better already, what i was reading was sinking in better, i think because i was going over a particular thing and just focused on understanding that tiny little thing first. I agree, searching the manual instead of looking for something in a book makes a lot of sense, and as you say, the amount of free info online.