Where is the best place to learn php if you are an apple user. Everyone always references to all the big ones but is there a place that breaks it down for macs? Which brings me to my next question. Should i use php if i am an apple user?
ehhh... I have to ask, what does PHP have to do with your OS? nothing man.. All you need is a txt editor on an IDE.
PHP is no different on the mac than on linux/bsd. I run php (latest 5.2.4) at home on a mac. Configured to either load as a module or run via fcgi (the latter with either lighttpd or apache2). I've installed PECL extensions (rar, apc), PDO drivers for postgress, mysql, sqlite, and much more. It all runs the same as on any linux/bsd server...so I use the same resources as everyone else -- php.net, hotscripts.com, sourceforge.net, phpclasses.org, wrox/o'reilly/sams books etc. Now, if you're asking about how to set this all up...well...yeah, that's another story altogether
Yeah basically i am extremely new to coding and it seems like all the things i try to download only have a .exe file to install the program. I have done very simple asp and mysql pages but its just cause i dissected some one elses code. I am very strong at design but need to get a better grasp at coding. I need to be able to do CMS and password protected pages.
Are you sure you're talking about php here I've never, ever downloaded PHP code wrapped in an exe. And I certainly wouldn't trust it either. Where are you getting your code??? ASP is a microsoft-specific technology. It's no surprise that they would package sample code in an exe file, as they assume you're running on a Windows machine. Stupid, I know, but such is the way in Microsoft-land. If you're trying to learn PHP, there's absolutely no reason to look at ASP/.NET code. You'll get nothing from it. The vast majority of the popular CMS systems are written in PHP. Go to http://opensourcecms.com/ where you can play with the user/admin side of just about every CMS in existence. When you find one you like, you can download the code.
Sea Otter thanks for your post. As you can see i am extremely new to coding. I cant even explain what i am trying to do. Basically i dont understand the concept of running php on my machine. Like you said before you use php 5.2.4 on your home computer. That is the file that i can only get a exe file.
Ah, ok. You're trying to install a windows-compiled version of php on a mac, which is why it won't work. Marc Liyanage at Entropy has created a bunch of-click-and-go packages for the mac: php, mysql, postgres, etc. : http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/welcome.html You can download the DMG files and do one-click installs without having to worry about compiling PHP from scratch. Just make sure that after you install PHP, you turn on Apache via System Preferences -> Sharing -> Personal Web Sharing