Hi Guys, I have been very interested in learning PHP for a long time. Well, now I think I sould get off my butt and actually start learning it lol Could you tell me what programs I need to test it out, I'm a complete newb XD Also what do you think are the best ways of learning? Books, online tutorials etc? Thanks People
Pick up some tutorials and work through the examples, make changes, see what breaks and what works. Don't be afraid to throw your work out. Ask questions here but also at phpbuilder.com - it's an awesome resource. Pick up small classes from phpusers.org and integrate them into your site. Review the code and see how other people work. Some of the coding will be awesome, some will be great. See if you can work out which is which. When you find a command you don't know look it up in the online manual at www.php.net Get a CMS system (see www.opensourcecms.com) and write a custom component for it. submit it back to the relevant community and listen to the feedback. Decide if you're going to be a "start from scratch" kind of coder or someone who uses CMS systems and frameworks (eg pear, zend, cakephp). That will depend on how quickly you learn and how much time you have. Good luck - it's a great skill to learn!
Even i was really interested in learning. Around how much time on a general basis will it take me considering that i can edit php properly but cant write it for nuts and wanna learn.
I'm learning it as well and I feel very good about this tutorial. http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp
There are two books the I recommend to people starting out at PHP (you don't need both, either will do): PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) by Luke Welling, Laura Thomson Beginning PHP and MySQL 5: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition by W. Jason Gilmore Both of these are excellent books. Even though its boring at first, make sure you actually write EVERY example and upload to your server and test. Don't go on to the next page until you are certain you not only got it to work but you actually understand WHY it worked. If you're stumped, ask here .
I've Learnt from books like PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) (translated to Polish) but when you start you must remimber that the best way to learn PHP is practice. So keep writing every idea thats comes to your mind