Want to learn php

Hello guys well the time has come for me to learn php, i have never touched html or php before in my life so you could say im a complete n0b lol.

Anyway i want to buy a book to learn from.

Looking for suggestions on a good book to buy that can really help me learn php

 

The PHP Bible is what made me a competent intermediate - advanced PHP nerd.

Messing around makes perfect. Knowing what you can do with PHP/Mysql is more important than knowing how to do it. No need to know (but it's handy) all functions by hard since there's always php.net and your PHP Bible.

 

I have a copy of Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, Coldfusion and PHP. I have heard others rave about the book but I need even more of a hands on approach.

 

The only way to really learn any programming language is by experimenting but it seems the toughest part is getting your foot in the door.

When I'm learning a new language, I look for some existing code and start modifying it. A nice place to find PHP code you can play with is PHPBuilder. They also have some decent tutorials.

Once you become familiar with the language and you have an idea of what you want to do but don't remember the exact syntax, http:// www .php.net/function_name will put you right there on the man page.

 

You might want to learn at the very least some HTML basics first. Because even if you know php inside and out, you are still outputting HTML in the end.

 

Good advice but I would have put it a little stronger.
"You must learn at the very least some HTML basics first."

 

Good advice.

Unless you're writing a PHP CLI script..

 

No book on php is going to teach you to "program", that comes from experience. Get a book that is to learn programming with php. Most books assume you can program.

If you are tackling php, you almost have to know html to make proper formated output. Skip html and learn at least XHTML transitional instead.

 

You need to learn HTML first if you've never used HTML or PHP.

 

I'm trying to setup a forum on my website and I got some php files. I don't understand how to set it up? Do I use the database I have through my hosting company? Any tips would be much appreciated..

 

Your question is somewhat ambiguous.. can you tell us a little bit more? What kind of forum are you setting up (PHPBB, VBulletin, etc.)?

 

stop hijacking my thread

 

Sorry Junkie... wasn't trying to... I thought my question would be benficial to anyone... and yes the forum I'm looking to get going is phpbb. I just really don't know too much about php...

 

I apologize Junkie. The thought had crossed my mind when I was replying that I should tell the OP to start a new thread. I hope he does so now *hint* *hint*

 

Pick up EasyPHP.org and install php/mysql/apache on Win32 locally.