Good way to learn php?

[DanoruX]

I figured I needed to improve my php skills a little, so I'm gonna make something like phpnuke. I have no idea what I'm up against, but I'll try anyway. 8)

Good/bad idea?

[Natan]

The manual is always a good place to start
http://www.php.net/manual/en/" target="_blank

[DanoruX]

The manual is always a good place to start
http://www.php.net/manual/en/" target="_blank

The manual is a great resource, but to truely learn, one must apply the knowledge too!

...and I also have a book or two on php/mysql

[Stallyon]

I first learned PHP back in the begining of 1999 when PHP 4 was a baby. I learned by jumping in and looking at code. I had been programming in assembler and C/C++ and scripting in Perl for a few years before that, so I had the advantage of knowing basically how code is structured, particularly OOP. I was even writing OOP assembler programs. I didn't really start MySQL until 2001, thought I knew SQL very well thanks to my computer science degree. I was just using flat-file databases until then.

Back to your question, your best bet would be to learn how to structure code first. I have seen some horribly written code out there these days, written by script kiddies who write long, cumbersome scripts that are slow and resource greedy. Start with the basics. Start with conditional statements, when and where to use them, and deciding on the best approach to take. People forget important phases of 3GL coding like psuedo code, which seems to be a dying artform; testing the results of statements and functions.

Start simple: learn it right the first time; keep your knowledge current.

[DanoruX]

Back to your question, your best bet would be to learn how to structure code first. I have seen some horribly written code out there these days, written by script kiddies who write long, cumbersome scripts that are slow and resource greedy. Start with the basics. Start with conditional statements, when and where to use them, and deciding on the best approach to take. People forget important phases of 3GL coding like psuedo code, which seems to be a dying artform; testing the results of statements and functions.

I never said I was new to programming as a whole, I'm pretty fluent in Java and the basics C++. I'm working towards a CS degree myself . But yeah I do know the nightmares of badly written code - take any programming course and there will be at least 3 people writing code they can't read themselves! To not go that way, I actually think about whats going on first. The phpbb coding guidelines are roughly how I code. You're right about psuedo code, people don't use it as much as they should. (I find it useful for planning out algorythms just before I code for real).

All that said, magicquotes is annoying.

[Jezz]

I still haven't read it all yet... But a really good book I found is 'Sams - PHP and MySQL Web Development' maybe it won't teach you everthing, but I think it's a good starting point.
I'm not so happy with a different Sams book that I bought though..
It was a teach yourself C# book, The guy spend half the book talking about what he wasn't going to teach you

[Martin Blank]

I find the Sams books to be a bit lacking. They teach, but not that well.

I found that The PHP Bible, printed by Wiley, was quite good. There's an updated version that covers PHP5 called The PHP and MySQL Bible that is sort of misnamed, as its focus is much more on PHP; you're not going to get a particularly extensive education on MySQL in it. However, it covers everything from installation through dynamic pages with a completeness few other books match.

[Craig321]

I figured I needed to improve my php skills a little, so I'm gonna make something like phpnuke. I have no idea what I'm up against, but I'll try anyway. 8)

Good/bad idea?

I learnt mostly from php.net, also from examples and I did one tutorial for MySQL which is now useless because the coding in the tutorial only worked in older php, not php 5, doesn't bother me though, I can easily still do it in php 5.

So my main sources were php.net and examples on the net.

[Anon]

I personally have got "PHP 4 Beginners". It's good, but I'm lazy and haven't got round to reading all it

[Lastof]

I have "PHP For The World Wide Web, Visual Quick Start Guide".

Usually I don't find the Visual Quick Start and Visual Quick Pro Guides very good, but Larry Ullman who does the php and mysql ones seems very good.