Want to Learn PHP

I want to learn PHP, I would like to know where I can get all the
relevant info and resources and how do I start, I'm a novice at the
whole programming thing, I know a little HTML and CSS, I've done web
pages in Notepad and that's pretty much it.

Would like to know how to proceed from a total novice's perspective

In addition, the PHP manual is not a bad place to start, either. It
includes examples and descriptions of all built-in functions.
http://us.php.net/manual/en/

"Michael Vilain" <vilain@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:vilain-9B34CC.23021201092007@comcast.dca.giganews.com...
> In article <fbdaug$8vj$1@aioe.org>, Blue_Hat <kamronb@Gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I want to learn PHP, I would like to know where I can get all the
>> relevant info and resources and how do I start, I'm a novice at the
>> whole programming thing, I know a little HTML and CSS, I've done web
>> pages in Notepad and that's pretty much it.
>>
>> Would like to know how to proceed from a total novice's perspective
>
> Don't know how you learn (that exercise is left to the reader), but some
> people can just pick up a book or manual, read it, "get it", and start
> to work. Others require a classroom environment to have the time
> integrate the concepts, practice them using the lab exercises, and
> ultimately learn what this thing called programming is. Once you learn
> that first language, the "how to" is imprinted in your brain and you can
> add or change to a different procedural language rather easily (C++ and
> Lisp don't count!!).
>
> When I first learned FORTRAN back in college in the 1970's (there was
> only 1 section taught by an engineering professor--all the other
> sections were PASCAL yech!), I had read the manual and learned the
> statements of the language back in high school but never had a formal
> class in programming. That one class did it. In the end, I was able to
> code a simple Sieive of Erostophanes to find primes when I had no clue
> on how to start at the beginning of the class.
>
> My experience, unless you're one of those "I can read the manual and
> just do it" types (in which case you'd already have found the manuals
> and web sites through a Google search), you'd best find a beginning
> programming class at a local community college. I think most of the
> stuff out there on the net is geared towards people who already know how
> to program and just need to know how to code in a particular language or
> environment.
>
> Here's a starting bibliography. I like the O'Reilly books (YMMV):
>
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progphp2/
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/097524020X/
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/0957921853/
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514013/
>
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/csstdg3/
> http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/html6/
>
> --
> DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...
>
>
>

Besides reading you really need to get your feet wet. The best (not
always the easiest) way to do that is install a webserver/php on your
computer at home. This is not to share your stuff with the public -
but to have a "development platform" for plying with the code without
risking cracker attacks or looking bad by putting vulnerable or buggy
code on-line.

>From my experience you can only go so far from the books, you need to
get a "feel" for how it all works and that comes from trial and
error. As you get going with it, a development platform is a
necessity anyway.

Most PHP books go through the process of setting up a computer to run
PHP. Start there, and once you have the means to get instant feedback
on your practicing things will get much easier.

Others I can think of:

- Learn some formatting guidelines early - a good start is looking at
the Pear coding standards. I don't use Pear myself, but the standards
are good practice for whatever the purpose: http://pear.php.net/manual/en/standards.php

- Get a good text editor (with PHP syntax highlighting is highly
recommend) On Linux I use Kate with is a part of the Quanta IDE, but
there are many other good ones.

- When in doubt Google is your friend. Also the PHP on-line manual
which includes discussions along with the documentation - so many
valuable pointers in there! http://www.php.net/docs.php

- Read the top 7 PHP security Blunders before you put any code live -
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/php-security-blunders They aren't
hard to implement, and would be good practice to read it early.

- If you are stuck on something, post on the Usenet groups like
comp.lang.php as long as you aren't lazy and don't ask about stuff you
could have found easily via Google or the PHP manual then most people
are pretty helpful.

That should do it.

Good luck and hope you find it as fun as I do. :-)

Hi,
http://php.net is a great place to start. For some easy reading and
usable examples.
Then you could try http://wiki.greenquery.com/doku.php#tutorials_on_php

//Michael


On 2 Sep., 05:33, Blue_Hat <kamr...@Gmail.com> wrote:
> I want to learn PHP, I would like to know where I can get all the
> relevant info and resources and how do I start, I'm a novice at the
> whole programming thing, I know a little HTML and CSS, I've done web
> pages in Notepad and that's pretty much it.
>
> Would like to know how to proceed from a total novice's perspective