PHP Question

For a NON-Technical person how easy is it to learn PHP ? (for website
changes - mostly minor changes)I have never done any programming.

If any one would be kind enough to let me know I would appreciate it.

Thanks
Sarah

"sarah rosen" <sarahrosen1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:cee28c30.0401162017.1f82f1c@posting.google.co m...
> For a NON-Technical person how easy is it to learn PHP ? (for website
> changes - mostly minor changes)I have never done any programming.
>
> If any one would be kind enough to let me know I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks
> Sarah


Well, this is purely subjective, I would venture to say that would depend on
your grasp of certian things now, such as (but not limited to) HTML, The
differnce between Client-side/Server-side, and if you can program your own
VCR, Cellphone.

Please take not any offense to what I am saying, but it is rather a
subjective subject. Some may say quite easily, some may say hard. There is
no right/wrong answer, it is your ability at this point.

Oh Boy, I am starting to sound like a showlin priest (however it is
spelled)

If you feel that you are web savvy, then you just might be able to pick it
up, dont let others fool you, some try on purpose to make it look harder
than it really is. I tought one of my employees PHP, he didn't know he had
it in him, he was a rather bright kid. So I had him work with me on some
projects, asked his opinion on a few things, and had him research ansewers,
and then implement the code. After the project was over, I showed him how he
coded the entire thing, I just help debug, and guide the project. He did all
the programming himself.

Just pace yourself, let it catch on at its own pace, and if you decide to
buy a book, buy one that you are able to start learing from the moment you
pick it up. If you pick up a book, and thumb through it, and it all looks
like giberish, thats not the book for you, look for one that you understand,
and you start to learn, just from a few pages in the begining. Skip all the
history of stuff, but only for this quest to find the book, after you buy
it, read it from cover to cover.

Well, that was probly more information than you expected, and probly tells
you nothing. :)

Hmm, maybe I should think this whole priest thing......Na, not for me.

--
Mike Bradley
http://www.gzentools.com -- free online php tools

On 16-Jan-2004, sarahrosen1@yahoo.com (sarah rosen) wrote:

> For a NON-Technical person how easy is it to learn PHP ? (for website
> changes - mostly minor changes)I have never done any programming.
>
> If any one would be kind enough to let me know I would appreciate it.

As languages go PHP is pretty simple. However, the environment where PHP
runs is not.

PHP is a server side scripting language, which means it runs on the server.
The client (browser) doesn't know PHP, it's language is HTML (plus
JavaScript etc.) So, the PHP on the server has to send HTML to the browser
and receive data from the browser. All this is done page by page making it
complicated to 'remember' things between pages. To further complicate
things, most PHP scripts access some kind of database (e.g. MySQL). So, in
addition to PHP, HTML and JavaScript, you have to worry about SQL.

Any one of these languages, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, and SQL, could fill a
pretty large book. Combine them with their interactions and add on security
concerns and you have the programming equivalent of rubbing your stomach and
patting your head while singing Silent Night and tapping out 76 trombones
with your feet. OK it's not quite that bad, but it's very complex for the
beginner and unless you're prepared to do a fair amount of studying it will
be very frustrating.

The good news is the people who hang out here are really helpful. I've seen
several threads where it was obvious that the original poster was a novice
in way over his or her head and the replies were patient, helpful, polite
and often quite extensive.

If you decide to take the plunge, start by learning HTML. When you move on
to PHP remember that the goal of PHP is to send HTML to the browser. Getting
a good grasp of what's HTML and what's PHP will be a big help.

Good Luck.

--
Tom Thackrey
www.creative-light.com
tom (at) creative (dash) light (dot) com
do NOT send email to jamesbutler@willglen.net (it's reserved for spammers)

That depends on how smart you are, of course ;-)

But seriously, computer programming is not that hard. I work in the area of
foreign language acquisition and I can tell you that it's far easier to
learn a programming language than to learn French or Russian.

Here's a few lines of PHP code that actually does something useful. See if
you can figure out what it does.

$recipient_name = "John";
$recipient_email = "john@hotmail.com";
$sender_name = "Jane";
$sender_email = "jane@yahoo.com";

$circumstance = "our relationship is over";
$when = "last night";
$where = "at the Gay Pride parade";
$action = "make a pass at";
$whom = "a PHP programmer";
$your_quality = "man";
$my_state = "miserable";
$items_returned = "your love letters";
$items_kept = "the syphillis you gave me";

$message = "Dear $recipient_name\n\n, I don't know quite how to tell you
this but, $circumstance. I think I first realized it $when $where and I saw
you $action $whom. I'm sure you're $your_quality enough to realize how
$my_state I've been. I'm returning $items_returned but I'm holding on to
$items_kept as a keepsake. I want you to know that I'll always treasure your
friendship.\n\nSincerely, $sender_name.";

mail($recipient_email, "A parting note", $message);

Uzytkownik "sarah rosen" <sarahrosen1@yahoo.com> napisal w wiadomosci
news:cee28c30.0401162017.1f82f1c@posting.google.co m...
> For a NON-Technical person how easy is it to learn PHP ? (for website
> changes - mostly minor changes)I have never done any programming.
>
> If any one would be kind enough to let me know I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks
> Sarah

"PHP Question" really isn't an ideal subject when asking a question in a
PHP newsgroup. All questions here are (or should be) PHP questions.

Better would be: "How easy is PHP for a beginner?"

Jochen

sarah rosen wrote:
> For a NON-Technical person how easy is it to learn PHP ? (for website
> changes - mostly minor changes)I have never done any programming.
>
> If any one would be kind enough to let me know I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks
> Sarah

A couple of online sources for good "getting started with PHP" info.:
PHP.net - http://www.php.net/manual/en/getting-started.php
W3Schools - http://www.w3schools.com/php/
Webmonkey -
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...php/index.html

As far as books go, I started with (and liked) these:
PHP and MySQL Web Development, Second Edition
by Luke Welling, Laura Thomson
Beginning PHP4
by Chris Lea, Wankyu Choi, Allan Kent, Ganesh Prasad, Chris Ullman
(You might want to get "Beginning PHP5" instead)

Regards,

- Dan
http://www.dantripp.com/