Hi Programmers, I have been working online for the last few years as a writer. In the recent past I have developed a great interest in programming and I am ready to learn PHP my worries are which are some of the best resources online besides the W3 Schools ? I also would like to know if I can understand this in a few months to come. Am so passionate PLEASE HELP
All you need is PHP.net and apache + PHP installed on your home computer for a test environment (having to upload a file to a server every time you make a change is a pain in the ass when you're first getting started with development). Guess and test ftw. That's how I learned about 6 years ago and you can really teach yourself a lot by running into your own errors. Just make sure error reporting is turned on. PHP + MySQL is all you need to know imo. And obviously HTML but that should be a prerequisite to learning any scripting language...
If you are just getting into PHP I really recommend using a framework like Zend of Yii (I use Yii). It will be more difficult at first, but long term it is the only way if you want to make high quality websites quickly All the big sites use frameworks. W3 school is good for getting the basics, also stack overflow is always good for asking questions. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you ever get stuck, I like to help where I can
Get XAMPP, it's very easy to install and has all that you need in one package. And yeah like shadowedsniper said, the php.net manual and documentation is perfect.
Just write programs/websites yourself and you'll learn by doing. If you want to know how to do a certain thing in php just google it!
Frameworks are good stuff, I'm looking into Zend for the past month, but don't confuse the OP please . He should learn PHP first, then some framework, both at the same time it's just too much IMO and not really good. First you need to be able to build apps in pure PHP, frameworks are just tools to turbo charge the process.
@namboooooooooo (sorry, to lazy to count the o's) i agree with you 100%, he must def learn PHP basics first, but if he want to get into serious PHP, a framework is a must. Zend is great (as I'm sure you have discovered!), but like you say, it can be a little confusing. I really recommend Yii, it is a much more modern PHP framework, and I really recommend checking it out
What kind of programming do you want to do? Only web-focused stuff? If so PHP is a good choice. I recommend this resource: HTML: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-read/ it has everything you will need
depending on what type of learner you are, sometimes the best way to understand programming is to submerse yourself in code. you can certainly learn and understand PHP by reading books, but the technical terms can only give you so much. i am the opposite, and prefer to just start coding things till i understand it. pick a project you would like to create, and do some googling of all the parts until you can frankenstein something to work. you will make a ton of mistakes, and probably learn a lot in the process. i guess it would be benificial though, to start with a book to get the basics out of the way. it's been a while since i didn't understand how ifs and loops worked, so it's easy for me to say just do it!
The one that helped me I used when I started out with basics was PHP Tutorial by Lynda.com. Check out torrents, you will find many ups of lynda's tutorials.
