Ten php tips for a big beginner

fillonxi

Starting out (real beginner) on php and will like tips and advice relevant to, using forms, database, putting texts online and other content management systems. Thx

drawmack

1) Start small don't attempt to write a CMS right out of the gate

2) but a PHP in 24 hours (or similar) book it'll give you the basics

3) learn your way around php.net

stolzyboy

4) Learn how to debug your code!

5) Learn how to debug your code!

6) Learn how to debug your code!

Norman_Graham

7) Find out about register_globals and what it means for you

8) Understand that error messages like this - unexpected tiddlytum on line X - mean that you forgot something on the previous line. Don't post it to the forum.

Anyone got 9 and 10?

Norm

Merve

9) PHP is not God. We see plenty of people here on this forum wanting to with PHP was is better left to JavaScript...learn to use what suits best the situation.

10) Learn your array, string and filesystem functions. They are very common and you'll be using them a lot. It is also a good idea to learn PCRE (Perl-compatible regular expressions) and regexp (regular expressions) because they are used so often for validation of fields in forms. htmlentities() will become a good friend of yours, and the Math functions are pretty good too. Learn the most often used useful functions, like setcookie(), and you'll be on your way! Remember to make your code clean. Use tabs when needed. Also make it readable. This has been a whole bunch of tips under one number...but I had a lot of advice...what else can I say?

WinterDragon

hrmph...

12.) Name your variables, arrays and other things responsibly, don't use names like $asdfsss or other nonsense You will never remember what you created them for.

13.) Comment your code, later you might be really wondering what you did in the first place!

Thora_Fan

12.5) Keep "register_globals" off, and instead get used to using predefined variables such as $GET, $POST, $_SERVER, etc. It'll make your life, and anyone who is trying to debug your code, a lot easier in the end.

andyman97

13) Learns how to use arrays. No I really mean it. Learn how they work.

14) Use functions all the time. That way you can reuse your code with a minimum of fuss.

Andyman

LordShryku

Okay, I think we're getting away from "standards and best practices" and into "personal preferences"

WinterDragon

I think commenting code, and naming variables is the most important things you could possibly do... for code reusability... and such... I don't comment my code 🙂

fillonxi

Great to get all those hints, learn to do arrays, functions,debug your code but will like simple explanations of the following

Session functions
environmental variables
finding information about your visitors
writing, reading to files
*what is directory and how it works

This are general understanding to put me in the php starting spirit.

Thx

Norman_Graham

Get a book. Enjoy. Experiment. Get stuck. Have a question. See you then.

Norm

drawmack

If you had taken my suggestions which appeared first:

Session functions

http://www.php.net/sessions

*environmental variables

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.php

finding information about your visitors

http://www.phpbuilder.net/columns/index.php3?cat=5&subcat=32

*writing, reading to files

http://www.php.net/files

*what is directory and how it works

I'm sorry but if you don't understand directories then you need a basic lesson in operating systems and not php.

fillonxi

I took your suggestions seriously and this is just my beginning and know that I will visit your advised links.

Thx

helz

oo, arrays me needs to learn, hard to find a good bookstore, ill have to go to the local city where im bound to find one 🙂

anyone got any tips for things like arrays and such...
ive seen things like:

array(
[1] -> this
[2] -> that
)

or somthing, me noobie 😃

drawmack

http://www.php.net/array

pjleonhardt

well, you can make an array like this

$array[0] = 'one';
$array[1] = 'two';
$array[2] = 'three';

etc..

or like this

$array = ('one', 'two', 'three');

but always remember that arrays start counting at 0

helz

so the array is just a bulk of information, any chance on giving each data in the array a field name, so i can call the info from the array easily?

stolzyboy

example for ya helz, not sure if that is what you were talking about, so now if you call $month_array[3] you would get March, 4 April, etc...

$month_array = array('1' => 'January', '2' => 'February', '3' => 'March', '4' => 'April', '5' => 'May', '6' => 'June', '7' => 'July', '8' => 'August', '9' => 'September', '10' => 'October', '11' => 'November', '12' => 'December');

helz

thats great stuff, i guess the name doesnt have to be a number since with mysql you can use the mysql_fetch_array:
which gives the array of:

'field name' => 'field value'