[Resolved] Total Newbie

[grap]

And when I say total Newbie I really do mean it. No experience of any programming in the past 20 years, although I was good at basic, Fortran and Pascal in my day.

I am planing to learn PHP and SQL in addition to HTML that I am already in the process of learning - although to be fair I am using Dreamweaver as a tool to aid this learning.

I now need help in getting started in basic PHP. I notice that there is a tremendous amount going on in the PHP world and most of it is exciting, can someone please help me with my understanding of PHP by answering the following;

1. How do I get started, load PHP on my PC, load a server and start programming or am i missing something?

2. What books or resources would you recommened?

3. Are the PHP modules I see being advertised in forums etc as easy to install as they say they are? i.e. if I need a forum in my HTML page is it a matter of simply loading and referring to the module?

4. Is there any specific requirement for PHP when loading it to the server - i.e. does it need to be in the root directory?

I know all these questions are basic but in 6 months I hope to be a hot PHP programmer.

🙂

thanks in advance

Grap

[grap]

Sorry, just thought of another question. Is there a really nice tool for development of PHP code (like dreamweaver) or is hand code the best and only way?

[weekender]

I use Zend Studio from http://www.zend.com/

the guys behind Zend (Zeev and Andi, hence Zend) are the guys who took PHP from it's original versions to PHP3, which was the first serious development.

It's about $300, or so they tell you - but if you download it, you get a 30 day evaluation and then you lose 3-4 features (which you'll only need when you get really advanced) and the studio reverts to Personal Edition, which is free and fantastic.

When you install it, it offers you the choice to install apache and php automatically too, which i find fantastic. It also installs two web applications - zend server center and information center - into your apache http root, which help you configure all sorts of stuff.

When you have these going, I recommend you install the mysql database from http://www.mysql.com/ and then, if you are on windows, download the chm (windows help file) edition of the php manual, with user notes, from http://www.php.net/downloads

sounds like a lot to do, but it's the quickest and simplest method i have used so far.

then just keep asking questions on the board. Guys here are really really friendly as long as you use a bit of initiative (ie have a go, try the manual, search for previous posts on the board).

If you can't find what you're after, and still want to teach yourself (which it sounds like you do), ask for some pointers - and people will post topics for you to read up on.

so yeah, welcome to the forum

adam

[grap]

That is fantastic help, thank you very much. Off to point to all those sites and download, looks like Christmas is going to be long lesson ;-)

Have a wonderful break

Grap

[weekender]

oh, 1 more thing - at the bottom of this post is a link saying "mark thread resolved" - click on this, and it shows that the issue is sorted and so others on the forum know which posts still need a solution.

you have a good holiday too