Complete PHP Newb

Christian_Patti

Hi I have been doing web design for several years (XHHTML,CSS,Photoshop,ect) and have gotten pretty good with it. The last 6 months or so I've really wanted to learn PHP and MySQL to make dynamic websites. Over the course of the 6 months I have dabbled with different online resources. I would always give up because I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. This time I really want to learn it and I was wondering what the people here recommend. Remember I have no programming experience whatsoever and all my attempts to learn PHP before this have failed. I'm not opposed to buying a book or two if it comes down to it.

~thanks 🆒

Piranha

Hello and welcome to phpbuilder and php in general.

The most important thing about learning how to program, no matter what language, is the thinking. Unfortunatley it is one of the hardest things to learn as well, and noone can really teach you. To learn it just take it one step at a time and be sure that you understand the idea before going on. Here is what I recommend.

Learn PHP. Don't care about databases in this step. You should at least understand if, select, 4 kinds of loops, post and get, arrays and functions. Start by building an index of book titles in an array and use different ways to view and add one book. Right now it is only possible to add one book, and it will be removed when you reload the page. Also make sure to understand operators, like = + - == != || && < > and so on.
Start with the database. Instead of using an array to store the books use a database, and do the same things there, and change the title as well. You can also experimet by inserting the number of pages in the books, get the total number of books and the total number of pages from the database.
Now you should have an understanding of a one-table database. Now add genre in a new table, and du a relationship between the tables. This would be a one-to-many relationship since one book will be in one genre and a genre may have several books. Add, view, remove and experiment to understand how one-to-many relationships works. Select all books from one genre, and the genre from a book.
Next add the author of the book. A book may have many authors, and a author may have written many books, so this is a many-to-many relationship. As before add, remove, view and change books and authors. View the books from one author, and view the authors of a book.

That is it. Now you should have a basic understanding of PHP and databases, and have started to think the "right" way.

Books are ok, but I think they are best used as a reference book. The only way to learn is to code, code, do mistakes and code some more. If you want to buy a book go for it, but think about using online resources as well, they are great and free. I especially like w3schools.com.

One more thing. When you run into trouble don't hesitate to ask for help. But try to ask as specific as possible. A question like "what is wrong with my code" followed by 100 lines of code is not very specific. But a question like "I want to do a but the code is doing b. I tried c and d but it didn't help" followed by the 10 lines of code you have isolated to be the problem is much more specific and will get you the correct answer much faster and easier.

Christian_Patti

Piranha;10886376 wrote:
Hello and welcome to phpbuilder and php in general.

The most important thing about learning how to program, no matter what language, is the thinking. Unfortunatley it is one of the hardest things to learn as well, and noone can really teach you. To learn it just take it one step at a time and be sure that you understand the idea before going on. Here is what I recommend.

Learn PHP. Don't care about databases in this step. You should at least understand if, select, 4 kinds of loops, post and get, arrays and functions. Start by building an index of book titles in an array and use different ways to view and add one book. Right now it is only possible to add one book, and it will be removed when you reload the page. Also make sure to understand operators, like = + - == != || && < > and so on.

Start with the database. Instead of using an array to store the books use a database, and do the same things there, and change the title as well. You can also experimet by inserting the number of pages in the books, get the total number of books and the total number of pages from the database.

Now you should have an understanding of a one-table database. Now add genre in a new table, and du a relationship between the tables. This would be a one-to-many relationship since one book will be in one genre and a genre may have several books. Add, view, remove and experiment to understand how one-to-many relationships works. Select all books from one genre, and the genre from a book.

Next add the author of the book. A book may have many authors, and a author may have written many books, so this is a many-to-many relationship. As before add, remove, view and change books and authors. View the books from one author, and view the authors of a book.

That is it. Now you should have a basic understanding of PHP and databases, and have started to think the "right" way.

Books are ok, but I think they are best used as a reference book. The only way to learn is to code, code, do mistakes and code some more. If you want to buy a book go for it, but think about using online resources as well, they are great and free. I especially like w3schools.com.

One more thing. When you run into trouble don't hesitate to ask for help. But try to ask as specific as possible. A question like "what is wrong with my code" followed by 100 lines of code is not very specific. But a question like "I want to do a but the code is doing b. I tried c and d but it didn't help" followed by the 10 lines of code you have isolated to be the problem is much more specific and will get you the correct answer much faster and easier.

thanks for the advice.. im not really sure exactly what you mean with the books in the arrays and dtaabases though, i didn't really follow you there

also i was only thinking about buying books because all the information i find online is really scattered and hard to follow.

Piranha

In the first step you should use an array to store book titles. This is to let you work with PHP without using a database.

In the second step you should remove the array and instead insert the book titles in a database. That way you get to know more about databases and how you insert, update and remove from them.

If you still don't follow me don't worry. Just start with the first step and I'm sure you will get it when you work with the code.

bretticus

Personally, I like the link in my signature entitled "PHP 101." It is a great tutorial from the perspective of the absolute beginner. Before going down that road, you need to be able to actually DO the tutorials. Thus, the following...

Firstly, you need to setup a development environment on your pc (or is it mac?)

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to setup a complete development environment including a php editor (you could probably skip steps 9 through to the end.)

UPDATE: The same person did a more up-to-date "quick version" (uses xampp like I will mention below...)

Or there are two "one-click" installers that will install apache, php, and mysql:

Wampserver
xampp

or, if you have a mac...

Mamp

All of these are free by the way.

Once you know where to put files in the folder that is your root folder for apache, you can start writing php scripts. Php eclipse is a good free php editor (auto-completion of php syntax, etc.) The step by step tutorial shows how to get it and install it. However, you can use notepad. Or, if you have a mac, you can use the bult-in editor (I think it's cool apple gives xcode away for free which is a full-fledged ide. dunno if they support php, but that'd make it slightly better than notepad if it didn't.)

Now that you have a development environment at your disposal, you can finally read through that "PHP 101" tutorial.

If you don't have a development environment yet, start with my suggestions and post here if you have problems. Between Piranha and I (and even others) we should be able to help you through any snags.

Good luck.

ReadyF

lolll, about IDE like eclipse i don't know why i'm always afraid of using that kind of softwares ...

i always used Notepad++ .... 😕

bretticus

If you like notepad++ use it. You DO NOT need a PHP ide. In fact, Notepad++ is great for php development (it at least does syntax highlighting--as far as I know.) The deal with IDEs like eclipse is that some professionals like the add ons (like ftp, subversion, etc) that save time. Some auto-complete your custom code (I write lots of object oriented code using Zend Studio, for example.) For learning, definitely stick with what you are comfortable with. Like I said, even notepad in Windows would do the job.

So do you have a wed development environment on your computer? Do you have a web hosting company that has php and mysql enabled already? The latter is fine too.

UPDATE: Wow, I just went and got a copy of Notepad++. It supports code completion (cntr-enter.) Very nice!

ReadyF

lol, i really love notepad++, when i used it for the first time i had a version that works with the list functions plugin,

but now with the new versions i never could make it work don't know why, but it's not the topic to talk about it,

now i'm in the last steps of my first big project... lolll

if i start a new one i will for sure try to use eclipse ....

bretticus

When you say project, I assume you're talking about a website (static?) You don't need eclipse for typing out html or anything. Unless you meant you are learning php 🙂 And even then, Notepad++ is fine 🙂

ReadyF

it's built in PHP
for databases i used MySQL
i used smarty as template engine ...

and the little and lovely Notepad++ For All of that :rolleyes:

the problem is that i was alone .. so sometimes it becomes very "sad" ... 😃 loll

But it was very nice as i improved my skills in many things "CSS, liiiiiiiittle of AJAX, PHP, i really appreciated the syntax of smarty, and i discovered XML"it helps me a lot"

@ Patti : i think that you have to tell to yourself "it's fun to learn" instead of "i should learn" it will help you as PHP is very Fun ... lolll so when you say "i really wanted" it's a very good start, i wish for you goodluck ....

PS: Sorry for my bad english:p

I think that later i will post a link for my little "big" project to have some opinions about it !!!

bretticus

Oh boy, sorry ReadyF. I had you confused with Christian Patti if you hadn't noticed already 🙂

ReadyF

booff we were talking about the same subject "learning php"