Formal or less formal PHP classes/training

SyntheticShield

Hello all.

Im really trying to learn PHP as of late. I spent a LONG time trying to read tutorials and stuff on line, but they all get to a point where it seems they make the assumption you already know something.

I kinda wanted something, for the lack of a better description, that would treat me as a newborn and realize they need to change my diapers, feed me and so on until I get to a point I can do it myself. Im just trying to be honest. I can learn, Im a good student, I take good notes, but everything Ive been reading assumes some level of understanding or if they dont do that, they assume I grasp everything they are teaching without question, or they fail to explain things as they progress, introduce new elements and just dont clearly explain in whole. Anyway.

I recently purchased Beginning PHP and MySQL From Novice to Professional and while it started out good it too is drifting in that direction where it just assumes I get it.

So, what I would like to next check into, rather than constantly posting in a forum and wearing out my welcome early is to see if there are any local PHP type groups or even some type of formal PHP classes or training I can take.

Im in Oklahoma and would love to get my head around PHP and start coding but I guess I really need a venue to ask questions so that I know I 'got it' before moving on to the next thing.

Anyway, if anyone has suggestions or knows of something locally I would greatly appreciate it. Im in a relatively small town in which the community college doesnt amount to a whole lot, but Im hopeful that since php is popular enough I can find something without having to drive hours to get to the training.

Kudose

There is a PHP Users Group in OKC.

http://www.phpusergroups.org/groups.phtml?id=72&menu=groups

You're best bet is to find a users group, mailing list or IRC chat to get into and start making friends if books aren't cutting it for you.

You could also take some C++ classes ... the introductory part of them (before they get into pointers and templates) is much like PHP (could be because PHP is written in C? 😉). After that point, they are still similar, but the syntax varies greatly.

SyntheticShield

Excellent. Its not so much that the books arent cutting it, its just that they seem to assume a great deal and even that is fine if they give me enough clues to figure things out. I'll stare and compare, re-read and everything if I know the information is there, but it seems in most cases they just toss it out there you're on your own.

I'll have to sign up for the user group and see where that leads.

Now I did find this on line today:
http://www.itdatacorp.com/p-305-php-and-mysql-series.aspx

The good thing about that is that if I got that they have a service that you can pay for as well in which you can log in and supposedly talk to a subject matter expert if you have questions and such. I need to dig around and research that one a bit more, but the course seems really good.