How did you learn?

bluemer

Hey all,

I'm wanting to learn to code in PHP, and MySQL, and HTML... Basically create web apps, and server side apps. My question is how did you learn? Did you just pickup any coding book, and study it continuously? I've recently gotten the book titled Beginning PHP & MySQL from Novice to Professional, but I'm unsure of exactly how to go forward.. Do you always use a book for reference?

Basically my main project is I want to download information from Yahoo Fantasy Sport API, and integrate it into my website to show the live stats 24/7. I dont know coding at all. I figured this was a good start.

Did you just think of something you wanted to do, and do everything to get that one project done, or what? Should I just read the book, and then come back, and try to do something.. I'm kind of confused how you actually learn PHP, MySQL since there doesnt seem to be a "school" that teaches this. Is there a school as in brick-n-mortar, or a online school that teaches programming?

Thanks so much for your replies in advanced.. I have been puzzled how so many people have learned these programming languages, yet I cant find an actual school that teaches step-by-step..

JVassie

Well I would recommend an online tutorial for your first steps into PHP.

The best for this I have found is W3Schools - Click Me

Follow the guide through the basics of PHP.

Using an API is definitely an advanced area of PHP (for the main part anyway), so I would start by doing basic things, to build your knowledge and confidence. For example a HTML Form and use PHP to process the form results.

Google is definitely your friend here, searching for PHP tutorials will give you hundreds of places to visit.

Above all the best advice I can give you is to code yourself, reading a book or a website can only teach you so much. 🙂

dalecosp

I found a great book, back in the day, Larry Ullman's "PHP for the WWW" from Peachpit press. I was quite the noob.

Then I found this site. I got a few freelance jobs and made some sites people liked. I made some they didn't like. I'm still not a giant in the field, but I do have a regular paycheck now, writing code in, oh, 4-6 languages, give or take. Of course, it's been ten years --- it was about time. 😉

bradgrafelman

Just to throw in my $.02...

However you decide to learn, know this: there is no governing body out there that polices publishers of articles/tutorials/books/etc. John Doe might finish his first Hello World script and decide that he has enough knowledge to write up an article about how PHP works.

In other words, keep in mind that just because you paid money for a book doesn't mean it's worth anything. Whenever I'm bored in a library/bookstore, I like to pick up a random PHP book and see how long it takes me to find a misleading, outdated, or simply incorrect statement/suggestion/etc. in that book.

bluemer wrote:
Do you always use a book for reference?

I personally never use a book (nor have I ever read a book on PHP or MySQL). I've got two primary justifications for that:

1) Books are static. If you publish something just before a huge security advisory goes out, well... too bad - you can't send out a software update that magically re-prints the text in your book.

2) Books aren't free. Online articles/tutorials/manuals/etc., however, are. I'm cheap, so why should I take the above risk and purchase a book when I have a never-ending, constantly changing stockpile of information available to me through a service I already pay for - the Internet?

Again, these are just my personal views. 🙂

bluemer wrote:
Did you just think of something you wanted to do, and do everything to get that one project done, or what?

Initially? I hate to admit it, but yes, that's probably how I got started in PHP way back when. Fortunately, I've now learned better project management skills (especially the planning stages).

bluemer wrote:
Is there a school as in brick-n-mortar, or a online school that teaches programming?

In general? Of course - just about every university out there teaches it - it's called logic. 🙂

Honestly, programming is nothing more than thinking logically. Add a few semantics (a semicolon here... comma there...) and now all you're doing is conveying the logical process you've got in your head (or on paper) into statements that a computer can execute.

bluemer wrote:
I have been puzzled how so many people have learned these programming languages, yet I cant find an actual school that teaches step-by-step

That's probably because of what I just said above; it all comes down to thinking logically. The rest is just semantics.

For example, can you please teach me in a step-by-step manner how to think?

NogDog

The on-line manuals at www.php.net and www.mysql.com are invaluable and are the ultimate resources when it comes to syntax and built-in functions. But they do not teach you how to program and design databases. That is where classes, books, and on-line tutorials can help; but as mentioned above, there's no guarantee that any of them are "best in show" or any good at all. At least books from reputable publishers are usually peer reviewed and as such are probably somewhat less likely than any random on-line tutorial to be complete trash; but the best I can suggest is to look at lots of different resources and try to find the majority/consensus opinions on how to use PHP to build applications.

I will say that the one book I've read that noticeably improved my personal knowledge base was PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice by Matt Zandstra -- but I would not recommend starting it until you have a decent grounding in the basics of PHP; and it might take a couple readings for it all to soak in.

cretaceous

I'd say the advantage of a book is that it will give a good overview
(read reviews on Amazon to decide if it's "good")

it will also cover things you might not be intersted in.. but read it all, as it will add to knowing what is possible

a book is theoretically a disciplined document that has a beginning, middle and end whereas web tuts may be over specific

both are good imho

and don't forget that learning html and css, tedious and pernickety though they can be, is essential

sneakyimp

bluemer;10974104 wrote:
Basically my main project is I want to download information from Yahoo Fantasy Sport API, and integrate it into my website to show the live stats 24/7. I dont know coding at all. I figured this was a good start.

Did you just think of something you wanted to do, and do everything to get that one project done, or what? Should I just read the book, and then come back, and try to do something.. I'm kind of confused how you actually learn PHP, MySQL since there doesnt seem to be a "school" that teaches this. Is there a school as in brick-n-mortar, or a online school that teaches programming?

I never bought a PHP book, but I have a degree in computer science. Those who have seen my questions on here are probably shocked to hear that...:o

If you don't have a programming background, you will need to get accustomed to a couple of basic programming concepts
basic syntax - where to put brackets, periods, quotes, etc. these are the grammatical rules of php
variables (and constants) - these are like buckets that you can hold information in (such as the RSS data you grab from yahoo)
control structures - these let you specify which code to run by checking variable and constant values
functions - define functions to assign a name to a block of code you've written so that you can use it over and over rather than typing the original code. it's also a good way to clear up a really complicated-looking block of code by moving some of the code elsewhere so you can see better what is going on.

I think it's brilliant that you have something you want to do. Just reading a book without something in mind is going to bore you really quickly. I recommend going straight for your goal. Start with a script like this:

<?php
echo 'Hello World!  This is my first PHP script';
?>

Put that on a server running PHP and then access the page in a browser.

lcook

bradgrafelman;10974163 wrote:
Just to throw in my $.02...

For example, can you please teach me in a step-by-step manner how to think?

Thanks for your input - very informative! I'm on my third book, mainly because I value the exercises, but even as a complete beginner I have found minor errors in all of them (thankfully justifying their prompt return to a certain overpriced bookstore (where name LIKE "B%and N")). 😃

I will be modifying large data sets and inserting them into a mySQL database - any recommendations for resources that address this in particular? So far all I've found are tutorials that address small arrays and string manipulation. Baby steps, I know, but I would like to read more on multi-table joins in particular, as I am still having trouble visualizing these.

Thanks!

lcook

LIKE "B%and N%" rather ... Is there a way to edit your own posts on the forum?

bradgrafelman

lcook;10980556 wrote:
Is there a way to edit your own posts on the forum?

See my post here.

sneakyimp

Knowing how to operate on a small array is a step you must take before you know how to operate on a large array. To operate on a large array will require additional considerations because you may face memory limitations or performance issues, etc.

The first step in my opinion is to get a look at the remote data you want to deal with. You said you want to deal with information from the Yahoo Fantasy Sport API. If it were me, I would try to get a script to connect to that API and ask for some information because whatever data format they offer is going to restrict your options in PHP. Once you know what their data looks like, you can start to parse it.