Where to Start

twylight

I am new to PHP and MySQL, 100%.. Installed PHP on my local system yesterday and MySQL on it only moments ago.. I read a post about SQL Theory that someone said their biggest problem was people not knowing where to start.. Well I come to ask just that. I did as the page recomended and did a search on the forum looking for a place to start and after reading through 10 pages of results and not finding any place to start I am asking here.

I would like article/website/book suggestions on where would be a good place to start to learn to use PHP and MySQL. Please do not tell me to Search for Such and Such here cause so far that has brought me no results.

I do not need help on installing the two products. They are both alive and kicking, PHP as a CGI interface to IIS on Win2k Pro and MySQL as an installed System Service.

All help appreciated and I will continue to seek what I see as a place to start all over.. Finding that locating information on PHPBuilder is a bit more complicated to someone who isnt used to the site.

James

[deleted]

'Where to start' is usually the manual, to see just which functions are available to you. Once you know what's available, you can start to think about how you can put them all together to insert or retreive data.

Tutorials are cool, but it's no good unless you know the background or SQL etc.

I strongly suggest that you first use the mysql commandline tool
and fool around with SQL for a while. Don't jump into the deep end.
Take the online MYSQL manual from mysql.com and try to create a database, create a table, insert some data, and select some data.

Once you get the hang of that, it's time to do the same in PHP.
It REALLY helps if you know the basics of SQL before you start fooling around in PHP. Nothing is more difficult than trying to create or change a database if you don't know how to do it from the commandline.

Once you know how to create a table, insert some data and select some data, I suggest your read this:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~vinny/index.html#4

It's a small helper to teach you how to properly structure your PHP/MySQL routines so that you can debug them when something goes wrong.

twylight

Thanks, That is exactually what I needed to know.. Bookmarked that page you mentioned and will get back to it after I fool around with mysql for a bit.

Again, Thanks.

[deleted]

If you have any Q's check the manual. If you can't find it in the manual, just post it here and we'll have a look. Good luck!

Anon

I think the webonkey.com tutorial is goo as bases it quote nig but covers all the basics of php/mysql and how they work together.

just go to webmonkey.com and try searching for php. it's about the third result.

Good luck
ash

daverau

James, I am in the same boat as you and came across this turorial. It's 10 parts and pretty detailed.

Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL:
http://webmasterbase.com/article.php/228

I would also recommend the SQL and PHP starters on www.devshed.com:

SQL: http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/MySQL/

Speaking SQL (part 1)
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/MySQL/Speak/
(part 2)
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/MySQL/Spea
k2/

there are a few others on the basics there, check them out.

PHP:
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/

they have 5 PHP intro articles:
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_1/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_2/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_3/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_4/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_5/

I find myself in a bind not understanding database structures at all, forget SQL and PHP, I would recommend trying to find some good books on databases first, if you aren't already famailiar with them. I hear "database design for mere mortals" is a good book. Good luck, post any other good resources back in here for others to utilize.

[deleted]

I am in the process of writing an article about designing a database from the ground up.

I'll see if I can put what I have on my website.

twylight

For just straight refrence material Ive always relied on www.devguru.com for what it is worth, their site just lacks severly in tutorial, last I looked, and they have started charging for advice (Something I wrote them about, hehe)

If you need to see exact syntax and such tho, that is where I go, for what its worth.

twylight

My thing is I know ASP and ODBC.. Been using them for years, Written many incarnations of forums and co-wrote some nice web-game resources with a friend for online games like Earth2025 and the like.. Not corperate this or that but its still enjoyable work for me.. I do this to pass the time, not as a job, hehe.

Im very familiar with programming and so rereading the basics over and over again is getting to me. What I am doing right now is just going through the MySQL Documentation's tutorial.. The statements so far are farily farmiliar from what Ive done in ASP but I have managed to pick a few things up as far as that goes. Haven't yet looked into doing any of this with PHP however, and Ill get there evntually.

My short term goal is an admin web-based interface for setting up a database and altering entries within it.. This is from the ground up, if it doesnt exist create it, add tables, add fields, remove tables, remove fields, change values in all fields, ect... Pretty much anything you can Think of doing, i want it to do.

Pretty ambitious I think, but I believe I will have a very good feel for working with PHP and MySQL when its done so all that is left is the simple things.

[deleted]

You're not trying to re-write phpmyadmin are you? :-)

twylight

Probally but in a speffic use setting.
I could probally read through phpmyadmin's scripts and learn it that way.. but thats like dropping yourself in the middle of a place (like alustralia) knowing that if ya go in one direction long enough you will reach a coast, and then you can start placing things where they go, hehe..

Id rather work from the ground up, learning as I go.