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Learning PHP [message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 12:52

JPNOD
Messages: 807
Registered: April 2004
Location: Area 51

Karma: 0

Colonel

Hi,

I was wondering anyone here who had trouble learning PHP?
Because it's something that was part of my study for the last year. But I still can't master it. I know <?php echo "hello world"?> And I understand what variables/ for and while loops are for.

But I have yet to manage on building something myself. (A small code that I thought out myself)

I want to build a website in PHP. As I know how to build websites in HTML.

I have tried programming in Javascript, VBA and PHP. For some reason I don't understand the logic behind programming or it's just not being thought me well.

Anyone got advice? I got 2 weeks to master at least the basics..
thats the time I am willing on spending as I have got to work after..

I got a small book but writing over code's didn't help me the last time and it got extremely boring.

So far I thought of

- w3schools
- the small PHP book that I have as reference
- google, official PHP site

Anyone else got advice on how to learn PHP? How did you master PHP?

Thanks in advance

WOL nick: JPNOD

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344685 is a reply to message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 12:58

BlueThen
Messages: 2402
Registered: February 2006

Karma: 0

General (2 Stars)

Well, I personally don't know php, but if it's like any other language, you can probably learn a lot just by taking different examples and experimenting with them.

Try Hawkee,
http://www.hawkee.com/index.php?type=php
it's known for it's mIRC snippet database, but Snib (the owner) is trying to build up a database for other languages too.

[Updated on: Sun, 03 August 2008 12:59]

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344687 is a reply to message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 13:00

genetix
Messages: 392
Registered: July 2003
Location: Saskatchewan Canada

Karma: 0

Commander

Honestly I taught myself PHP because I wanted to use it. I wanted to build a virtual pet site. I did to. It took me way longer then it should have but I did make one. The code wasn't near strong enough so the site never went anyway and ended up folding over but I learnt a lot. Dam I was just thinking it was 5 years ago but it must be getting closer to 8 now. I was only 10 or 11 when I started that stuff.

Start working with databases. Thats my favourite part about PHP. It lets you create stuff that's truly dynamic. Anyone can make php spit out HTML. Whats the fun in that? Make PHP do some work!

Puzzle - Petals Around the Rose

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344697 is a reply to message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 13:47

Goztow
Messages: 9731
Registered: March 2005
Location: Belgium

Karma: 13

General (5 Stars)
Goztoe

www.phpfreakz.nl -> that's where I learned PHP. I now am far enough to make my own websites.

It has very nice tutorials and exemple code.

You can find me in The KOSs2 (TK2) discord while I'm playing. Feel free to come and say hi! TK2 discord

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344773 is a reply to message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 22:52

cmatt42
Messages: 2057
Registered: July 2004

Karma: 0

General (2 Stars)

I was interested in PHP, and bought a self-teaching book on it. It turns out that my practicing things such as HTML and mIRC scripting many years back helped me understand a lot of the concepts fairly quickly. But still, I have other things to grasp, like object orientation (apparently PHP isn't so great with it, but I don't particularly care), and working with databases.

But yes, check out sites like the previously mentioned Hawkee, download some PHP scripts, put 'em up on your server, play around with them, change some things to see how it works, then learn from that and move on to the next thing.

GunKataGaming.net

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344777 is a reply to message #344681]

Sun, 03 August 2008 23:38

Goztow
Messages: 9731
Registered: March 2005
Location: Belgium

Karma: 13

General (5 Stars)
Goztoe

You don't need 100s of PHP functions to create a website. If you learn how to work with databases and if/else - statements, you can already get a long way.

You can find me in The KOSs2 (TK2) discord while I'm playing. Feel free to come and say hi! TK2 discord

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344808 is a reply to message #344681]

Mon, 04 August 2008 04:11

light
Messages: 988
Registered: January 2005

Karma: 0

Colonel

Best advice I can give you is 'learn by reading, then by doing'.

Depending on how you learn, you may want to read a php book or online guides. I learned by reading others code and understanding it. Before I started working I wrote a very basic blogging app that I planned to make into a CMS.

I abandoned this eventually because there are better ones others have made, but through my paid employment I was able to see how others wrote code, and what they did and that's how I learned.

Now, the catch with this is if you read bad code you'll write bad code. You need to learn what SQL injection is and you need to hate register_globals (trust me on this).

All I can suggest is start small and work your way up. Pick something you'll be motivated to work on and go for it. Also, be willing to throw out crappy code. You'll write plenty of it as you're learning.

http://www.azupload.com/displayImage.php/setid2745.png

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344811 is a reply to message #344681]

Mon, 04 August 2008 04:34

StealthEye
Messages: 2518
Registered: May 2006
Location: The Netherlands

Karma: 0

General (2 Stars)

I got nearly all of my PHP experience out of modifying/supporting a news script (http://cutephp.com/).

light is basically correct though, apart from the read bad code -> write bad code thing. You might start with writing bad code, but you will soon start wondering why the original author did some things in a weird way. If it looks stupid, try to rewrite it and improve it. If it doesn't work as expected, then you have learned why the other coder had done it weirdly. If it does work, then you can be proud of having written better code than the original author. Wink

BlackIntel admin/founder/coder
Please visit http://www.blackintel.org/

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Re: Learning PHP [message #344912 is a reply to message #344681]

Mon, 04 August 2008 11:56

JPNOD
Messages: 807
Registered: April 2004
Location: Area 51

Karma: 0

Colonel

Thanks for the heads up.

I am going to mess around with PHP and MySQL first see if I can write and read out of a database.

WOL nick: JPNOD

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Re: Learning PHP [message #345578 is a reply to message #344681]

Fri, 08 August 2008 01:48

Jonty
Messages: 538
Registered: June 2006
Location: Chesterfield, England

Karma: 0

Colonel
Viva la Resistance!

The way I learnt what little PHP I know (enough to make a rather simple web order form) was simply through having something worthwhile to do with it. When I had a goal, I instictively found out the best way to program it. I don't like these "teach yourself php in 24 hours!" books because they force you to do everything a certain way. I prefer to try it one way, and then decide it's better a different way, and then I've learnt twice as much stuff. Big Ups

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Re: Learning PHP [message #345658 is a reply to message #344811]

Fri, 08 August 2008 14:24

light
Messages: 988
Registered: January 2005

Karma: 0

Colonel

StealthEye wrote on Mon, 04 August 2008 23:34

light is basically correct though, apart from the read bad code -> write bad code thing.

You have a valid point that it's not a certainty, but I've seen quite a few people who don't really think about how their code can be optimised or secured.

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Re: Learning PHP [message #345662 is a reply to message #344681]

Fri, 08 August 2008 14:57

StealthEye
Messages: 2518
Registered: May 2006
Location: The Netherlands

Karma: 0

General (2 Stars)

Fair enough. I'd just recommend everyone who starts coding to think though... False hope, yeah I know. Wink

BlackIntel admin/founder/coder
Please visit http://www.blackintel.org/

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Re: Learning PHP [message #346510 is a reply to message #344681]

Wed, 13 August 2008 03:56

icewing01
Messages: 19
Registered: March 2004

Karma: 0

Recruit

PhP is a hard language i have triëd it several times to learn never succeed in it, most hard part was no picture in books or very hard language, and also allot of the books were in english,

now i am needed for work to once again learn it, but i am being explaind by poeple, it is way easiër to understand also.

else there are also some dvd's, if you go to the library they surely should have some.

picture are always easiër to understand, but everyone learnes diffrently.

good luck with the study.

with kind regards.
icewing

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