How did you guys learn PHP??

[EnragedPC]

What did u guys do to learn it?...did u take a class, read a book, WHAT?? can someone recommend a book for an absolute programming beginner?.....i would really like to create my own PHP/DB driven site...

 

[Platypus]

It helps if you know C or C++, it uses a lot of the same syntax.
I got a book on it, visual php or something like that. Go to php's homepage, they have great docs.

 

[gopunk]

<< It helps if you know C or C++, it uses a lot of the same syntax. >>

 

[777php]

I read many many books...I recommend PHP 4 for beginners by WROX press. The book is red with yellow PHP lettering on the cover, definitely a good book to start of with.

 

[notfred]

<< I read many many books...I recommend PHP 4 for beginners by WROX press. The book is red with yellow PHP lettering on the cover, definitely a good book to start of with. >>



and you really should never chmod anything 777

 

[Descartes]

I learned just by reading the documentation. Of course, being a developer, I didn't need the concepts, or even the syntax (C-derived syntax is common these days), just the names of the routines I needed.

 

[&#gcs]

I just looked at example code off the web and played with it.

 

[loup garou]

<< I read many many books...I recommend PHP 4 for beginners by WROX press. The book is red with yellow PHP lettering on the cover, definitely a good book to start of with. >>



I took a class, and this was my text. Pretty good book. The class was incredibly easy.

 

[stingbandel]

I just read a book. I learned it in probably 3 days nonstop. It's not that hard if you know Java.





Darno

 

[Sir Fredrick]

I've only glanced at some PHP code, but it looks very very very similar to Perl. Perl is cool! Lots of Perl tutorials out there too.
Perl is like the best of every other linear programming language in one.

So if you know Java or C++, Perl will be easy. If you know Perl, the transition to Java or C++ will be easier. If you know Perl, you know PHP (or so it seems).

 

[jamison]

<< I just looked at example code off the web and played with it. >>



That's how I learned HTML a few years ago. I started doing that with PHP also, so now I can edit PHP and understand what code does what, but I am far from writing my own PHP. It's is a very rewarding way to learn though, gives you confidence.

Anyway, why is my subscriber account slow today

 

[jjones]

PHP is easy to learn. the book previously mentioned is very good for beginners. another good beginners book is "PHP Essentials" by Julie Meloni.

 

[Descartes]

<< So if you know Java or C++, Perl will be easy >>



Hardly. So many people think just because a language is syntactically similar with another, that they're somehow "equal." Perl is entirely different. To truly understand the benefits of Perl, you must *think* in Perl, which means you really can't carry over the traditional semantics of other languages like C++. It's an entirely different state of mind.

With that in mind, I still don't like Perl

 

[Martin]

<< and you really should never chmod anything 777 >>



on your own server that is......the rule doesnt apply to competitors' servers

 

[Blundar]

learn C then look at docs + sample code + others code...
I haven't done any PHP for liek 2 years but that is what I did way back when

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<<

<< So if you know Java or C++, Perl will be easy >>



Hardly. So many people think just because a language is syntactically similar with another, that they're somehow "equal." Perl is entirely different. To truly understand the benefits of Perl, you must *think* in Perl, which means you really can't carry over the traditional semantics of other languages like C++. It's an entirely different state of mind.

With that in mind, I still don't like Perl >>



Perl is flexible enough to allow you to do things many different ways, including some which are nearly identical to C/C++, so if you are familliar with that, you can write your code that way. One of the benefits of Perl is that it's flexible and easy to use.
I personally love how easy it is to incorporate variables into strings.

For example:

$name = "moo";
$monkey = "bananas";

$result = "Hello, my name is $name, and my favorite monkey likes to eat $monkey";
gives
"Hello, my name is moo, and my favorite monkey likes to eat bananas"

 

[SendTrash]

I read a book

 

[SendTrash]

<< PHP is easy to learn. the book previously mentioned is very good for beginners. another good beginners book is "PHP Essentials" by Julie Meloni. >>

hey, that was the book I read.. but it is a bit dated... so I had to look up the newest stuff (php 4.0) online