Why did you start programming in PHP?

**Selkirk** · Oct 9, 2004 21:14

Why did you FIRST start programming in PHP?

**myrdhrin** · Oct 9, 2004 21:20

hum... simple... one of the magazine I was reading every month made a special on PHP... it gave plenty of examples and made it interesting. I was already programming in perl and I wanted to add one more tool to my box!

**Cam** · Oct 9, 2004 21:21

Wanted to make some changes to phpBB.

**vinyl-junkie** · Oct 9, 2004 21:23

1) I had a MS Access database that I wanted to convert to MySQL so I could have my dynamic content on a *nix server.

2) I needed to learn PHP so I could utilize that converted database.

3) I like learning new languages, and this was just the latest challenge.

OK, so that's three reasons, but they're all equally important to me.

**sweatje** · Oct 9, 2004 22:11

I needed to write a dynamic website at home to support the accounting for a partnership I ran, and I wanted a free-as in beer-alternative to ASP which I had used at work. My Unix admin pointed me to Linux, Apache and PHP, and the rest was history

**loadx** · Oct 9, 2004 22:46

i heard much about php on slashdot which ultimate lead me to the manual i read a few pages of the introduction etc and thought it was a better alternative to perl.

and as sweatje said, the rest is history

**Kilroy** · Oct 10, 2004 03:32

Well, I actually only really started programming PHP a year ago, but I started because I always wanted to make my own website and I got tired of having to update more than 20 files when I wanted to add a navigation link to a menu. So I really started php with include('menu.php); etc

Now I'm writing my own CMS which is coming along quite nicely

**Manor** · Oct 10, 2004 03:54

Same here, I basicly started when I wanted to use more dynamic elements, and php had a good reputation to use in such situation.

**bigduke** · Oct 10, 2004 03:56

I had to get into web dev (to make money) and started off with ASP (big mistake) so I went on to explore PHP and it swallowed me, I haven't been able to get out of PHP-Land for the past 8 months now (as if i want to get out).
PHP - for fluid, powerful and innovative web dev

**kyberfabrikken** · Oct 10, 2004 04:11

i got hired by a company that used php, so i had to learn quick.

**Revise Media** · Oct 10, 2004 04:17

I don't remember exactly why, but I decided I wanted to make a page that randomly generated ridiculous - but syntactically correct - sentences. So, with the help of the manual @ php.net, I hacked together a script that used word lists to drop gems like these:

Wow, an exuberant mammoth wistfully climbed on board that annoying seagull.

Hello, one reciprocating boa artificially quit on account of this chromatic falcon.

Ah, one regal flamingo fraternally unbridled beside this oafish mandrill.

**thoresson** · Oct 10, 2004 04:19

My younger brother was slowly becoming really good at ASP, and I was impressed. And I wanted to be able to build advanced sites by myself.

I choose PHP so that I couldn't ask my brother for help as soon as I got stuck. I have never regretted that choice. Especially since I found these forums where help was available when I got stuck, which of course happens more often than I want it to :-D

**Findus** · Oct 10, 2004 04:30

I really cant remember

I just know that at some point i started learning it and im very glad i did, whatever the reason was

**mark_W** · Oct 10, 2004 06:21

I wanted to hack some blocks and modules for Postnuke so I had to learn it and still enjoying the learning process!

**rtfm** · Oct 10, 2004 06:41

several years ago i started working for an ISP as a programmer and network admin, up until this point i had mostly been using Perl and C/C++ but they wanted some web apps coded with PHP/MySQL, Both of which I knew next to nothing about. I picked them up rather quickly (a few days). Now most of my web apps are done almost entirely with PHP/MySQL

**KeithMcL** · Oct 10, 2004 06:55

I needed to learn a server side language for my sites and tried asp. I couldn't grasp it properly (I'm not very logically minded). I heard php was that bit easier, so I tried it and I did find it easier to learn. I'm by far an expert in php but I know enough at the moment to get by.

**vgarcia** · Oct 10, 2004 07:01

I knew ASP and JSP and wanted to tackle another language. Simple as that.

**imedia** · Oct 10, 2004 07:51

I got tired of updating websites manually, dates, news, etc...
Looking for a better way and not having much programming experience; I was attracted to PHP and MySQL. So far I'm loving it!

**battye** · Oct 10, 2004 08:04

Originally Posted by Cam

Wanted to make some changes to phpBB.

Ditto, I also wanted to make changes to ContentMonster

**Koobi** · Oct 10, 2004 08:13

A fellow admin at a forum I belong to was heavily involved with the whole PHP setup so that made me curious and here I am after 10 months of PHP which is so much like C, loving it

**Toly** · Oct 10, 2004 08:20

I wanted to create a dating site, but only knew html back then. I was going to learn ASP, but my host only supported PHP, so I had to go with PHP.

**vinyl-junkie** · Oct 10, 2004 08:26

Originally Posted by Toly

I wanted to create a dating site, but only knew html back then. I was going to learn ASP, but my host only supported PHP, so I had to go with PHP.

Which brings to mind yet another reason I wanted to learn PHP. ASP is supported on a limited number of servers. However, PHP is generally offered everywhere. That in turn opened up a whole new world of web hosting possibilities for me.

**lilleman** · Oct 10, 2004 08:45

Hi,

I wanted to be able to write my own scripts since the one I downloaded from different sites (such as Hotscripts) never were exactly what I was looking for.

Yours, Erik.

**lastcraft** · Oct 10, 2004 08:48

Hi...

Originally Posted by Selkirk

Why did you FIRST start programming in PHP?

After a web site in C (yes, really really stupid, but it was the early days of the web) I asked a Perl programmer about using Perl as I wanted to try out the language anyway. He practically begged me to use PHP3 after writing his latest site using it

.

yours, Marcus

p.s. Is this preparation for a blog post by any chance?