Easiest way to learn php

[ruben]

Probably not what you want to hear, but I highly recommend Learning PHP 5.

[fashola]

You are in good hands already and It will be better to clarify what usage you want to make of php. There are three steps, the first steps is to know all what you can do with php, the second step is understanding the functions and the last step is the programming part.

Apart from what you will get from guides, exploit online tutorials and find the time to read some of the posts in sitepoint relevant to php programming.

[TRiVAL]

First post :P

So I would recommend reading this book http://www.hudzilla.org/phpbook/index.php
it's a great book that will take you through the basics of everything in PHP4/5 (ok not everything but much for a newbie)

[richtestani]

I think the visual tutorials would work best for me. i'm not much of a book reader. Do you know of any online tutorial web sites?

Programming in general is tough to be hand held through.
There are so many concepts to understand and get a grasp of.
Once you have a grasp of understanding those, you need to put them into practice. It takes a while but once you get your first piece of dynamicness happening it just gets more exciting.

But other than a pure PHP tutorial, you need to learn some programming fundamentals. You gotta suck it up.

variables, operators, functions, arrays and control structures are the basics I tell you to learn for PHP.

[Skyblaze]

First post :P

So I would recommend reading this book http://www.hudzilla.org/phpbook/index.php
it's a great book that will take you through the basics of everything in PHP4/5 (ok not everything but much for a newbie)

well....i had started to read it, but i found some errors that may be confuse the begginner.(it is written by a journalist afterall).
And then there are chapters like the one on functions that are really long, and it is not necessary that you learn a lot (and with a lot i mean really many functions) of functions at chapter 3 before learning for example arrays.
I think the best is php and mysql book from sitepoint that i'm reading too.

[Busch]

i used some of the tutorials over at WebMonkey. they are short and simple and help you learn the basics. after that i bought SAMS Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL & Apache in 24 Hours. it was filled with really useful tutorials.

[M.Zeb Khan]

Kevin's book >> PHP Anthology >> And you're done

[Josh_]

Get a book.

[a1nerd]

Thank you those tutorials are exactly what i needed. It's so much easier for me to hear and see someone doing it on the screen then reading it from a book.

Have a look here: http://toptentshirts.com/php-guide/php-guide.php

[a1nerd]

I have another question. Is there software out there that i can use to generate php code. Let say i would use a wizard to fill out info i want my php code or page to do. After i fill out the wizard info my php script would be generated by the program.

[richtestani]

I have another question. Is there software out there that i can use to generate php code. Let say i would use a wizard to fill out info i want my php code or page to do. After i fill out the wizard info my php script would be generated by the program.

It sounds like you really don't want to code but to have a bunch of easy to use dynamic modules that work on your site.

While not knowing what you want to do, hostscripts.com has thousands of scripts ready to be used. Most of them you simply upload to your server and configure. Possibly cut and paste a piece of code to your pages. You can even opt for a full CMS with plug-in support like WordPress or something similar.

Maybe I'm wrong and you do want to code, but I can't really think of an easy way to learn without really digging in even just a little. I bet if you can find someone to teach you in person you might be able to learn it in a more pleasent manner. See if there are any classes near you.

[ikeo]

You don't sound like you want to do much work to learn PHP, which I personally think is a counterproductive attitude to have.

But get your hands on Kevin Yank's book or
"PHP for the World Wide Web by Larry Ullman

The other thing to do is to get yourself a project to work on. A personal project or a some code work for little or no money. My PHP coding didn't take off until I got a project to work on.

[samsm]

Skip PHP and learn Ruby on Rails. Just tossing it out there.

[ikeo]

Skip PHP and learn Ruby on Rails. Just tossing it out there.

This is one of my pet peeves ...
some one comes into a PHP forum and SPECIFICALLY asks about learning PHP but some random guy tries to get him to pick up Ruby or some other flavor of the month programming language ... sigh ... I guess things will never change.

[xwdd]

I guess so. Otherwise one wouldn't have broken sites in it's portfolio

Warning: main(): Failed opening '' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/mindpnet/public_html/index.php on line 34

First of all, I don't see this error.
Second, that must have been the webhosting... they are moving to a new servers and therefore clients suffer a lot and get a lot of problems (including php errors and strange php behavior).

3rd, if a script fails to include a file, then someone probably deleted the file
there is nothing I can do about such things... so next time don't be so hurry to blame people.

P.S

Someone wouldn't use "valid xhtml" button on his site: http://timvw.madoka.be/ timvw when his site contains 4 errors: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=ht...w.madoka.be%2F

[vhogarth]

Just wanted to reiterate the sentiments before regarding Kevin Yanks book. I tried the tutorials online, but they were too seperate for me to get the bigger picture of how a baisc web app comes about. I started with kevin's book, then bought a couple others. I usually just sift through them every now and then. When you really get going PHP.net will be a life saver, because no tutorial or book will ever be as comprehensive, afterall they wrote it write?

after 1.5 years i still consider myself an begginer/intermediate. I dont have any OOP skills, i bought the PHP Anthology set a few months back, but i havent cracked it open becuase the current project i'm working on has been consuming all my time. That and my gf, going out, fishing, slacking, etc.

Good luck, once you get over the initial hickups you'll end up loving the power and ease php provides you to create some interesting projects. The mind is the limit. Lets hope you're not small minded :P

[DougBTX]

where i can learn php fast?

You're asking the wrong question - why do you want to learn PHP?

If you want to learn it fast, you must have some need. I guess you don't care about the programming bit of programming, so there must be something else. What is it?

Douglas

[a1nerd]

I do at some point want to code my own scripts using php. I was just thinking there might be a way to start the script with a program and then finish it off by doing the rest manually.

Like in deamweaver for instance you can cross platform when working. you can go from code view to designer view.

[timvw]

First of all, I don't see this error.
Second, that must have been the webhosting... they are moving to a new servers and therefore clients suffer a lot and get a lot of problems (including php errors and strange php behavior).

I was talking about http://www.mindburp.net/index.php?page=contest.

3rd, if a script fails to include a file, then someone probably deleted the file
there is nothing I can do about such things... so next time don't be so hurry to blame people.

I didn't want to blame you. I just wanted to make a point that learning PHP isn't as easy as you said. (I expected for a production site that display_errors was disabled.)

Someone wouldn't use "valid xhtml" button on his site: http://timvw.madoka.be/ timvw when his site contains 4 errors: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=ht...w.madoka.be%2F

I'm aware that <iframe> isn't in the xhtml1-strict.dtd (and i'm unwilling to change it to transitional.) but that isn't a consequence of programming php

[TurtleX]

I started by hacking phpBB. When I needed more info I browsed the web for tutorials. I also picked up all of the SitePoint PHP books, they're very good.

[xwdd]

I was talking about http://www.mindburp.net/index.php?page=contest.



I didn't want to blame you. I just wanted to make a point that learning PHP isn't as easy as you said. (I expected for a production site that display_errors was disabled.)



I'm aware that <iframe> isn't in the xhtml1-strict.dtd (and i'm unwilling to change it to transitional.) but that isn't a consequence of programming php

I see what you are talking about, but there is nothing I can do, it works great on my local server. The problem is caused by the web host's server, all I can do is contact them. A lot of people had already contacted them about strange php errors, so... that's not up to me, my php code is ok and works great, just because the problems that the web host is having, doesn't mean php is not easy to learn or that I don't know php

[DonTino]

There's a set of ebooks (3) called simplephp
check them out here I used these too they are great.
But cost money of course :-(.

http://simplephp.webhomez.net

Tino

[Carl]

It is relative but I have found the easiest why is to find a PHP application you are interested in like a CMS , guestbook or photo album... etc. Hopefully it will be one that does not work out of the box. If so then you will have to think of some changes you would like to make. Learning PHP is easiest when you have to learn it. Troubleshooting and modification will set a lot of things in to your long term memory where as a tutorial is forgotten the next day.

[Skyblaze]

There's a set of ebooks (3) called simplephp
check them out here I used these too they are great.
But cost money of course :-(.

http://simplephp.webhomez.net

Tino

what is the difference between your link and this one?

www.simplephp.net

[jamix]

Check out this book: PHP and MySQL Web Development. Great for beginners, with lots of examples and explanations. Love it.