First of all, there are a lot of very good resources out there that aren’t specifically for PHP 7. PHP7 is not a different language or syntax than PHP 5.??, and if you are that new to learning PHP, I don’t think you will run into a lot of the new features of PHP7. Perhaps the PHP experts here could correct me if I am wrong, but my machine is set up with PHP7, I haven’t changed my coding from what I used in PHP5.??? and the code works just fine.
Having said that, take a look at the excellent books at SitePoint Premium that start right at the beginning such as Jump Start PHP and PHP & MySQL: Novice to Ninja. There are also good courses at lynda.com (just make sure they were produced in the last few years and aren’t too old).
That is true. I don’t know where all this “PHP 7” language vs “PHP 5” language is coming from, but whoever started it first has no clue what they are talking about. PHP in general is the bases of the language. PHP 5 and PHP 7 are just versions of PHP. Like would you go and say “OMG, this water has it’s own new language because it’s in a water bottle.” That makes no lick of sense at all. Just because it’s named differently, does NOT mean that it’s a whole new and entirely different language. Whoever made this up has no clue nor knowledge of PHP at all. And I’ve been hearing/reading about this around the internet as of late. Which is pretty stupid I would say.
Yes, PHP 7 has features that aren’t on PHP 5, but does that make it any different other than a few changes in syntax? No. PHP 7 is still PHP. It is not an entirely different language. If you want an entirely different language, compare PHP to ASP.NET. Now that’s a different language.
PHP: The Right Way is also a good source if you want to learn proper PHP. Another good source is php.net itself. Generally, if you don’t know how to use the code, there are examples in the comments that shows you. Sometimes there aren’t any examples or good examples and you’ll have to search for it. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT ONE DOES NOT CHOOSE W3SCHOOL FOR A REPLACEMENT OR AN ALTERNATIVE. They are known to use legacy code and some of the codes are not even good examples as they hold some very large security problems. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND to stay away from w3school if you really want to learn PHP.
Looking at the following links, can you be kind enough to tell me which one I should learn from and which one teaches what method (mysqli, pdo, etc.) and whether they are on php 7 or 5 because only looking for php 7:
I already tried lynda.com and a few more popular sites maybe around early 2016 but no luck.
I only moan at forums after waiting for over 12 months and the biggies are still asleep and snoring with php 5 tuts after 12 mnths of waiting. Getting frustrated now.
This one assumes I know php to start with their tuts: http://www.tutorialspoint.com/php7/
I harassed them to bring-out php 7 tut in early 2016 and that is the best they did. Bring-out tut for oldbies and not complete newbies. Drat!
w3schools.com no good ? Now, I’m starting to get people like you to OPEN UP after nagging you guys indirectly. Good, you prevented me from trying them.
Good you suggested phptherightay.com.
When I become intermidiate student, should I try tutorialspoint.com or are they bad in some way like w3schools.com ?
Any other sites you recommend ?
Any other sites you suggest I stay away ?
And yes, I have a problem learning php 5 and it’s syntax if I’m gonna have to spend more time learning php 7 syntax later-on and ditch php 5 syntax. Do not want to be wasting my brain cells as want to reserve some for Python in a month or 2. I not young anymore. Can’t quickly learn and unlearn things like you youngsters!
And, at what point do you recommend I learn about PDO and do you recommend them which a programmer recommended:
If they all provide up-to-date codes, then go right a head. If the tutorial uses mysql_* or a form submission checking using if(isset(...)), then you can abandon it. It’s a lost cause from the start. There is no need to learn any legacy code if you want to “learn” PHP 7.
You can use PDO if you’d like. PDO is the most recommended database API. However remember one thing.
Simplicity doesn’t always work in every situation.
You may come to situations where you may have to do more work and that’s not a bad thing. Some members on here believe simplicity is always needed. But I keep asking this question and I still haven’t gotten a legitimate and serious answer yet from these members.
What happens when you have no data or the data the user requests doesn’t exist?
They know that the page will return a blank page because they don’t believe checking for errors is something one should do. They believe1 line of code is a lot better than checking for errors. Yet I haven’t gotten the answer back about what happens when you don’t have data or the data doesn’t exist.
The point is, “complete beginner” is not very descriptive. What you are really asking for are tutorials that exactly match my background. A somewhat more difficult request.
You seem to be ignoring what we have said about PHP5 and PHP7 being the same language, so basically the syntax is the same for both. Apart from the switch from mysql_ to mysqli_ or PDO which might be the only change that a new learner of PHP will encounter, there really is no significant difference. And the move away from using mysql started as soon as developers learned that it was going to be deprecated (long before PHP7 came out). So there are many tutorials out there that are not specifically labeled PHP7 which are totally suitable for you to learn from. You just need to make sure that they are good quality tutorials which adhere to best practices.
Once you learn one languange there is not much difficulty in learning another. I would jump straight into learning OOP and design patterns because that is going to make your programming life easier and that is its whole reason of being. OOP let’s you organise, reuse and understand your code better. Procedural makes you bald hehe. I wouldn’t worry too much about tutorials but pick up any task and try to do it yourself. All the information is out there so you’ll get there eventually. No tutorial is going to make you an expert, that takes many years of practice…
I would think that the advice given here in the discussions would point in the right direction. But I don’t think he needs to restrict himself to tutorials or course or books that are specifically for PHP7.
I think the point that the OP seems to be failing to grasp is that php5 and php7 are not different languages. They are the same language, the same syntax. PHP7 is just a newer version of the same language. That is it has a few additional features, and a few deprecated features (which should not be used in 5 anyway) removed. Doing a (good) php5 tutorial is not necessarily gathering redundant, obsolete knowledge that you will have to forget and re-learn for php7.
Think of it like buying an English Dictionary. Imagine someone saying they they want the 2017 edition of the dictionary, not the 2012 edition because that’s obsolete and no one speaks that way any more. The truth is it’s exactly the same language, just with a handful of updates, the bulk of it has not changed at all.
Complete beginner means I do not know php atall. No previous version like php 5 and so starting at php 7, the latest. php.net manual seemed a bit complicated for a beginner. More like a reference manual for you pros to teach you php 7. A reference manual for those who have experience in php.
I only know how to build bots with Ubot Studio. Know basic html and a little css.
That is about my programming skills.
I was fussing over php 5 & 7 because the syntax looked different.
This is what I thought was php 5 (note the uses of () over ->:
Php 5:
$query = "SELECT * FROM $user WHERE Username = '".$user."'";
$result = mysqli_query($conn,$query);
$numrows = mysqli_num_rows($result);
Php 7:
$sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE Username = '".$user."'";
$result = $mysqli->query($sql);
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc())
{
However, somebody at one of my other thread mentioned him noticing me switching from procedural to OOP. I am now guessing that the syntax difference I spotted was probly due to different style and not different php version. What is your input on this latest find of mine ?
php.net was too complicated for me in the ARRAYS chapter and so I thought it would take ages for me to learn php. And so, best to search for codes in youtube tuts and viewed about 10 channels and copied codes from there to build my on membership site or social network not realizing that each channel was coding differently (Procedural, OOP). I suspected the difference was related to the version. Hence, no matter what you guys were saying about syntax same for the different version, I was not buying it. I was assuming programmers in love with php 5 trying to bias me towards php 5 with nonsense about both versions using same syntax.
You know what the problem is ?
It is these fools ho bringout the text or video tuts. They never mention which version they are teaching nor hardly mention whether OOP or procedural.
Show me an online tut or a tut book or ebook or a tut vid series that teach php 7 from top to bottom and mentions they are either teaching procediral or oop. They’d probly just mention they are teaching mysqli or pdo. That is about it. And so I picked different style of codes (oop, pro) without ever realizing it. Noticed a few difference in the way they code to do the same thing and wrongfully assumed that had to do with version differences.
I mean it Andres, google and see or youtube and see if you can find us any php 7 that teaches oop and teaches mysqli and pdo. You won’t find any that is tailored to someone like me who knows not any previous version of php. Nearly every assume we know php 5 and just teach the difference between php 5 & 7 (tutorialspoint.com). Checl phptherightway.com and tell me where is the sections that teach about constants, variable and data types, etc. (all the basics). You won’t find any.
Now, you know why I migrated to youtube for tuts. It is because tut sites (famous ones) are not for complete beginners. More like for guys like you who have experience.
It seems, I will have to return to php.net.
Yeah I would not rely on tuts. Only ever did one which must be 10 years old already, but sites like Stack Overflow, php.net and Sitepoint combined with google work a treat when trying to solve a problem. Like I said if you pick a task and try to do it yourself you will eventually get there and of course you will have 20 questions in the middle that you’ll try to answer one by one until you finally get a grasp. I would advise you to start applying the basic OOP concepts into your code and start thinking in an OOP mindset. You will eventually get a grasp and be more prepared to work in large code bases. Inheritance, composition, factory pattern… There’s no difference in how these are applied in php5 or 7. You will have doubts at first about when to apply which but you’ll end up finding that they simplify your programming life a lot. I would say learn the basic 15 coolest features of php7 in 2 or 3 hours and you’re ready to start coding away and getting comfortable with php.
