[Resolved] How did you learn PHP & MySQL?

[dezinerite]

How did you learn PHP & MySQL?

I've decided to try learning it. :S So far I only know bits of HTML, Javascript and CSS. I did about an hour of PHP the other day and it was already quite frustrating. Nevertheless I've made up my mind, I'm going to learn this thing!

How did you learn PHP & MySQL, and how long did it take?

 

[Daniel]

W3Schools and then straight to www.PHP.net

Although there's various places to start, you really need to use PHP.net when you get more advanced, best resource there is.

Dan

 

[Peter]

I personally started from books. Try looking in your local bookshop and flick through some of the books they have to see if any appeal to you.

The style the book is written in can affect greatly how easily you pick up the concepts.

Once you know the basics you can then start looking at the manual at php.net (and being able to properly understand everything).

 

[-NC-]

i'd already been programming for about 8 years before i picked up php.

initially i learned by modifying open source apps to my needs and then started writing my own on top of cakephp, which i can't praise enough.

I used php.net every step of the way and continue to use it to this day ( I don't quite have the entire reference memorized yet, maybe in about 5 years )

 

[Mark]

I learned most of what I know on PHP two ways ... Dissecting other peoples Scripts , And when I got lost - I would bug SecondVersion and Scott half into insanity

MySql - Well , I can install, Mod, and backup existing stuff - But "Knowing" it is another thing entirely

PHP.net is a must still

 

[Joe]

:lol: Mark. So that's why they both stepped down from being mods...

Anyway, I first started off creating and modifying various aspects of phpBB, and invision forums.
I then, like most others, modified other people's scripts, and dissected them to learn how.

I've been coding various PHP things for 2 years now, and I still need to use PHP.net for reference.
Even if you had memorised it, it's good to check.

I would, however, recommend W3Schools.

Joe

 

[Barrucadu]

I began by searching for a tutorial of whatever I wanted to learn on google, then when I found one, looking up every function I didn't understand. In a few weeks of this, I had a pretty good PHP knowledge.

 

[nasaboy007]

as mentioned, www.w3schools.com is probably your best bet. they start of from the BEGINNING and explain the concepts from scratch as well as what you need to know. they even have sample scripts and stuff so once you get the hang of the php syntax (how to define variables, conditional statements, etc) i advise you start downloading some of the simple scripts that you can find on sites such as www.hotscripts.com and just going through them, seeing how they work. of course, www.php.net is a godsend for looking up new functions or even refreshing old ones that you may not have used in a while. as for mysql, i've been doing php for over 3 years now and i'm still not "fluent" when it comes to mysql - i've always found that it turns out to be extremely picky. the code that i use sometimes just errors and doesnt work depending on what host i'm using, the whole ' vs " vs `, its all very confusing. i suggest getting a solid basis in php itself before looking at databases. maybe work with flat text files first to get the hang of data storage. also, mysql tables are similar to spreadsheets (like excel). if you're good at excel, etc, you should have no trouble understanding the conceptual parts at least of mysql.

 

[psalzmann]

Visit hotscripts.com find open source scripts that have active member base and that is popular, and review it. Play with a section of the script and review the code as you go. It's not rocket science but as everything in life, a small learning curve that you'll begin to understand only over time (experience).

 

[Eric]

It's already been mentioned a few times in this thread, but it's the same way I learned as well. Take existing scripts and play with them, research the code, 'dissect' it. I probably did that for a month or so, then read through php.net several times.

As for MySQL, http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/index.html

I learned most of what I know on PHP two ways ... Dissecting other peoples Scripts , And when I got lost - I would bug SecondVersion and Scott half into insanity

MySql - Well , I can install, Mod, and backup existing stuff - But "Knowing" it is another thing entirely

PHP.net is a must still

'bug'? That's an understatement. BUG the HELL out of us, and into FULL insanity, would be more accurate. :lol:

:p

 

[xrvel]

I download some simple pHP samples from planetsourcecode.com, later on phpclasses.org. Both of them are cool websites. And php.net.

 

[AzN]

Tizag.com, PHP.net is both good resources. But I personally love to bug SV for help. :tu:

 

[Shane]

for basic - intermedite, w3schools.com is the place to go

 

[aboujouj83]

I recommend "PHP And MYSQL for dynamic websites". Great book.
This is the link from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/PHP-MySQL-Dynamic-Web-Sites/dp/0321186486/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product

It also has a website, where the author has all the scripts. Great way to learn.
I remember learning PHP and MySQL in less than 2 weeks with this book.

Aboujouj

 

[Palyriot]

I began learning PHP at php.net and that's the only source I've ever used. They have a complete manual that is perfect. It's not humorous like most books, but it's free and gets the job done. MySQL I like to look at http://www.tizag.com/mysqlTutorial/. I often refer back to it if I forget.

Some good cheat sheets for what you're learning...

http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/html-cheat-sheet.pdf
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/mysql_cheat_sheet.pdf
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/css_cheat_sheet.pdf
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/php_cheat_sheet.pdf

Some extra cheat sheets...
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/regular_expressions_cheat_sheet.pdf
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/mod_rewrite_cheat_sheet.pdf

Hope I helped.

 

[Wildhoney]

I just learnt it from hanging about with fellow programmers on TalkPHP. Then I bought TalkPHP !