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clenard · 07-24-2005, 07:04 PM

No, the only thing I've ever done (have experience with) before PHP was HTML and CSS, which is not programming at all.

PHP was like learning Chinese and Japanese at once to me. I never got the hang of it for about 8 months while trying to stay focused on it - which was hard to do... the reason it took so long was that I was trying to learn something by reading and not doing. That's why I say "follow the examples" and understand every line of code they give you throughout the book... it takes a little longer - but you'll actually be able to code after a few days :) now, it won't be like "hey, 2 days later I built something similar to Mambo" - but you'll actually know what you're doing :)

A problem I seem to have is memorizing little things... like - I know how things work, why they work, etc. -> but I'll be skimming through someone elses code and see define('SOMETHING', 1); and try to remember exactly what it's all for lol - but that's why I check the indexes on the book... or go to sites like this that aren't filled up with 1,000,000 threads running on a 3 year old version of vBulletin that takes 5 minutes to search and gives you 999,000 threads to search through lol...

Sorry... rambling.................

but if you feel that Video's (as in Learn by watching - like I prefer as well) may help you as well - you could check out www.VTC.com for their "Online University" for $30.00 a month - learn from their PHP video's and their MySQL video set as well. Use this site to ask simple questions - get quick answers and keep going. :)

I actually started with VTC's videos and I've watched them several times in the past to grasp Basic PHP - and they help alot! They're not boring like alot of the other tutorials out there either (except for PHP Projects by VTC - it's very boring). You learn how to build basic forums by the end of the video's. The MySQL video's are EXCELLENT though, I highly suggest those!

No matter what, keep reading one book and finish it up all the way or you'll never fully understand PHP - because you'll leave off at important parts just to see what's "more exciting" out there...

KEEP READING! :D

07-24-2005, 07:04 PM	#27 (permalink)
clenard The Contributor Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 40 Thanks: 0	No, the only thing I've ever done (have experience with) before PHP was HTML and CSS, which is not programming at all. PHP was like learning Chinese and Japanese at once to me. I never got the hang of it for about 8 months while trying to stay focused on it - which was hard to do... the reason it took so long was that I was trying to learn something by reading and not doing. That's why I say "follow the examples" and understand every line of code they give you throughout the book... it takes a little longer - but you'll actually be able to code after a few days :) now, it won't be like "hey, 2 days later I built something similar to Mambo" - but you'll actually know what you're doing :) A problem I seem to have is memorizing little things... like - I know how things work, why they work, etc. -> but I'll be skimming through someone elses code and see define('SOMETHING', 1); and try to remember exactly what it's all for lol - but that's why I check the indexes on the book... or go to sites like this that aren't filled up with 1,000,000 threads running on a 3 year old version of vBulletin that takes 5 minutes to search and gives you 999,000 threads to search through lol... Sorry... rambling................. but if you feel that Video's (as in Learn by watching - like I prefer as well) may help you as well - you could check out www.VTC.com for their "Online University" for $30.00 a month - learn from their PHP video's and their MySQL video set as well. Use this site to ask simple questions - get quick answers and keep going. :) I actually started with VTC's videos and I've watched them several times in the past to grasp Basic PHP - and they help alot! They're not boring like alot of the other tutorials out there either (except for PHP Projects by VTC - it's very boring). You learn how to build basic forums by the end of the video's. The MySQL video's are EXCELLENT though, I highly suggest those! No matter what, keep reading one book and finish it up all the way or you'll never fully understand PHP - because you'll leave off at important parts just to see what's "more exciting" out there... KEEP READING! :D