To be honest I know nothing of where to start with PHP, I've seen it and know how to use PHP applications, where do I go from here?

I know it sounds silly, but I've used google to try and find resources, but there are just too many, could anyone suggest a good way to get into learning PHP?

Many Thanks

Richard

Do you even have a server to run your php on? If so, here are some good resources

PHP Tutorial - Introduction
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (for reference)
I have some tutorials on my site, Programming Tips

This is a really good book for php
Amazon.com: PHP 5 in Easy Steps (In Easy Steps): Books: Mike McGrath

For anything else, google is your friend. There will be tons of resources out there, most of them should do the job.

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I do have the server and thanks for the links. I'll give them a view.

W3Schools have a nice overview of what PHP is and what it can do. Zend also have a nice but more in-depth article about getting to grips with PHP.

• Introduction to PHP
• PHP 101 (part 1): Down the Rabbit Hole

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The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out.

The way I have learnt my limited amount so far :P is by finding php code (in scripts, on websites, @ php.net etc) then copying it out, then understanding what it means .. I don't want to know that it does something just because you said it does, I want to know what it means when I'm typing it. I find it easier to learn & remember if you know what you're doing.

So, look/copy, then understand, then re-read it. Then I'll start fiddling with it, breaking it apart, adding on what I have learnt trying to get it to work. Even editing one line could screw the script up completely, so I make sure that there is a backup.

Basically, I think the best way to learn (from my limited experience), is to get your hands on any sort of code and try editing it and generally making a mess *grin*.

Anyway, I'm usually always around so if you want a hand with something or need someone who is still learning then a PM would be great :)

Thanks for the information, i have a application, which i've been looking at, this script doesn't work as it has too much code and from someone else who had looked at it, they said it was poorly written.

I wanted to learn PHP to try and get it working, but i'll give it a try and it doesn't matter if i mess it up, it doesn't work anyway.

Thanks for your help.

Learning PHP is great if you have a script you want to write.
I started with a simple shoutbox example and went to my own CMS. Fun time :)
First learn all the functions and procedural programming and then take the bold step and go Object Oriented :)
Just don't give up if you try to find bug for 2,5 hours. :)

Maybe it's just me, but OO isn't all that hard, the terminology is what gets people - Anywho, as Abiko said it's very important to learn all the built in functions and then some.

You first must know how to crawl to walk (procedural -> OOP) :)
I mean OOP's functions are procedural.. :) some.
When you go to OOP you'll see how it is easier.
And - download the PHP Manual - you new Bible :)

I'm just in the process of creating my first discussion board. It will only be simple and nothing along the lines of PHPBB or the invision power board, but i'm hoping to build from there.

Thanks for your advice.

Building Forums is always fun iv done it many times lol i always enjoy it even if you do sometimes rip ya hair out.

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www.jooney.co.uk - the online portfolio

It is fun, i'm enjoying the learning process.

For this project in the end i want to be able to load widgets and modules, etc so it it fully mod capable.

But i'm a fair way away from that.

At the moment i'm doing this for me, but it will be good to see what i can do.

Firstly learn how to work with the database (MySQL, SQLite etc..) - cause they're best friends from now on.
When you got that in your hat, then read some articles about security, how to secure your queries, log in securtiy ( watch your input field maxchars and allowed chars and check the - XSS is a .. nasty thing :) ).

When you become skilled enough to know what is the code of another programmer is doing - and you see the flaws/brilliance in it - great!

Also you can try out some Frameworks ( Zend, Cake or maybe RoR (Ruby) or Django (Python) ).
Frrameworks have the leverage of having the foundation for your application (DB Abstraction, user managment/access rights (permissions) and various other neat classes (e.g. Zend's Flickr, Amazon etc. ).
I support frameworks (if they have a string community behind them) and not-so-complicated learning curve.

Another thing you could ask yourself: Do I need templates?
I've worked with few of them (Smarty, patTemplate and phpLib or its clone xTemplate (bTemplate) )- and they are helpful if you want your code seperated from the design.
If I had to recommend a templating engine to you I would go - phpLib (bTemplate, xTemplate).

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Back from sysadmins to the programmers.

I think i will want it to be able to have different templates.

I think i will do a lot of reading on security, at the moment i'm writing my php files and sql files from sample code and hope to build from there.

I've heard of a few of those templates, my knowledge of working with templates is those of Joomla! & PHPBB, and that's just installing them.

As for widget/modules i was thinking of a sidebar similat to Wordpress.

I'm always thinking ahead, but i think i'm quite away from modules and templates, i think just getting my disccussion board looking the way i want it is one of my priorities.

I will be doing some of the frameworks mentioned, i've heard of python as the original bittorrent client is written in that.

I should be grasping what i'm learning soon. But i shall not be rushing.