Want to learn to program....

[palmettoexpress_ceo]

Hi all,

I currently have a website in MySQL / PHP....the meat of the site was created by phpVMS and all I did was follow the prompts to install it and set it up. What I was wondering, does anyone know of any resources for teaching yourself MySQL and PHP?

Also, I work in an environment that users SQL server 2008 and Visual Studio. My next question is, is SQL Server 08 and Visual Studio an easier program to learn? Does anybody know how the two compare?

I am totally new at this but really want to learn it....I want to learn the best route to take (i.e. free(MySQL/PHP) or $$$ (SQL Server/Visual Studio)).

What are your thoughts.

[slacker3]

I can recommend you
http://www.w3schools.com
to learn HTML, CSS, PHP and SQL.

It's completely free, all you need is some time.
Also you should get used to Apache and MySQL:
http://www.apache.org
http://www.mysql.com

[misson]

I don't recommend W3Schools. The quality of the information varies widely. Tizag Tutorials is a little better, but some of it is out of date.

What are your thoughts.

Learning to program doesn't mean learning to program in a specific language; learning PHP vs learning C# and ASP.Net is a false dichotomy. If you want to be hardcore, use the Wizard book. You can also find programming videos on iTunes U from accredited universities. You should also learn how to develop, which is a broader topic than programming. Many designs that are perfectly valid programs aren't well suited for the development process.

As for whether to start with PHP or ASP.Net, there's not a clear winner. PHP is simpler overall. ASP.Net has the easier to use IDE (for PHP, there's Eclipse, which is quite powerful but has a steeper learning curve than Visual Studio). PHP is better supported on X10, though that won't matter if you're using your own computer. I've seen much more bad habits evident in PHP code, but that's more due to the quality of instruction than a failing of the language. If anything, I recommend using Ruby or Python, or even Smalltalk or JS, to learn how to program.

If you want to learn frontend development, also study JS, CSS and HTML.

StackOverflow has quite a few questions relevant to yours; check out the answers for additional recommendations.

[bachstrad]

My learning path is currently Lynda.Com video tutorials "PHP and Mysql :Essentials" and "PHP and MySql:Beyond the Basics"
I am halfway through the first one and finding it very easy to follow - the whole thing about programming and Web Develpment is (IMHO) conceptual. Each concept is explained simply and the beauty of the videos is that you can keep going back over the examples, type them in and test your accuracy - most of my problems are quite simply poor typing - the more you debug your own problems against a standard sample the more you learn - as Ronald says "I'm lovin' it." Folliowing on from these two video courses is another course which has fifty real life PHP and MySQL projects OOP and MVC I am 59 so I reckon I have found a great retirement activity for the future. I am not in any way connected to the company I just found the presentation to my taste - so keep looking for something that suits your learning style and stick to it. Steve

[jorge777]

what is the best site to learn php, which has codes sources?

[zenadix]

actually the best way to learn PHP is through practice. create your PHP/MYSQL webpage and practice practice practice.

for tutorial, just google it.

[emoss76]

create your PHP/MYSQL webpage and practice practice practice.

I agree, reading is no substitute for the understanding you get from hands-on experience, but can be a big help.

What you might want to do is set yourself an objective for your site (e.g. a contact form, member login area, etc.), google for a good example (there are plenty of examples for both) and make your own solution using the coding concepts in the example. Then as your confidence increases, look to expand your site with more objectives (e.g. a member-editable database) and repeat.

If you're looking for a good book to get you started, I can recommend 'Build your own Database Driven Website' by sitepoint.com, which has a downloadable code archive. It covers intermediate database interactions, but does not cover more advanced topics such as object-oriented programming with PHP.

But by all means look around for other books/sites, there are probably better out there.

[jdawg2k]

Yal are blowing my mind with this thread! Can't wait to explore the resources!

[shatteredcode]

www.phpvideotutorials.com

[galaxyAbstractor]

I would recommend http://devzone.zend.com/article/627 , that's where I learned PHP