Reality check

**Hendri Kurniawan** · Jul 26 '07, 09:55 AM

Re: Reality check

KC wrote:

Hi Group, Just joined and would ask if you could give me a reality
check. I have a year left before I take early retirement and would
like to convert some of my work at work from excel (which I know a
reasonable amount) to a database over the firms network. Mostly they
would be simple forms for users to complete, some with lookups for
addresses and existing info. One or two would be more complex
management based databases. I have a couple of books on PHP and MYSQL
but am wondering if I am deluding myself into thinking I can learn and
cover all the bases in the time I have. Is this something a novice
could do? or should I stear clear!
>
KC
>

IMHO, go for it...
You are never to old to learn something new.
Basic PHP programming is easy to learn, but
"Good" PHP programming takes a while to learn
if you don't have the basic. (Again IMHO)

Hendri Kurniawan

**Krustov** · Jul 26 '07, 11:45 AM

Re: Reality check

<comp.lang.ph p>
<KC>
<Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:19:31 -0700>
<1185441571.767 166.119030@l70g 2000hse.googleg roups.com>

Hi Group, Just joined and would ask if you could give me a reality
check. I have a year left before I take early retirement and would
like to convert some of my work at work from excel (which I know a
reasonable amount) to a database over the firms network. Mostly they
would be simple forms for users to complete, some with lookups for
addresses and existing info. One or two would be more complex
management based databases. I have a couple of books on PHP and MYSQL
but am wondering if I am deluding myself into thinking I can learn and
cover all the bases in the time I have. Is this something a novice
could do? or should I stear clear!
>

https://www.outerlimitsfan.co.uk/outerlimitsfan.zip

A full php website for you to tinker with - although it only works on
windows web hosting .

But thats no major issue as you can use if offline on your windows pc
with no worrys .

- download and install XAMPP from apachefriends

- put the outerlimitsfan website into the /xampp/htdocs/ folder

- type in http://localhost into your browser

And away you go - thats all their is to it .

Most of the php code on the OLF website was a get the job and some of
the techniques used arnt ideal - but if you track through it - you
should learn some php basics to get you started .

**Jerry Stuckle** · Jul 26 '07, 01:25 PM

Re: Reality check

KC wrote:

Hi Group, Just joined and would ask if you could give me a reality
check. I have a year left before I take early retirement and would
like to convert some of my work at work from excel (which I know a
reasonable amount) to a database over the firms network. Mostly they
would be simple forms for users to complete, some with lookups for
addresses and existing info. One or two would be more complex
management based databases. I have a couple of books on PHP and MYSQL
but am wondering if I am deluding myself into thinking I can learn and
cover all the bases in the time I have. Is this something a novice
could do? or should I stear clear!
>
KC
>

It depends on how comfortable you are with programming languages (Excel
macros are not a real programming language) and how much you apply yourself.

The more comfortable you are with other languages, the easier time you
generally have picking up a new language such as PHP. Also, the better
chance you'll be comfortable with PHP.

OTOH, if you've never done any programming other than Excel macros,
you'll have a harder time picking up *any* language, and once you get
into it, may find you love it or hate it - it depends on the person.

However - a year is easily enough time to get a good handle on PHP and
MySQL, even if you don't have any previous programming experience (you
will also need to learn HTML). Start out with some of the easier forms
and see how you like it.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

KC · Jul 26 '07, 02:15 PM

Re: Reality check

Thank you for help. I used to tutor MS Office and thought I had a
reasonable grasp of the applications. However I soon found out how
little I knew when I moved into my current job and started doing
things for real.

I think its because of that gap, what you think you know and what
there is to know, that I feel somewhat daunted by it all. I will
however give it a go.

Many thanks once again

KC

**Captain Paralytic** · Jul 26 '07, 02:45 PM

Re: Reality check

On 26 Jul, 15:12, KC <GeneralCoc...@ gmail.comwrote:

Thank you for help. I used to tutor MS Office and thought I had a
reasonable grasp of the applications. However I soon found out how
little I knew when I moved into my current job and started doing
things for real.
>
I think its because of that gap, what you think you know and what
there is to know, that I feel somewhat daunted by it all. I will
however give it a go.
>
Many thanks once again
>
KC

Just a thought, take a look at a framework like http://www.phppeanuts.org/
Could help you along a bit.

**Geoff Berrow** · Jul 26 '07, 06:05 PM

Re: Reality check

Message-ID: <1185461000.625 522.317830@o61g 2000hsh.googleg roups.comfrom
Captain Paralytic contained the following:

>
>Just a thought, take a look at a framework like http://www.phppeanuts.org/
>Could help you along a bit.

I've learned PHP at a fairly late stage in life and with a similar
background to the OP (IT teacher). It wouldn't have helped me.

As far as possible I like to know what everything does. It's very easy
to get a lot done in a short time using a framework but whenever I've
used one I've always found it equally daunting when I try to tweak the
output to suit my needs.

I suppose it depends what type of person you are. I've written a lot of
code that doubtless re-invents the wheel, and it's probably crappy code
to boot. But it's /my/ crappy code and I know how it works and more
importantly, how to change it if somebody wants something different..

It's a bit like building a house. You could build a prefabricated house
with lots of large components but your options would be limited. Or you
could learn a lot of individual skills and have it exactly how you
liked.
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

KC · Jul 26 '07, 06:55 PM

Re: Reality check

Thanks for all comments! In the excel world I use both my own VBA
code and borrowed stuff. and think I'll turn to my books to learn some
basics first and trawl through the archive of this group to pick stuff
up and try to make sense as I go along. I'm sure I'll have to ask
when I get stuck so look forward to your future responses. Many
thanks for the input so far.

Regards

KC

**Nooze Goy** · Jul 26 '07, 09:45 PM

Re: Reality check

KC wrote:

Thanks for all comments! In the excel world I use both my own VBA
code and borrowed stuff. and think I'll turn to my books to learn some
basics first and trawl through the archive of this group to pick stuff
up and try to make sense as I go along. I'm sure I'll have to ask
when I get stuck so look forward to your future responses. Many
thanks for the input so far.
>
Regards
>
KC
>

I have always found it extremely useful to work with "real" code, as
opposed to samples. Just as you discovered with VB, you'll see tons of
"real" PHP code around. Even better, there are any number of actual
working applications for which the PHP code is easily available.

It's a lot easier to work with an application that one understands, and
I think you might find it useful to take a look at WordPress. It's an
open source blog software with quite a sizeable user base, which
stretches across a large spectrum of people whose programming expertise
ranges from zero to high-octane.

WP's code is mostly PHP, with some javascript thrown in, and it uses
MySQL for its database management. Setup is negligible: create an empty
database in your MySQL server, download the WP code, install it in a
subdir off your website, and go to your browser and navigate to that
subdir... and away you go. The main site (wordpress.org) has a well-laid
out plan with plenty of user doc and lots of "themes" and plugins with
still more code. Even better, one of the themes is a purely skeletonized
one, so you can easily work with it and get immediate feedback. IIRC,
it's called "default-empty".

**Captain Paralytic** · Jul 27 '07, 09:05 AM

Re: Reality check

On 26 Jul, 18:58, Geoff Berrow <blthe...@ckdog .co.ukwrote:

Message-ID: <1185461000.625 522.317830@o61g 2000hsh.googleg roups.comfrom
Captain Paralytic contained the following:
>
>
>

Just a thought, take a look at a framework likehttp://www.phppeanuts. org/
Could help you along a bit.

>
I've learned PHP at a fairly late stage in life and with a similar
background to the OP (IT teacher). It wouldn't have helped me.
>
As far as possible I like to know what everything does. It's very easy
to get a lot done in a short time using a framework but whenever I've
used one I've always found it equally daunting when I try to tweak the
output to suit my needs.
>
I suppose it depends what type of person you are. I've written a lot of
code that doubtless re-invents the wheel, and it's probably crappy code
to boot. But it's /my/ crappy code and I know how it works and more
importantly, how to change it if somebody wants something different..
>
It's a bit like building a house. You could build a prefabricated house
with lots of large components but your options would be limited. Or you
could learn a lot of individual skills and have it exactly how you
liked.
--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDshttp://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

I'm like you there Geoff, I get on far better with raw code than
frameworks! The only framework I sort of work within is Mambo/Joomla.

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