Where to Start

[ojsimon]

Hi
I would like to start programming a site grid.orch8.net/ i only have basic programming knowlege, yet im keen to learn, what should i learn to complete this and what would be the steps? any help would be great.

Thanks

[thefox149]

Read Books

The best php mysql book i ever read was the apress
Learn PHP5 from novice to professional. give you a great all round understanding

[coolsti]

There are many good books out there, and I have always found things from O'Reilly to be very clear and understandable.

For programming a site, it takes more than just programming knowledge, but also some insight into how the entire server - client interactions work. How to best store information from page to page and how to transmit information best between client and server, how to make understandable code and not get into a "redirect" jungle (my large database application that my entire company is using does not employ a single redirect).

When you get going, I find both the online mysql and online php documentations very helpful for finding out the functions and syntax that you need at the moment. Just google "mysql documentation" and "php documentation", they will show up as the first in the lists.

Learn how to use classes in PHP quickly. It helps in organizing your code, helps namespacing, and of course allows you to reuse a lot of code more easilly. On the other hand, be careful not to over do it, it can make your code very difficult to understand, if classes contain classes which contain classes, etc.

And the best way to learn any kind of programming is by example. Find some tutorials, and learn from them.

Steve, Denmark

[Atli]

Hi.

If you are new to programming, PHP is definitely the place to start!

There are many good books available that deal with PHP, but there is also a LOT of stuff on the web.

Just try Goggling something like "PHP Tutorial" and you will see. I ran across this one at the Zend devzone and I quite liked it. Zend being the PHP company doesn't hurt either ;)

The official PHP web, php.net, has detailed information on most everything that can be done in PHP, so you should definitely remember that one.

If you plan on using databases, I would recommend looking into MySQL. It works very well with PHP and is free!

And if you run into any problems, you can always post here and we will do our best to help you out ;)