6 replies to this topic

[bakhtn]

Hi Im new to php do you have any learning tips. Im finding it hard as a previous programmer in java perl, I want to become fluent in php for my career.

Do you recomend any books and do you find the online manual to be a bit complicated.

[Alexander]

I believe there is a nice book called "Practical PHP Programming" that is a valuable resource for using PHP for web application development.

I would recommend using tutorials on the web and learn all the syntax you can, we have many tutorials here in our tutorial section too (they are specific ones, to show you what PHP can look like in action: PHP Tutorials ). After getting your feet wet feel free to learn MySQL (most commonly used database engine for building websites) and read a book on creating a full website with database backend using MySQL.

Also we are here to help, ask any time if you have trouble :)

[bakhtn]

thanks

[xsonline]

I would say to go look for tutorials about php. That's how I learned it years ago :c-smile:

[7SLEVIN]

You can get a good foundation in a site like w3schools, but i would take Alexander up on his tip.

Buy a book, and read it :)

[sam_l]

PERL isn't really similar to PHP, but it does provide a good foundation as far as REGEX and logical constructs (if/then, for, do/while) go. Java has a similar syntax with the exception that everything is not a class. Between the two you should be sitting fairly well. I have never used the online manual myself but I would recommend to keep php.net open in a browser so you can look up whichever functions you need; the documentation includes examples and user commentary on the relevant function. Instead of buying books I would recommend creating small projects to familiarize yourself with the relevant functions and syntax.

[ghost_x47]

I think that Zend PHP 5.3 Certification Study Guide is kinda useful. You can sure that it will give you a lot of tips. For ex. - how php works in pipeholes. Hope this was helpful.)