An extremely ambitious PHP beginner would appreciate some guidance.

#1
Guest_XLCR_*

Posted 09 March 2011 - 08:34 AM

Guests

Hi Guys

This is my very first post, so please forgive me if I inadvertently do anything to upset the usual etiquette here!

I am hoping that someone will (or perhaps a few of you?) will be able to point me in the right direction to achieve a somewhat ambitious plan.

First, a little background on me. I am 32 years old, I work in IT Support, working predominantly with Windows Servers and Desktops, but I have a good to very good knowledge of most things "IT". I have dabbled over the years with various web technologies, never really delving much deeper than the odd "teach yourself....." type book or a bit of Googling here and there on lots of different things (HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP). I've always wanted to learn a programming language properly (my best effort, shamefully, was learning Pascal when I was at school - but heck, I loved that! :blushing:) - Anyway, the point being that I am fully competent enough and actually enjoy programming when I do it, but until now I've never really had the impetus to go the whole way with a "propper" concerted effort to learn and then apply the knowledge to a real-world application.

Anyway, times have changed, and I find myself wanting to make use of PHP to design and run a web application which I could only break down to you all as being a cross between facebook, ebay, and amazon (ie, a social networking oriented type site that allows users to post a request which is then bid upon by others for in a reverse auction ).

The reasons for wanting to do this will ultimately be commercial (in my little dream world!) - but at the moment are mainly for self-teaching... and yes, I know Im throwing myself in the deep end.

I have in my possession a number of beginners guides, a selection of PHP video tutorials, and a host of bookmarked sites. However none of what I have is really sufficient to guide me on the right path.

I have a basic understanding of the PHP basics (data types, loops, syntax etc) - I also have very limited understanding of OOP. I know the basics of MySQL and have at my disposal, my own VPS for hosting purposes.

I am loathe to use a framework such as Zend, or CakePHP (the two I have looked at) - to help in my quest, as I really want to start from scratch, in order to get a thorough understanding of the entire application design process. I don't want the short cuts that a framework would offer, even if that seems counter-intuitive at the moment.

I have seen a lot mentioned about MVC, but nothing that is a step-by-step guide or example of how to implement an application using this model.

I have made a start on my "app" by wireframing what I would like the site to approximately look like on paper, and I have started a data model for the database, in so much as I have thought roughly about what data fields I will need to store or work with.

I guess what I would like to know is......

What now? - I really want to jump straight into the coding, but dont really know what Im doing!. I dont know about sessions or URL rewrites (required for logging in and out - I assume?)

I know you shouldnt want to run before you can walk, but I'm sure there'll be a bod or two out there that feels my pain and has learnt by trial and error in a similar fashion?

Thanks in advance for any help.....

Edited by XLCR, 09 March 2011 - 10:46 AM.

#2
BlaineSch

Posted 09 March 2011 - 09:20 AM

Writes binary right handed and hex left handed

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2,448 posts

Firstly, let me congratulate you for moving towards PHP, being a windows guy! :P

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What now? - I really want to jump straight into the coding, but dont really know what Im doing!. I dont know about sessions or URL rewrites (required for logging in and out - I assume?)

This seems to be the only specific question. No you don't need either to make a login/logout website. Most people prefer PHP sessions, and some prefer creating them from scratch.
PHP: Sessions - Manual

The "URL rewriting" it only used for making "SEO friendly" URL's which only help robots, and bookmarking. Turning a page with a very long query string into a shorter, more readable format.

If you don't have the PHP Documentation bookmarked do so now, for it is your greatest asset.
PHP: PHP Manual - Manual

As for MVC, my knowledge on the subject is nowhere near it needs to be in order to teach it, however I found this site breaks it up a bit more, however they do their code in Ruby so it may confuse you.
Intermediate Rails: Understanding Models, Views and Controllers | BetterExplained

If all else fails, you still have wikipedia<3
Model?view?controller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Back to the URL Rewriting, you will see what I mean with the MVC, it all tries to go through a central page or "Router", so for that instance, it relies just on GET data to tell it where to go so you'd have a rather long query string which you may want to rewrite.

Google - I'm Feeling Lucky | Youtube Classes! | BlaineSch's Project Blog

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#3
BlaineSch

Posted 09 March 2011 - 12:51 PM

Writes binary right handed and hex left handed

Members
2,448 posts

Planning a project still falls under the "art" category. Everybody has their own way of doing it. Some suggest programs to map it out, which definitely should be considered.

DD Thought Tickler - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

You should start mapping out the database structure and which files you will be creating, and more specifics on how it will work. How you map out your files is based on the design pattern/hierarchy you choose.

For example your user registration you will need a database with columns "id, username, password, email, avatar, type".