Best way to Train yourself in PHP

[jpietrowiak]

Hi All,
So I have been using Zencart for sometime and have gotten a pretty good grasp on how the PHP files are organized and can sort of copy the way someone else coded something to get it to work if I want to duplicate something for the simple stuff. I am highly technical in machine troubleshooting and logic in that respect, but my knowledge of what a piece of PHP code does is very novice. Being that I am highly technical and can figure out almost anything what would be the best way in your opinion to learn PHP programming. Sure I can go back to school, but I have found that I can learn in a lot less time on my own then going to school. I am willing to spend some money as well if needed. I know there is alot on the interenet, but looking for best of bread here to get me up to speed.

Thanks for any recommendations!

[gilby]

You could start here
http://www.w3schools.com/php/

[stevesh]

It depends on how you learn best, but I like the Visual Quickstart Guide series of books.

[lat9]

I'm a big fan of http://www.php.net.

[jpietrowiak]

Thanks Guys!
@gilby - Spent 8 hours going through all of W3schools PHP sections last night. Finally understand what some of the code actually does now. Thank you!

@stevesh - Thanks! I think I figured out I learn best from looking at short examples of code and seeing the results like the w3schools tutorial shows. I'm not a video watcher, much rather see concepts of how someone else does things. I use to program PLC Ladder logic for machine automation but only ladder logic. But realizing a lot of that has to do with if, else, or but in a ladder display not a text version like php. Do you feel the books you recommended go through a lot of examples with my type of learning style? The ods are I won't do any huge coding projects to get good enough at remembering every line of code to type from scratch which is not my goal. Just to be able to understand what I look at and break it down to make changes and modifications to the way I want it to work.

@lat9
Thanks! I just ran into this site last night trying to find more on arrays as this seems to be a little more complicated on how to work with the data. Looks like PHP.net is going to be one more site have to go through when have more time. Also looks like a really good quick reference place to look things up.

To all-
Are there any good websites/cheat sheets that you use for sample code examples on common queries or common php code lookups that you would use alot?

[stevesh]

The Quickstart books are almost all short code examples. You can Look Inside this one:

http://www.amazon.com/PHP-Web-Visual...1787121&sr=1-1

[lat9]

To all-
Are there any good websites/cheat sheets that you use for sample code examples on common queries or common php code lookups that you would use alot?

Google is your friend. Just search for "php <a short description of what you're trying to do>" or "mysql <description>" and you'll find a bunch of answers out there!

[torvista]

Are there any good websites/cheat sheets that you use for sample code examples on common queries or common php code lookups that you would use alot?

most Google roads roads lead to Stackoverflow, with good reason.

Learning is a parallel path of some theoretical homework but the real learning only comes with jumping in and modifying code to do what you want, it's a long term thang

I once asked the late (great) Conor Kerr (Ceon) for some recommendations for reference material, amongst which was Essential PHP Security By Chris Shiflett.
Getting code to do what you want is one thing, but ensuring its not a security risk is another.

[mc12345678]

Are there any good websites/cheat sheets that you use for sample code examples on common queries or common php code lookups that you would use alot?

Typically I will do the google search regarding the above and either end up on w3schools or php.net (http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.mysql.php). Typical lookups would be select..... There's not much more past that. :) okay so a little rhetorical there, but to look something up, basically select data that meets criteria as paired with other data from one or more sources and potentially sorted. Otherwise, update or insert to provide refreshed or new data respectively, or delete to get rid of it. ZC contains some functions to help with these, and it is wise to use the built in functions because like previously pointed out, security can be an issue of concern.

I can't speak for the individual books identified here, but yes if you learn best by small examples, some books go way beyond in the discussion and become super theoretical.

As far as php, well, it's another computer language, it does offer the display of information, but it sounds like you have the basics (at least in another computer language), you pretty much need to learn the syntax for php, identify what is possible, and what you want to get out. From that, you are likely able to do anything you want. Sometimes it just takes a little more effort/time. :)
The other thing(s) that would help is a IDE that can help you out with things such as syntax and variable declaration/usage. The ZC FAQs and Wiki provide some suggestions for those.

All and all it is it's own animal, but don't let PHP scare you.