On 11/02/2006 10:10 AM, /dev/null wrote:
hello
i have been trying to learn php.
what is the best approach to learning php for someone who has no
programming experience?
i am very familiar with html, xhtml, and css. i'm not an idiot when it
comes to using computers.
i have bought several books and have subscribed to a couple of the php
mailing lists, but i feel that i could be doing more to learn php.
what approach (and steps) did you take in learning this really cool
scripting language? should i look into taking classes or stick with an
autodidact approach?
any advice and/or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks.
I honestly believe the best way to learn any programming language, aside
from perhaps tertiary study (and then only perhaps), is to start out
with a project and ask the questions you need to solve as you build that
project.
It should quickly become obvious which things you need to learn, as you
plan and pursue the project.
Some of those questions might be:
- I need to access data in a database. How do I do that?
- I need to be able to carry data from one page to another, how do I do
that?
- I need to be able to store 'stuff' at one point in a page (ie, maybe
data I got from the database) so I can use it again at another point in
the page.
And so on.
Armed with those questions, you can go through your books, go through
helpful web sites (don't underestimate the quality of the docs and
comments on php.net) and ask questions in forums like this one.
Another useful way of picking up knowledge that might not be relevant to
you right now, but will probably be handy to know later, is reading
threads in this mailing list. That way you learn about the kinds of
problems others have encountered, and the suggestions for solving them
they have received.
Much warmth,
Murray
---
"Lost in thought"
http://www.planetthoughtful.org
"Urban legends, superstitions, ghost
stories and folklore"
http://www.ulblog.org
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