On Sat, 2010-04-24 at 15:46 +0100, Nathan Rixham wrote: > David McGlone wrote: > > On Friday 23 April 2010 07:45:16 Michiel Sikma wrote: > >> On 23 April 2010 13:15, David McGlone <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >>> Is there a good strategy to studying PHP? > >>> > >>> For instance, is there a way to break everything down into small > >>> managable topics? > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Blessings, > >>> David M. > >> Just build what you want to build and look things up when necessary. The > >> biggest part of learning any language is becoming able to creatively solve > >> problems within its realm of possibilities, and that's something you can't > >> really learn just by reading and solving textbook problems. Hands-on > >> experience is a very important key to understanding. > >> > >> Keep an open mind, ask people for answers if things get difficult, always > >> assume that there's a better way to do something, and in a while you'll be > >> able to write perfectly decent programs. > > > > This is the route I have been following for the past couple years and I have > > always assumed there is a better way to do something and that is, in a way > > what makes me lose confidence. > > > > I always feel like my code is crap and sometimes even ashamed to even show any > > of it. > > > > Hi David, > > Really good to see somebody asking for honest advice on a v important > matter :) > > First, if I may, I'd like to suggest that being ashamed to show your > code is never going to be a productive way to work, rather the more code > you show, the more feedback you will get on your code, and often with > examples of alternative ways to do it - posting snippets and > opensourcing are great ways of crowd sourcing solid feedback. > > Next, saying your code is crap, we all feel like that sometimes, but > it's critical to note that if your code does the job it's supposed to, > then it's a success! A few months ago I was questioning myself again and > wrote this: http://webr3.org/blog/general/the-wall/ - the point is it's > a good thing to question yourself, it's a good thing to take everything > in to consideration, and often I (used to) find myself looking at very > short procedural ways of doing things and think.. "why am i making all > these classes"; it's our job as programmers to know when to implement > something in 10 quick lines that are easy to maintain, and when to > create an all singing and dancing framework type affair, pros and cons > to each, and there is no "One True Way" TM of doing things - each bit of > code is very much dependent on context, scenario and maintenance costs. > > Okay, on to your specific questions! > > We can break this down in to small(~ish) common junks, and which you > study, take further and in what order is entirely up to you: > > General Coding > This is the stuff that translates to almost every language, for loops, > echo'ing, simple code optimisation and basically just how to script and > program - I'll assume that after two years you've got this nailed better > than any book can teach you, from here it's just experience and picking > up tricks on the way, so generally no need to worry! > > PHP > As you know php is a specific language, and the best way to learn > everything php specific, is literally to read the manual, from start to > finish, a few times, and keep referring back to it, if you see something > you haven't actually used before then give it a quick go in a short 5-10 > line script and have a play, the 2 minutes it takes will be more than > worth it (by doing it, it'll get engrained in you). > > Aside: in every project i do, and at all times i have a test.php where I > literally just try out ways of doing things and snippets of code, once > I'm done i stick an exit; before it then do the next snippet above it, > this way i always have one nice file of snippets in every project to > refer back to - they often come in handy for helping on this list > actually, and in fact sometimes are from peoples code on this list! > > Coding Standards > One of the biggest factors of feeling your code isn't good enough, is by > not using any coding standards, this is pretty simple stuff but makes > your life a lot easier, and code a lot cleaner - even crap broken code > comes across a lot better when it's nicely formatted lol. A good IDE can > help you here, as for which coding standards that's up to you, but you > can check you are adhering to them by using "php code sniffer" - > personally I opt for a slightly modified version of zend coding > standards with the odd bit of extra spacing around params etc. > > Paradigms & Design Patterns > A bit of familiarity with programming paradigms is always a good thing > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm > In PHP we use Procedural and Object Orientated (Class Based) > If you do OO then it's also very very useful to read up on all the > Object Orientated subjects though especially "Separation of Concerns", > familiarity of Martin Fowler's enterprise patterns > http://martinfowler.com/ is also a good thing, there is also a Java > pattern guide that's most useful > http://java.sun.com/blueprints/patterns/ and many transfer over to OO PHP. > > Other Languages > Yes :) one of the best ways to get good with your primary language (php) > is to try out and use other languages, for instance if you were to put > some focus in to javascript (ecmascript), scala, erlang, c, java and > maybe something like as3 then I'm pretty sure your code and programming > would improve ten fold I'm sure - I'm not suggesting you learn them all > but a bit of focus and playing from time to time would be a very good > thing indeed! > > HTTP and REST > This is pretty critical if you're making websites, honestly how can we > create th web if we don't know how it works? REST is the design behind > HTTP (and not just some weirdy api where you use GET parameters) - in > fact when i say pretty critical i mean it's entirely critical, the more > you understand REST and the more familiar you are with HTTP then the > better your websites, web apps, api's etc will be! > HTTP: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html > HTTPbis (the updated version, work in progress, probably better to read > to be honest): http://tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/ > Architecture of the worldwide web: http://www.w3.org/TR/webarch/ > )you can't argue w/ the makers of the web now can ya) > REST: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_arch_style.htm > > leave it there.. but happy to continue if you need. > > Best, > > Nathan > Great email and nice article. I agree, there is no true way. Just as an app could be developed in one of a selection of languages, so too the approach within those languages will differ. Thanks, Ash http://www.ashleysheridan.co.uk
