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New to PHP

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:14 pm
by maurices5000
I'm new to PHP. When i was in school during the last years of the 90s i learned C++ and visual basic 6.0. I've not learned a lot since then. But i see PHP everywhere. My job hasn't really allowed me to develop the programming skill i need or would like to have.

Is PHP an object oriented language?

How hard is it to learn? Is it difficult?

Does it take long to get up to speed?

I have only a basic understanding of OOP and I've never implemented it. I feel my schooling was a waste.

I can write code in VB6 and I know CSS and HTML and can create validated websites. Outside of that i have no web programming experience. I understand the difference between client and server-side programming. I hear that VB.NEt is a huge beast to tackle. I plan to take a class in it this spring. Will PHP be as complicated or web design language not as complex?

Thanks!

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:38 pm
by s.dot
PHP is not an object oriented language by default. You can use it in a completely procedural way. However, in PHP 5, you can go with object orientated code if you wish to (you can in php4 also, but it is more of a hack).

PHP's syntax is very similar to that of C.

It's the first (and only so far) programming language that I have learned, so if I can do it.. it must not be too hard. :-D

Go ahead and read the getting started topic on this forum, have a play with http://www.php.net and have a go at it. :-D

All you need is a web server configured with php (most are).. or you can set one up on your own machine.

Re: New to PHP

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:00 pm
by CoderGoblin
maurices5000 wrote:How hard is it to learn? Is it difficult?
No it's not difficult if you have already had experience with another programming language. What can be difficult is doing it well. An example is learning about things like SQL injections when using databases. Core PHP programming doesn't necessarily teach it but any time you are processing user input you should be aware of it.