Total Newbie

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lemondash
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Total Newbie

Post by lemondash »

Hello all,

am new on here and new to php.

Was wondering if anybody could recommend a book for me to self study php and my sql, i want to start web development and have been recommended to start using php. I know i could use lot of web resoucres but am quite old skool and like to buy books.

Any help or recommendations would be great.

Lee
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akuji36
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by akuji36 »

Hello Lee

I like samms learn php in 24 hours.

However surprisingly it does not cover

a section on regular expressions which are

vital in validating php forms.

Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours

and follow this link for more on regular expressions:

http://www.phpvideotutorials.com/regex/

and

http://www.regexbuddy.com/ (this tool makes working with reg ex easier)

and

http://blog.themeforest.net/tutorials/d ... php-day-7/

Rod
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mikemike
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by mikemike »

Hi Lee,

Everyone has different methods of learning. Mine is to learn the absolute basics and then build things with increasing difficulty. If this sounds good to you then I'd recommend something easy like PHP and MySQL for Dummies or 'Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours'. Once you know the basics there's no better way to learn than trial and improvement in my opinion.

However, if you want to learn as much as you can from books then I'd steer clear from those kind of books as they are very limited as to what they can teach you.
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Chalks
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by Chalks »

this tutorial got me started with PHP. From there I just lurked on devnetwork and wrote as many projects as I could... it made things pretty easy to pick up.
lemondash
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by lemondash »

Many thanks, on that note i have order a copy of the sams 24 hour book, should be here tomorrow morning.

Also what is the best linux os to use, have a windows xp desktop but use Suse on my laptop.

What is the best php editor to use for either os ? I have been given copy of php designer 2008 for xp, is that ok ?

Thanks in advance.

Lee
jack_indigo
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by jack_indigo »

Unfortunately, most websites out there use RedHat Linux. I'm not a fan of it because it tends to be too conservative on "packages" (consider them like "programs" for now) and not cutting edge enough. I also don't like the non-free nature of its service packs. Also, CentOS has a huge uptick right now among hosting plans because it's a derivative of RedHat Enterprise Linux and has free updates maintained by a free community. So, yeah, learn your RedHat and Suse because that's what you might end up hosting with, but if you don't want to be frustrated day in and day out, my suggestion is to stick with Ubuntu Server or Ubuntu Desktop, both of which are a derivative of Debian. To me, Ubuntu is a better Debian. As with my clients, if they want a VPS solution for their site, and don't mind the version of Linux, I'm trying to recommend they go with Ubuntu Server first, Debian second, and RH third.

My editor of choice is gedit on the Gnome platform with Linux. Just make certain to install all the plugins because the File Browser Pane, Indent Lines, and External Tools plugins are invaluable. Then, I usually rearrange the toolbars and tabs and so on so that it's the perfect editor for me.

For me, I learned PHP the other way around. I never made PHP my first language. Instead, I started in BASIC as a kid, then C, then C++ briefly, then Visual Basic, then ASP and some Perl, then C#, then Java, then JSP, and then finally PHP. And PHP has held me here for quite awhile now -- love the language, even with the quirks. The point on that, though, is that there's something to be said that if you learn one language fairly well, it's easier to learn other languages after that -- especially if they borrow from each other.
Last edited by jack_indigo on Tue Jun 09, 2009 8:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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omniuni
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by omniuni »

Lemondash, everyone has their own preferences. Although the Sams book is good, if you want a fantastic book that covers everything from basics, to advanced with lots of examples and clear language, I highly recommend "PHP and MySQL Web Development" from Developer's Library. It's by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson. I have used it for about 3 years now, and still learn from it. It also comes with the book on CD as a PDF, which is amazingly convenient!

I personally use Ubuntu for my development. I like the workflow of KDE, and the fact that all KDE applications can work seamlessly with servers. In other words, I can put "ftp://blah" into the Open dialogue, and browse the server, select a file, edit it, and simply hit Save, and it auto-uploads the changes. It's less for me to worry about uploading this or that. I run an SSH server (sudo apt-get install ssh) on my development box, so I can use the FISH protocol to access it. Setting up Apache, PHP, MySQL and FTP/SSH was amazingly easy, and I even have it set so that locally, I can just edit the files in my public_html folder, and it is running from the web server. Personally, I just use Kate for my development environment, but there are lots of great tools available for Linux, from KDevelop, to the older (and currently being updated! Yay!) Quanta+ to GTK applications like Anjuta.

PHP Designer looks like a decent piece of software, though. If you like it, use it. Personally, I like a software that just stays out of my way, especially for learning.
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mikemike
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by mikemike »

jack_indigo, I wouldn't agree with your statement that most websites are hosted on redhat boxes. I for one rarely come across RedHat, and I manage a great number of sites. I do agree that CentOS seems to be the weapon of choice of later though, I use it and a great number of my clients do also. I also find Fedora is frequently used, although for some reason it seems to be earlier versions - not sure of the reasons why.

As for the editor, I used phpDesigner for a long while but it suddenly became very unstable. I now use Eclipse. I'd recommend both, more Eclipse because it's free and I've never had issues with either the PHP or Java versions. There are also some very annoying features (in my opinion) in phpDesigner that I'd much rather do without.

It's definitely worth learning the basics of some kind of Unix OS, regardless of the distribution, they're all much of a muchness in the basics.
shanecody
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by shanecody »

lynda.com has a great video tutorial on php, it cost money, but has been the easiest I have come across. I have a harder time learning from books, and reading so the format works great for me.
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omniuni
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by omniuni »

shanecody,

Have you tried http://tizag.com?
shanecody
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Re: Total Newbie

Post by shanecody »

I haven't tried them yet, I will, I went there and it looks like a good site.
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