What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

PHP Newbie
Forum Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:29 am

What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by PHP Newbie »

Hello,

So I am new to PHP, and programming. The only other programming I know anything about is html, although some may not consider that programming but it is all I know. So, I really want to learn PHP and MySQL, so that I can get started in a career with it as soon as I know enough and can mess around enough to find a job somewhere.

I bought 3 books on PHP and MySQL:

Beginning PHP and MySQL From Novice to Professional - by W. Jason Gilmore

PHP and MySQL Web Development - by Luke Welling and Laura Thomson

Visual Quickpro Guide PHP 6 and MySQL 5 - by Larry Ullman


I've read the intro's to each of those, and the beginning of each chapter 1, and I even made it to Chapter 2 in the one by Jason Gilmore, and they seem like too steep of a gradient. So I was wondering if anyone knew of a book for someone who only knows html, something that is fairly easy and goes step by step. Maybe like a dummies book or something. But I figure people here probably would have some good input, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
jothirajan
Forum Commoner
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:06 am

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by jothirajan »

w3schools.com

+ some homework.....


With books no one can get the software knowledge....

Thanks
JOE
User avatar
Benjamin
Site Administrator
Posts: 6935
Joined: Sun May 19, 2002 10:24 pm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by Benjamin »

jothirajan wrote:With books no one can get the software knowledge
Joe, would you care to clarify that statement please?
jothirajan
Forum Commoner
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:06 am

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by jothirajan »

With reading books " a beginner " cant get the entire knowledge.

As a student i started "reading the php books"...but according to me reading books is same like studying in the class room....Which reduced my interest over there.......

So my advice is to learn online and do the homework there in the next tab....

so this will make the interest.......
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by onion2k »

PHP Newbie wrote:I've read the intro's to each of those, and the beginning of each chapter 1, and I even made it to Chapter 2 in the one by Jason Gilmore, and they seem like too steep of a gradient.
You're giving up too easily.
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by onion2k »

jothirajan wrote:With reading books " a beginner " cant get the entire knowledge.
The what? What's "the entire knowledge" when it comes to PHP?
jothirajan
Forum Commoner
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:06 am

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by jothirajan »

So with books you can get all the basic thing that you want to have?.

Correct?....

allah......
User avatar
papa
Forum Regular
Posts: 958
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:36 am
Location: Sweden/Sthlm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by papa »

jothirajan wrote:With reading books " a beginner " cant get the entire knowledge.

As a student i started "reading the php books"...but according to me reading books is same like studying in the class room....Which reduced my interest over there.......

So my advice is to learn online and do the homework there in the next tab....

so this will make the interest.......
The best way imo is to read books and review other peoples code. If you feel that you don't have the discpline to study at home, I'd sign up for a class somewhere.

A book gives you good guidelines and examples of stuff you can do with programming. Only depending on searching the web might give you bad examples of code etc. So even though it's a great reference I would recommend having a book to fall back on.
User avatar
Benjamin
Site Administrator
Posts: 6935
Joined: Sun May 19, 2002 10:24 pm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by Benjamin »

I would have to say that a good book will teach you more than 100 average tutorials. I would not recommend using the internet as a sole learning resource.
User avatar
papa
Forum Regular
Posts: 958
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:36 am
Location: Sweden/Sthlm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by papa »

jothirajan wrote:So with books you can get all the basic thing that you want to have?.

Correct?....

allah......
Only depending on Internet searches might do just that. You read about PHP but that tutorial or whatever might skip a lot of useful basics just because it's not relevant to that tutorial for example.
User avatar
Benjamin
Site Administrator
Posts: 6935
Joined: Sun May 19, 2002 10:24 pm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by Benjamin »

jothirajan wrote:allah......
Say what?
jothirajan
Forum Commoner
Posts: 69
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:06 am

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by jothirajan »

So reading books is better than online tutorials?....
User avatar
Benjamin
Site Administrator
Posts: 6935
Joined: Sun May 19, 2002 10:24 pm

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by Benjamin »

jothirajan wrote:So reading books is better than online tutorials?....
Yes
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by onion2k »

jothirajan wrote:So with books you can get all the basic thing that you want to have?
That really isn't how software development works. You'll never get to the point where you know all the things you want to know and then stop. You continue learning all the time, picking up whatever you need to get the job done. I've been doing PHP dev for nearly 10 years and I'm still learning new things all the time.
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Re: What is a good book for a total beginner to learn PHP?

Post by onion2k »

jothirajan wrote:So reading books is better than online tutorials?....
They're the same. They're just ways to learn about stuff. Use whatever suits you. Neither is "better".
Post Reply