I am brand new to php, i know html and css but i have never used any other type of programming language before. I really want to learn php and i have tried to learn online but i am just not able to understand what the people are saying.

Everytime i go to a forum and ask this question the people on the forums will tell me to learn online or mess with other peoples codes, that is probably a good idea but if i do not know what the codes mean how am i going to learn how to write them?

Thats like me taking apart a car engine and telling someone who know nothing about cars to put it back together, some people may be able to put it together but the majority will not and they will just give up on it.

I am not a stupid person, i just have a hard time learning things, but once i understand what i am doing i can usually figure the rest out on my own.

So after all of that here is my question, can anyone recommend any books that teaches php in a way where a person who knows nothing about programming can learn php?

Also if anyone could recommend older books that will help me learn php that would be great since i really do not have a lot of money to spend on $50 books right now, but i will take any advice you guys have to offer.

Thanks in advance...

im also an newbie in php but learned html very well. i also want to learn php so i can create such web app like my friends do.

Welcome to our world !
I know how you feel, I started like you...
My chance was that I was forced to program, or I'd be layed out, it's a big incentive.

What I could recommand you, because it helped my a lot in the past, is to go through this:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/
The PHP manual is thorough and really well explained, in my opinion.
Going from the start, they will explain you what are data types, functions, variables, scope, branchements and such.

Jumping over the configuration of PHP, and if you just have HTML knowledge, you should go directly to http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php

Start from there, try to modify the examples, and you will be running fairly quickly.
Don't hesitate to ask us here (remember, 1 thread per questions), we will do our best to help you.

Originally Posted by tripy

Welcome to our world !
I know how you feel, I started like you...
My chance was that I was forced to program, or I'd be layed out, it's a big incentive.

What I could recommand you, because it helped my a lot in the past, is to go through this:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/
The PHP manual is thorough and really well explained, in my opinion.
Going from the start, they will explain you what are data types, functions, variables, scope, branchements and such.

Jumping over the configuration of PHP, and if you just have HTML knowledge, you should go directly to http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php

Start from there, try to modify the examples, and you will be running fairly quickly.
Don't hesitate to ask us here (remember, 1 thread per questions), we will do our best to help you.

Thank you very much. I will start with it. Hey!

Thanks for the info i will check that website out. and i will reply back if the info helped.

why don't you try www.w3schools.com, This site is very useful for me to learn.

Good Luck!!

Hi...I am new here....

refer this site is very useful

Search SAMS E-BOOK
http://www.w3school.com

Setup wamp, www.wampserver.com you can then dabble around on your desktop. It's alot of testing and checking out code after you have the basics down.

Thanks for that website tripy it is helping out a lot, also i was talking to one of my friends and told them i was learning php and they gave me some books that their brother left behind when he moved to another state and i was wondering if any of these books would be good to learn from, and i am just asking because since they are really long books to read i do not want to read them if they are to old to learn from.

Here are the names of the books and the year they were made.
PHP 5 in practice By (E. White, J.D. Eisenhamer) Year (2006).
and**
PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) By (L. Thomson, L. Wellington) Year (2004).

****
Also NicholasD I have already been using the wampserver for a while now and it is a really good tool, but thanks anyway for the suggestion.

You are welcome.
If your friend gave you those books, make yourself a favor and read them.
PHP5 in practice cannot be bad, and PHP5 is the actual version, go for it.

PHP and Mysql web development is maybe a bit older, but read it too.
SQL databases are an important pillar of web development, you cannot avoid it.
Understanding what a database, a table, a constraint and an index are will help you.
More than 80% of the time a web application spend is in the database, so if you want to make efficient applications, you will need to understand it.

Ok tripy thanks i will read them both then.

w3school is definitely worth checking out. It's completely free!
Each lesson in the php section takes only a few minutes.

http://www.w3school.com

"New to PHP"
First, You must know where you are. And what you need, here:
- Basic C programing skill.
- Understand about Server Side Scripts (request and response)
Second, Read read and read, you can open some free about php from ebooks, free examples, and internet tutorial course,...

Good luck!

I don't know that C programming is specifically required. You don't HAVE to know all about pointers to write a PHP script

Basic programming knowledge in SOME language is certainly helpful though, but learning another language so you can learn PHP doesn't make too much sense to me.

One of the best books I've seen is here on amazon (I actually found it at my local library).

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-PHP-...dp/1590598628/

It walks you through the basics, but then delves deeper into some really cool PHP stuff.

I know that this question is off track a little but would me learning Javascript first, help me to understand PHP better? because i read somewhere that Javascript is easier to learn than PHP would be and once i learned Javascript i would be able to breeze through PHP. Any thoughts about this?

javascript and PHP are only alike in the way that they use a C/C++ style syntax for the function calls.

So learning Javascript first would not help me to understand PHP better?

Learning any language will help with learning another in some way or another, simply because the principles of good programming is the same in any language.
But from javascript to PHP is still a major step.

javascript is an object based language, PHP is a procedural language.

Yea i kinda thought that was going to be the answer, well i guess i have to buckle down and try to figure this all out thanks for the help.

Ok here is the thing i have been reading the php sites that people have told me about and some books i have and i am learning a little about php nothing major, a lot of it is still very hard for me to understand, so just so i know i am learning the right programming language i would like to know if php can do the things that i want to do, below i listed the things i would like to make my website do.

1, I want people to log into my site to become members.
2, I would like a simple chat room that only members can use..
3, I would like it to be where members will get their own profile that they can edit.
4, I would like to build a simple forum that only members can use.

Their is more to the stuff i want to do, but i will not list everything i would just like to make sure that php and mysql can do all the things i have listed above before i spend all my free time learning php to find out later that i picked the wrong programming language. Thanks