Learning PHP and MySQL

jeremiah rich

Hey guys. I want to first thank der Kop for helping me set up and pretty much completely overhaul my website. I posted here for a bit of help on getting it to display properly, and he was kind enough to recode it with CSS and php for me. (Used to be in asp... Yuck!) Anyways, I have been starting to learn PHP and MySQL using a tutorial I found online, but I need to find some good sites to help me with both of these. I already know of hotscripts, but does anyone know of any good websites for tutorials and all? I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

bunge

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...tutorial4.html



http://codewalkers.com/



http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/P...ics/page1.html



I'd suggest that hotwired one first, then check out the 'Tutorials' tab at Code Walkers. I never dug into the devshed one (I bookmarked it a few months ago) because I was sidetracked. After getting some enormous help from a fellow AppleInsider I started picking up some good info out of these sites.



Beware: I ran into some tutorials that are not updated for newer versions of PHP and/or MySQL. This means you might find a bit of code completely not working simply because of a slight syntax change. I have never been able to track down a perfect site, only a live person will be able to help with the last mile so to speak.



If you learn anything good let me know. I've had to stop self-teaching for the time being as I've got a new job and my schedule is crap.

ghost_user_name

Moving to General Discussion.

pensieve

devshed.com has some nice tutorials. But you can't beat a good book. There are a few that are specific for building applications with php/mysql. It's been a while since I bought one, so the ones I know of are probably outdated. Hit your local bn or borders and get a cup of coffee and see what you like.

the pie man

I would definitely recommend a good book - I have a few old ones on my shelf which I haven't looked at in a couple years but they really helped me out in the beginning. I think my first was "PHP and MySQL Web Development" by Welling and Thomson - I also used the Visual QuickStart Guide to PHP, and picked up "Web Application Development with PHP 4.0 by Ratschiller and Gerken, but never had any time to chew through it (this one looked really good for more global concepts - I really should go back and read it).



The thing about books is they only apply to what came before them. Everything computer continually evolves, so things which might be true when a book was published might not be true today (to a certain extent - it isn't like things are changing THAT much!) So the real score is the online docs. I access them pretty frequently when I am writing PHP or MySQL (like the past month for instance). Go to the searchable documentation with user comments:



For PHP



For MySQL



And you can always get answers on forums (this one is pretty light on web developers, but you can usually get some answers... Ars is more developer oriented...)



p.s. I also used the devshed articles - they help a bunch. If evolt.org is still around - they have some interesting things there too...

jeremiah rich

Thanks a bunch for all of your responses. Sorry for posting this in the wrong place btw. Anyways, I started out with the turorial from webmonkey (I found it a while back so I printed the whole thing out) but I think I will start looking around at the other sites to help answer some of my questions.