GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
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- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
PHP isn't a difficult language, especially for anyone who's done any C, but here are some of the things that helped me to get going...
PHP is a free (open source) language, and it fits together with MySQL, the open source version of the SQL database system. The thing for me was that my PHP work was integral with learning MySQL.
Books
PHP and MySQL Web Development, by Luke Welling & Laura Thomson was an excellent book. It runs you through a crash course in programming in general, then onto some more advanced PHP stuff. After this, it starts on the database stuff, walking you through creating databases and tables in MySQL. A lot of this isn't really relevant, because it requires console, or shell access to the server, which most commercial web hosts will not allow. However, if you remember that you can shove most of the MySQL commands in the PHP function mysql_query() you won't go far wrong. But see the Software section for more on the early actions in MySQL
Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands on Guide to Relational Database Design by Michael J. Hernandez is an amazingly dull-sounding book, but it's not too bad, and it gives you a heads-up on the concept of database design. This is especially helpful if you have a project in mind, but can't think of how to lay out the data in a database. You probably won't need to read it all though!
Javascript for the World Wide Web by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith is an excellent introduction to Javascript, although it is quite brief and the examples are quite limited. All the "... for the World Wide Web" books are like this (I also have Perl and CGI... and Java...), and should only really be treated as introductions.
Software
Most of the software you need for proper web programming is on the server side, and should therefore be provided by your web host. The number of free hosts that supply PHP and MySQL capabilities is quite small, but you don't need to pay the Earth for these facilities either. Somewhere in the region of $9 per month should be all you need to shell out for a top-rate web host.
If you have a server kicking about, you can build it yourself, particularly if you have a broadband connection. Remember that if it's a testing server (i.e. not the one your web site is running off), then it doesn't need to be a ninja - I've got Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP running on a PentiumPro 200 box with 320MB RAM. If it is going to be your production server, you'll need your own static IP address, which can be expensive. You'll also need to find out what your upstream bandwidth is, because this will determine the data rate for pages going out to other users. Most broadband companies only quote the downstream rate, which is no use if you're running servers.
Software then...
If you can afford it, Dreamweaver MX is very good, not least because with the MX version, PHP support is built in. This means it can help you to code, but it's no substitute for getting your hands dirty.
On the server side, you are best off using Linux (I use Red Hat) as the operating system. Onto that, you need to build Apache, the open source web server software. Compile it with the PHP extensions, and then add MySQL on top. If you download all three discs of Red Hat Linux, you'll find all the software in packages on the second disc.
Absolutely essential is phpMyAdmin, which can be downloaded from www.phpwizards.net. It's a web control interface for your MySQL database, and it does the following:
Point 1 is very important, because messing about with tables is a prime way to really trash your database, and if you do that early on, you're likely to get disheartened. Also, Point 2 lets you get started on retrieving data from the database.
There, that should help you get started! Good luck
PHP is a free (open source) language, and it fits together with MySQL, the open source version of the SQL database system. The thing for me was that my PHP work was integral with learning MySQL.
Books
PHP and MySQL Web Development, by Luke Welling & Laura Thomson was an excellent book. It runs you through a crash course in programming in general, then onto some more advanced PHP stuff. After this, it starts on the database stuff, walking you through creating databases and tables in MySQL. A lot of this isn't really relevant, because it requires console, or shell access to the server, which most commercial web hosts will not allow. However, if you remember that you can shove most of the MySQL commands in the PHP function mysql_query() you won't go far wrong. But see the Software section for more on the early actions in MySQL
Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands on Guide to Relational Database Design by Michael J. Hernandez is an amazingly dull-sounding book, but it's not too bad, and it gives you a heads-up on the concept of database design. This is especially helpful if you have a project in mind, but can't think of how to lay out the data in a database. You probably won't need to read it all though!
Javascript for the World Wide Web by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith is an excellent introduction to Javascript, although it is quite brief and the examples are quite limited. All the "... for the World Wide Web" books are like this (I also have Perl and CGI... and Java...), and should only really be treated as introductions.
Software
Most of the software you need for proper web programming is on the server side, and should therefore be provided by your web host. The number of free hosts that supply PHP and MySQL capabilities is quite small, but you don't need to pay the Earth for these facilities either. Somewhere in the region of $9 per month should be all you need to shell out for a top-rate web host.
If you have a server kicking about, you can build it yourself, particularly if you have a broadband connection. Remember that if it's a testing server (i.e. not the one your web site is running off), then it doesn't need to be a ninja - I've got Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP running on a PentiumPro 200 box with 320MB RAM. If it is going to be your production server, you'll need your own static IP address, which can be expensive. You'll also need to find out what your upstream bandwidth is, because this will determine the data rate for pages going out to other users. Most broadband companies only quote the downstream rate, which is no use if you're running servers.
Software then...
If you can afford it, Dreamweaver MX is very good, not least because with the MX version, PHP support is built in. This means it can help you to code, but it's no substitute for getting your hands dirty.
On the server side, you are best off using Linux (I use Red Hat) as the operating system. Onto that, you need to build Apache, the open source web server software. Compile it with the PHP extensions, and then add MySQL on top. If you download all three discs of Red Hat Linux, you'll find all the software in packages on the second disc.
Absolutely essential is phpMyAdmin, which can be downloaded from www.phpwizards.net. It's a web control interface for your MySQL database, and it does the following:
- Create, edit and delete tables (i.e. the complicated stuff)
- Insert, modify and delete data
- Show the MySQL commands used at all time (helping you to learn)
- Execute and debug MySQL commands (allowing you to see why your scripts aren't working)
Point 1 is very important, because messing about with tables is a prime way to really trash your database, and if you do that early on, you're likely to get disheartened. Also, Point 2 lets you get started on retrieving data from the database.
There, that should help you get started! Good luck
- I had a few books and websites to help me along the way; if i didnt know a certain function, or what a piece of code did, i would look it up in the book or on other PHP-help forums.
