Nameless12

$lines = explode("\n", $file_text);

Python is better than both php and perl.

both languages have flaws, there is a whole world beyond asp and php and asp and php may be popular but they are far from the best. Why I say both languages have flaws what language does not?? Php and asp have more flaws and quirks than most I think. I have gotten used to them but If I went back in time I would of chosen a different language over php (python)

Don't touch ajax until you are comfy using basic sql and php as it requires learning a new language (javascript)

XP for my desktop pc and Linux for my server and laptop. Vista is a piece of crap. XP will never get directx10 :( [quote] OSX is the best, then linux [/quote] yes but OSX wont run on my hardware :(, linux has improved quite a lot this past year I think it is going to give both mac and microsoft a bit of competition. I think vista is the worst os I have seen in a long time and if anything helps ppl consider other platforms it will be vista. I find it stupid that microsoft released vista with all the compatability issues and lack of drivers as I think it is the one advantage they had over some other operating systems. Linux now has better driver support than windows, If mac released a version of their os that would work on all hardware not just macs I think they would get more business. I know I would consider putting it on my desktop and laptop if they did that.

If people did not try to reinvent the wheel they would never learn how to make wheels. If the wheel was never reinvented the tire would not exist.

About how you use short tags do you know why php5.20 turned them off by default?

You can set <a href=""> to open in a new window so you just put a link in your results area and you are set

[quote] Is there an easier way of recording the time when the user navigates to another page eg i whant to know how long they looked at an item and then when they navigate away record this, in javascript its easy, but in PHP i have no ideaa how its done. [/quote] yes it is do not use ajax for this.

if you have the pages stored in the database you can easily add a field that holds a string just like a normal get string some_var=val&other_var=other You can split them on the & and then loop through them and split them on the equals sign followed by adding them to the $_GET array $_GET[$NAME] = $VALUE I used this technique to create aliases and shorter links if thats all you are after it should suit you just fine assuming you are using a database

try php5.20 I think they modified a few of the error handling things and if you try php5.20 im sure you will start getting notices where you never used to. Also think of it this way $some_var = 'some value'; if ($some_var) { } the above code goes if $some_var, it then gets the value of some var and checks if it is true. It is quicker to check if a value is set rather than retrieve it and check if the value is true. And it is also faster than trying to get a key that does not exist. I never really thought about it that much until i started getting notices in php5.20 but now it makes perfect sense.

Post variables are not variables, they are not magic. php just happens to store the post data inside an array called $_POST. So whats the point? you can do anything to $_POST that you can with an array and you can do anything  to $_GET that you can with an array.

I have come across this before and appending the text works in simple cases but is just not up to scratch I will leave the reasons why to your imagination. The best solution is to create an object that allows you to add\delete\update values from a string.

there are other languages out there to you realize? perl python ruby all three of those languages are used for web development, ruby on rails is quite big and python is probably my fav of the bunch. Php has its purposes but for the most part the only reason I use it is becuase I devoted to much time and effort to it to give it up. If you are trying to increase web development skills and not programming skills I would remind you about the following xml xslt xhtml javascript ajax photoshop And if you were more interested in becoming a better programmer I would recommend reading the c all in one desk reference for dummies cover to cover. Learning c has many advantages even if you dont plan on using the language for development. And yes there is more. Dont forget your databases I would recommend postgres and more advanced features of sql if you want to increase your skills. If you go the route of .Net I would say go with c# but there are better alternatives such as ruby on rails & python

PC Nerd Having plain text cookies is insecure.

I am using a lot of recursion in terms of array iterators and directory iterators I am also using a LOT of objects, I am not using them all the time but they are there. Its a long story as to why I have so many but each time  I make a div object i get a style and attribute object created inside them. So each time I create a table all the elements of the table have style\attribute including the table it does start to add up. My code is spread over 133 files and is 230k I have one image that is 30k so 230 -30 = 200k of script. I am probably nearing 7000 lines of code and I have not even started to design the site and I got a little slowness every now and then. I think its slow the first time as its adding the project into cache the first load. I would like to hear how big projects are getting to give me some idea of scale because by the time i build the site ontop of this it will probably put the size at around 20,000+ lines. Also if anyone has performance tips in terms of what I can get away with, what i cant get away with and server configuration I would like to hear it. And if you dont mind tell me the size of your projects to give me something to scale against.

I think teaching how to do things like create the following functions wuold be good for beginners because it teaches 1. functions 2. loops 3. arrays 4. variables 5. that it is not magic strlen() //length of a string array_reverse() //reverse an array strrev() //reverse a string sizeof()  //count array ucfirst() //first word capitalize ucwords() //first letter of each word capitalize strtolower() //make a string all lower case strtoupper() //make a string all upper case

I think php5 objects, patterns and practice by apress would be a good book for you depending on your skill level of course I found I did not learn much when I read it as I knew most of the stuff but for you that may be different. http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=358

What you think is hard might be what I would think is easy. So its hard to give ideas of projects based on skill level. But here are just a few. Personal Organizer database of books\dvds\software and so on chat script forum php-gtk. php-cli learn more

If anyone here has been playing with the snaps I have a few questions. 1. is there any documentation about has been and what has not been added to the snaps 2. are name spaces already implemented in the snaps? if name spaces are already implemented I'm tempted to download and compile a copy.

Try to make your code so it does not care what data it gets as long as it is an array. If you need the data source in an object just use an abstract class. Files are good for somethings and databases are good for others. What you need to understand is that a file is its self is a data base and the difference between that and say msql and mysql and pgsql is these are relational databases. The question should be do I need a relational database and you should look up the features to do with this and if the answer is yes. Also once your data goes over a certain size the proper relational databases become faster than xml databases. xml databases suck in that you open the whole file where as the databases make lots of different files so it only gets the data it needs. Just look into triggers\views\stored procedures\joins\transactions\data integrity and normalization for more info. And regardless your system should have the option of adding a database. If you need a fast, small portable alternative there is always sqlite that is create for storing things like configs

there is no such thing as a $_POST variable. $_POST is just an array that happens to be both global and populated with $_POST data that is parsed from the http_request headers. I know you and some others will might say "i knew that" But I think ppl exponentially beginners don't realize how simple it really is. It is just an array, so it acts like an array. I have come across tutorials in the past that teach them as variables and I think it is misleading to beginners. Why it is obvious now I have made a point that its an array it might be something beginners otherwise would not think about as they would just take for granted its a variable. $_POST $_GET $_SERVER $_REQUEST $_SESSION $_COOKIE $GLOBAL All of these are just arrays an to those that might used the excuse well there are GLOBAL variables, there is also a global keyword.. So its a little different but the fact remains it is really nothing more than a global ARRAY

the answer to this is triggers if i understand you correctly I dont have time to explain them just do a wikipedia search and you should understand them fine

if you want to handle the spaces as well as the breaklines $text = str_replace(array(' ', '&nbsp;', nl2br($text));

I forgot to say. Dont bother trying to learn mvc till you are fluent in oop to some degree. Mvc is part of learning oop as it is a design pattern but design patterns come in to the picture after you already know oop to the degree of being fluent in it