Brandito520 Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Howdy, I am in the process of making a new website, and I'm kinda at a crossroads of how to go forward with the project. I need to decide if it would be better to get training on how to program myself, or hire out the programming. And I'm not talking about just skimming over the PHP manual, I am talking about true training. Like from Zend, or PHP Architect. I like the long term benefit of this, since if I got to a professional level of programming I could just program anything I wanted and wouldn't have to pay someone for every little tweak to the website. So heres the question... How did you learn to program PHP? Did you take any professional classes? Regards, Brandon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 I read the book linked to in my signiture, mind you, I had programmed in other languages previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 About 6 years ago my little brother was playing this browser text game where you attack other players and move up in ranks etc.. and this game had about 100k players, and I thought wow, this game isn't very complex..I could make something way better and grab those people. So I went down to the local Barnes and Noble and bought PHP In Easy Steps. It had just come out, cost me like $5, and covered the basics. After that, I referred directly to the manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I learned from tutorials.... Once I got the basic syntax, I just kept googling and checking php.net references.... Then again, some aspects of my knowledge I hate. For example, I hate that I suck at OOP (getting better though!), and I don't know many code designs.... Had I read a book or something, I probably would've been atleast introduced to that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbullmarky Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 i started from Dreamweaver, using its built-in PHP/MySQL snippets for doing certain things to build simple login/registration areas, lists of results, etc. When I got more and more demanding and stuck, I spent much more time in code view, looking at the code it had generated and trying to wrap my head around what was going on. As with thorpe, I'd already programmed in other languages such as C/C++, Pascal, BASIC, etc to a half-decent level so the ability to read code was easy enough. Otherwise, it was just reading manual entries from functions, etc that were generated and doing LOTS of reading. Google is absolutely and definitely your very best friend when it comes to learning stuff like this. The better you are with Google, the quicker you will be finding out what you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serverman Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 i never did i just act like i know what im talking about jk i started out playing with scripts now im at the stage of reading up and testing and like redbull ive been working with basic purebasic and python so i know how to look at code and i think php works alot like basic not pro yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orio Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I learned from tutorials.... Once I got the basic syntax, I just kept googling and checking php.net references.... Then again, some aspects of my knowledge I hate. For example, I hate that I suck at OOP (getting better though!), and I don't know many code designs.... Had I read a book or something, I probably would've been atleast introduced to that.... Pretty much the same.. I new basic C when I started learning PHP. But all my learning was (and is) from the web, a lot of trial and error. But as I am not a professional PHP coder, there are a lot of things I still don't know. OOP as an example. Always learning more though.. Orio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ober Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 My degree is in computer engineering, so you can guess that I've had a little programming training in school (C/Java/Pascal/ASM/etc). My jobs have forced me into other languages (VB, *nix shell scripting, VBA, etc) and I had one job where I was tasked with building a complex reporting site that involved databases and graphing. That led me to PHP. I just started asking questions on forums and reading the manual. I've probably spent about 30 minutes total reading books about it... because I typically don't learn much from programming books. I'm more of a trial and error guy. *shrug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nafetski Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I took a job as a programmer before I knew how to program. Lied, got my foot in the door, flew by the seat of my pants! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I took a job as a programmer before I knew how to program. Lied, got my foot in the door, flew by the seat of my pants! ...and that's why people like you come to places like this making "URGENT!!! NEED HELP ASAP" posts (maybe not you specifically...haven't looked at your post history lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubing Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 I learned by reading core WEB APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT WITH PHP AND MYSQL, By Marc Wandschneider I have sampled chapters from all the other starter books and this one is hands down the best. I carried this around with me like a bible for 7 months. It is authorative and engrossing. There's a copy on the internet located at http://book.chinaunix.net/special/ebook/php/PrenticeHalloreWebPHPMySQL/0131867164/toc.html , but this is one that you really got to own! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandito520 Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 Thanks for the replies everyone. It seems almost nobody (although many had been previously coding other languages) got training. Is PHP really that easy to pickup? I had figured I would need to get training just to get a basic understanding of the language... Maybe I was wrong. Brandon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Thanks for the replies everyone. It seems almost nobody (although many had been previously coding other languages) got training. Is PHP really that easy to pickup? I had figured I would need to get training just to get a basic understanding of the language... Maybe I was wrong. Brandon I didn't mention it in my post but I also had a lot of previous programming experience. But even still, I would call it "easy" to pick up. I'd even recommend it as a first language to learn for someone who's never done it before. You don't have to mess with things like compiling, declaring/handling data types, messing around directly with memory, etc.. so it's a good place to get your feet wet before diving into something deeper like c++ or java. I see lots of places offering php classes, even at traditional schools, but in my experience of hearing other people's stories of being in those classes, the teachers themselves are pretty much learning as they go, as well, and their code and coding practices are way behind the times for where php is at now. If I may be so bold as to say it, I think the only php "schooling" really worth a damn is to go to zend.com and get trained and certified by them. But even then, hundreds and thousands of people have been able to earn a living as freelancers and get decent paying webmaster or other ITT jobs solely from being self-taught. As with all other areas of occupations (short of McJobs), I imagine that that probably won't last a whole lot longer, though. You know how it is. People always want a piece of paper from you showing that you can do what you claim you can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted June 18, 2008 Share Posted June 18, 2008 Is PHP really that easy to pickup? Any programming language is easy to pick up, becoming proficient however depends on your aptitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandito520 Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Crayon Violent: Yeah, Zend was one of my top choices for PHP training. But one thing about buying the training direct from them is that it seems they just sub-contract out their training to third parties anyway. With PHP Architect being one of the training partners, so I figured if I could get the same traing direct from PHP Architect for about $500 to $700 less than Zend, heck why not? Thorpe: Excellent point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 Last year during the summer I decided to learn php/mysql, so I learned from www.w3schools.com and making things. I used w3schools and php.net as a reference to many functions, and I still go to php.net incase I forget something ^.^. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 and I still go to php.net incase I forget something ^.^. Be assured, everyone does. Even the best of the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 I started off with the PHP and MySQL Quickstart Guide by Larry Ullman. Great book if you want to become proficient in a hurry. I'm still going through Zandstra's OOP book. I'm not a big fan of his Application Controller. Something just doesn't sit right with me in using an XML file to map view flow, but I digress. I actually recommend not using w3schools to learn. They teach only the very bare minimum, and certainly don't teach best practices (embedded JavaScript in markup, oy vey). Good texts are the way to go, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hcdarkmage Posted June 19, 2008 Share Posted June 19, 2008 I was thrown into it. I learned by looking at the way the coding structure was done by others and worked the rest out from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gijew Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 A friend of mine got me into Perl way back when even though his "super cool" website was a PHPNuke site. I figured one day I would tear apart the source and found this "PHP" thing inside so I did a few Google searches and stumbled on Postnuke. I got into tearing apart that source code and started developing my own things after a short time. I actually still base a few of my personal coding practices based off of that structure. The thing that REALLY got me to invest into PHP was the open community. Sites like this one offered quite a bit of help (in contrast to say the Ajax community which are mostly elitists) and suggestions. It was still a process but yeah, it's a great language to learn and it doesn't cost 500+ bucks to invest in like most MS technologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bastones Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Well I found out about PHP way back in 2005 just generally that you can create "cool stuff" with it, especially forums that were my main interest back then. Since about 2006 I have really known general PHP syntax but I really didn't get into heaps of programming in PHP until early 2008 when I took the plunge and made a small calculator - or something like that. I was pretty shocked how easy it was to create such stuff so easily, but I soon realised I needed to learn a few functions here and there for safety like preventing SQL injections, etc. Now I am creating my own text-based RPG game - about half complete now! Really, the best reference is the PHP's website, but that's probably for functions and the basics. Unless you have a ground know-how of complex stuff, you won't get anywhere with PHP's manual. They don't even explain about object oriented programming - they just go right into giving you full-blown examples. Nonetheless, Google & PHP.net are the only things you need to learn PHP. I did buy a book but I was a little impatient as it was always explaining the basics which I already knew time and time again, so I did it all online... PHP is a handy thing and more young people are starting to program with it which is a good side for a wide targeted audience. PHP is logical when you know how to use it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 A friend of mine got me into Perl way back when even though his "super cool" website was a PHPNuke site. I figured one day I would tear apart the source and found this "PHP" thing inside so I did a few Google searches and stumbled on Postnuke. I got into tearing apart that source code and started developing my own things after a short time. I actually still base a few of my personal coding practices based off of that structure. The thing that REALLY got me to invest into PHP was the open community. Sites like this one offered quite a bit of help (in contrast to say the Ajax community which are mostly elitists) and suggestions. It was still a process but yeah, it's a great language to learn and it doesn't cost 500+ bucks to invest in like most MS technologies. Well that's because Ajax is not a language it's a method. Therefore people think they are super cool for doing it. WEB 2.0 FTW!!!?!?!!ONE!!?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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