ejaboneta Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I learn best by practice. Classes are too slow. So I decided to learn by making an online game. I think I've learned some things but now I feel like all I'm doing is a bunch of ifs, whiles and mysql querys. So I'm asking for help. Can you give me suggestions on some things to learn? Please don't suggest books or classes. This is pretty much just a hobby and I don't expect to become an expert overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dropfaith Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 tizag.com has good tutorials on alot of php mysql and such its where i tend to go when i need help other then here of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSuperHero Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I agree tizag is great, also depends on what you want to do with your code, after your think you have all the basics down....look into creating your own functions....regex....then you might want to try testing the waters with some Object oriented php...but if you think your writing too many if's you can get rid of repetitious code by making your own functions and maybe moving to Object Oriented PHP if your up for it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejaboneta Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Thanks for the suggestions. I have started making my own functions which I've found to be extremely useful. I will definately look into Object Oriented PHP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussellReal Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 ejab, if you want add me on MSN::displayMyUserName("RussellonMSN [AT] HotMail.com") o sry RussellonMSN [AT] HotMail.com add me if you want, I have alot of people who ask for help and I give them tasks to complete to help build good coding habbits and to understand various things that they quite don't understand.. and I do it all for free, no catches. I just enjoy helping people. So anybody is welcome to my msn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Please don't suggest books or classes. You'll probably want to read some books about methodology and application design at some point. Learning the syntax is the simple part and can be done using the PHP manual alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejaboneta Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Yea I plan on reading some books and maybe even taking a class or two but right now I'm just "playing". I'm probably going to buy a book for reference soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Buy books that teach theory, don't buy a book that tell you how to write something specific. Also, don't buy any book whose title sounds like "Learn X in Y hours/days/nanoseconds" - they suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balaganesh.k89 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I learn best by practice. Classes are too slow. So I decided to learn by making an online game. I think I've learned some things but now I feel like all I'm doing is a bunch of ifs, whiles and mysql querys. So I'm asking for help. Can you give me suggestions on some things to learn? Please don't suggest books or classes. This is pretty much just a hobby and I don't expect to become an expert overnight. try w3schools website... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSuperHero Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 online learnign is awesome, after your have the syntax down, and understanding for one procedural/OO language you can carry that understanding over to other languages, I now understand ActionScript after a few hours of trying to writye it...although i sitll need much more practice before i can become efficient, i had a harder time learnign php (my first :-) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 I think I've learned some things but now I feel like all I'm doing is a bunch of ifs, whiles and mysql querys. Try and focus on OOP and proper design models. Having a good design is imperative, especially when dealing with large scale projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSuperHero Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Good Application design can be a pain to deal with and might seem like extra work, but may save you time down the road, encapsulation is good :-) Ive definitly notice my writing style has certainly "evolved" over a few months of trials and errors. and seeing do's and dont's :-P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redarrow Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 My opinion. Get as meny books as passable that teach you php, each book has a different way that it teaches you. Dont worries about the age off the book for now, all old books are better then new books sometimes. get some php theory behind, reading online php articles. now as you progress, try to learn the php.net web site, that the mumy off all books, and where all authers and programmers learn to write php properly. as you progress, then get your self some php videos, there so grate, they tell you everthink while watching. start to learn small applications. posting a form. connecting to a database and showing the info, delete info, update info, so on so no. with all the references and hard reading and practicing, you can now do basic php applications. as you move onwards, go for the oop programming off php, i was advised to learn oop with java language, as it covers way more then php got to offer. dont worrie as your notice one language looks and fells the same afther a while. afther all that, good luck and get rich. regards redarrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Dont worries about the age off the book for now as all old books are better then new books sometimes. I really don't agree with this... What about deprecation, new features, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ialsoagree Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Good Application design can be a pain to deal with and might seem like extra work, but may save you time down the road, encapsulation is good :-) Having a good design is imperative, especially when dealing with large scale projects. Quoted for truth! And to expand on Maq's statement, having a good design can make even small projects that much simpler. Here's my suggestion: start small. Build something that you can finish in a day or two, get it up, and try it out. My first project was a guest book that used a text file to store author names, messages, and dates. One thing I can tell you when I went to update it: it wasn't pretty. But the fact that it wasn't pretty (and impossible to improve upon, it just needed to be rewritten) taught me a LOT. The more I tinkered and tried to "think ahead" the more things I realized I could deal with outside of the procedural script and in a function or object. Keep upping the scale of your projects slowly. You're going to learn 100x more by a project you finish, no matter what the scale, than one you get halfway done and never finish. As has been stated, being object oriented (making and utilizing functions and even objects down the road) is going to make your life much easier. I can't describe how convenient it is to call $db->do_query to run a mysql query and not have to worry about if there was a MySQL error and how to report that error, it's all handled by the function. Every time I make a query I just call that function and continue under the assumption that the query went off without a hitch. The real trick to OO programming is to start writing your code, see things that you're writing over and over again, and make that into a function instead. Soon you'll start to realize that groups of functions are related or share a lot of the same common variables. You'll be coding classes in no time, and turning your 500+ line pages into 20-30 line pages with 3-4 included files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redarrow Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 i no all that, but it a way to get book's that show grate examples, off course your need to update the programing script, but it a way to learn applications. i no it hard to get the correct author to learn php from a book. so in my opinion them old books help. i will admit dont mind i live on here and php.net now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 so in my opinion them old books help. You read my mind, with limitations of course. I admit that I have several version specific books - which do come in handy at times (better examples), but not as often as the online manual. As suggested, get programming design books to start off with, and look online for beginning tutorials and use the online manuals for any help regarding syntax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Get as meny books as passable that teach you php, each book has a different way that it teaches you. Dont worries about the age off the book for now, all old books are better then new books sometimes. Only if the book is strictly theoretically oriented. I hate seeing new people whose code is outdated before it's even finished. The GOF book is still good even though it's 14 years old for instance, but that's hardly true for all books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.