OM2 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Can someone recommend me a book to learn PHP from I'm quite at home with programming - but have never mastered any one language + have learned OO, but never practiced I do know 'bits' of PHP - but would get stuck if thrown a pageful of code I want to put my head down and become a semi-master in a few weeks (And then maybe a 'real' master after several months of practice) IMPORTANT: what else do I need to master to get a good job? What does PHP go with? LAMP? Javascript/Ajax/Jquery? HTML? CSS? I've done a few searches on Google, problem: too many results! I thought I'd ask for some individual replies here Any replies would be great Thanks OM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman12 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 its completely useles to search for books written by some third parties when u cud read it from the online documentation authored by the developers themselves. Also, mastering php is of no use unless u want to pursue a carreer out of it. On the other hand, i would recomment u to have a fair knowlege on all language. For instance, ajax helps refresh half a page without necesarily havin to reload the whole page as against to wht php would nornally do. Jquery is an absolute fundamental piece of elements in all high-tech web designs. Python is another powerful language which completes the task where php is not capable of. The super fast loading speed of FACEBOOK( faster than google) is because of the implementations of non-blocking tornado server. The chat system of all web based browser is jquery art of work. Tornado is a server oriented framework writen in python. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OM2 Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 its completely useles to search for books written by some third parties when u cud read it from the online documentation authored by the developers themselves. Also, mastering php is of no use unless u want to pursue a carreer out of it. On the other hand, i would recomment u to have a fair knowlege on all language. For instance, ajax helps refresh half a page without necesarily havin to reload the whole page as against to wht php would nornally do. Jquery is an absolute fundamental piece of elements in all high-tech web designs. Python is another powerful language which completes the task where php is not capable of. The super fast loading speed of FACEBOOK( faster than google) is because of the implementations of non-blocking tornado server. The chat system of all web based browser is jquery art of work. Tornado is a server oriented framework writen in python. i have to admit i'm more confused! i would like to pursue as a career i've read lots of advice that say: go to php.net and learn! i'd like a little more than that - a guide of where to start and a map of what i need to learn that's where a book would always be better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman12 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 P.S. the instant real time updates as notifications and the delivery of instant chat messages in facebook is because of Tornado server. This new techniques replaces the traditional polling! thus conserving a huge server banthwidth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman12 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 if u are a relative beginner to php, instead avert ur interest of learning to python.Now I have progres myself so much in php (to the level that i could write out any programing if som1 ask me) that its a lil bit difficult for me to adapt to the new environment of python where the two are a complete contrast to each other in terms of everything from syntax to functions to variables! But coming this summer and i surely wil why so suden interes in learnin python? Wel, m developin a browser based chat system comparable to those incoporated in gtalk and facebook. This is the time wher i come to grabs the fact abt the importance of python as a dynamic programin language in this era of modernisation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaseman Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 The characteristic of PHP is that it goes hand in hand with HTML, so your best bet would be to concentrate on HTML/CSS and PHP and leave out all the details like ajax and jquery. Those are things to make the site more user friendly. A very easy book for the start is Head First MySQL and PHP. The PHP documentation seems at first cryptic because it's written in a programmers language, but what's you get used to the basics and the grammar of a programmers language, you'll find the PHP documentation a helpful resource. Once you got the grammar down it's all about learning the vocabularies and how to use them in a sentence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceman12 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 php with html and css along would be just too boring to get on alone with any type of project or web apps at this stage of time. It is an added advantage for us all to learn which we deem has a greater prospect in the future and in the days to come rather than doing the same traditional thing over and over again. Ajax and jquery along with php is an absolute piece of ingredients for a dynamic content delivery. So its better not to ignore this. For instance, while filling up for a registration form, u r required to put a username whos value of existence in the db must b unique. There is no way in hell that the user will know if the username he fills in has been taken not until he gets down to clicks the SUBMIT BUTTON, and to our dismay if its already taken, he had to take in all the trouble of fillin up the infos again and resubmit it. However, with ajax, u can bind any occuring events with some kind of function and execute it behind the server using php, all these without the knowledge of the users, In the above example, as soon as u leave off the input field, it can always be set to trigger an ajax call using the onblur event in ur html code which wil eventualy let u know at instant about the consequence of the username u entered been taken thus abstainin u from the display of any relevent annoyin errors if any after the click of submit button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamwest Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Even if you have the money to buy books, the library is the best place to go because it will have lots of hidden treasures in the same section - and its free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe92 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 A good book to learn from is, 'Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript' by Robin Nixon. The official site for it is here, but you can probably find it cheaper elsewhere. This is not an advanced book but you will learn all the basics you need to know about PHP. As the title indicates, it also teaches about MySQL and JS... but as the title doesn't indicate, it also gives a brief introduction to Ajax. The ultimate beginners book I think. I always refer to it if I have a sudden mental block about something. And I agree with you, it is always much easier to have a book in front of you to learn from than from on-line documentation, it's also healthier on the skin etc., since your going to be staring at a screen non stop all the other times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OM2 Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 A good book to learn from is, 'Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript' by Robin Nixon. The official site for it is here, but you can probably find it cheaper elsewhere. This is not an advanced book but you will learn all the basics you need to know about PHP. As the title indicates, it also teaches about MySQL and JS... but as the title doesn't indicate, it also gives a brief introduction to Ajax. The ultimate beginners book I think. I always refer to it if I have a sudden mental block about something. And I agree with you, it is always much easier to have a book in front of you to learn from than from on-line documentation, it's also healthier on the skin etc., since your going to be staring at a screen non stop all the other times. joe, if i could vote for a best reply and give u a star, it would be for u amazon is full of php books and i know what might be good for one person might not be good for another all i wanted was some recommendations i'll definitely buy that book thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stsleeper94 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 its completely useles to search for books written by some third parties when u cud read it from the online documentation authored by the developers themselves. Also, mastering php is of no use unless u want to pursue a carreer out of it. On the other hand, i would recomment u to have a fair knowlege on all language. For instance, ajax helps refresh half a page without necesarily havin to reload the whole page as against to wht php would nornally do. Jquery is an absolute fundamental piece of elements in all high-tech web designs. Python is another powerful language which completes the task where php is not capable of. The super fast loading speed of FACEBOOK( faster than google) is because of the implementations of non-blocking tornado server. The chat system of all web based browser is jquery art of work. Tornado is a server oriented framework writen in python. The internet is the best now, and in the for seeable future the best resource to learn. Learn with an object. Make something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cssfreakie Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 if you want to get a job, i see that as you want to make money the easiest way to do that i think is learn html and css, and build templates for all the opensource cms that are out there. after that combine it with php and mysql and the cherry on top can be javascript. This would be my order in things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 There is a wealth of recommendations in this thread as well as a variety of books in this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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