cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 I am about to partake in trying to learn PHP, however, I'm not sure which version to study. I know PHP 5 is the newer (and presumably) better version, but I don't have any experience programming OOP. And I don't want to stumble learning PHP simply because I am struggling with OOP concepts. Yet at the same time, I'd rather learn a newer (more applicable) version, and I do hope to learn OOP programming some day soon. As a compromise, is it possible to program "procedurally" (i.e. PHP 4 style) in PHP 5? Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisNz Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Yes. Pick out a beginners php5 book and work through it. It will teach you all the basics and probably help get your feet wet with php5 objects in later chapters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterACE14 Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 I highly reccommend 3 books which will make you a expert in no time: PHP 5 in easy steps - first book I read, absolutely the best to get started with SAMS teach yourself PHP in 24 hours - second book you should read, covers a hell of alot more SAMS PHP 5 Unleashed - ultimate book, makes a great reference and covers pretty much everything if you purchase them, and read them in the order I have listed them, you will be up and running making whatever you want in no time. (just google them, you can purchase them from their respective websites) Regards ACE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Dear KrisNz and MasterACE14, Maybe it would help to explain my immediate goal? ??? I am trying to build a very simple website where people can... - View information about an upcoming seminar (I know how to do this using HTML/CSS already) - Click on a "Register Me" button - Go to a "Registration Form" where they enter Name, Address, Tele No, and E-mail - Click "Register Now" button - Data is written to a MySQL database - User receives a confirmation e-mail - Administrator can print out a report of Registered Attendees If possible, I'd like to build this in a week or so. (Seems like a doable goal.) I'm not looking for anything fancy - just functional for now. Since I have never done OOP, and have struggled to learn it, would such a simple site be better done using PHP4 for now? (*NOTE: I am currently out-of-work and want to do some seminars in two weekends to try and get some $$$ in, but need a registration website to help me gauge attendees - so time is of the essence! ) Suggestions welcome. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjakreborn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 PHP 4 is dying. On there official website www.php.net it is stating that support for php 4 is going away very shortly (development on it). You might want to focus on 5 & 6 for the time being. Because within 3 years php 4 is going to be as scarce as php 3. (Not 100% sure on this just guessing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Okay, point taken. But how hard would it be for me to create a website - like I described above - using PHP 5/MySQL with no prior knowledge? Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjakreborn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 If you were dillegent (This totally varies from person to person). You can have a good working knowledge of mysql and intermediate CSS in about 4-6 weeks. Then you can have a decent php/mysql programming knowledge (with some assistance) in about 2 months (enough basics to do basic/intermediate db calls, and form/processing). Spend some time getting alright with them before you start, other wise you would be better off getting a friend. Unless it's a personal project that isn't as important. New programmers tend to make alot of security mistakes, which isn't good for live sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Two months?? (I figured I could put that together in two weeks - at least using procedural code, like PHP4?!) I know HTML and CSS, although am rusty on them. I would think creating a database using phpMyAdmin would take an hour or two, and the code to write data from a form to a backend database can't take much code, can it?? In fact, couldn't this be done just using HTML and CGI? (*Note: I am NOT doing e-commerce, NOR do I need to have people create User Accounts to register. I just want to register people for headcounts.) Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjakreborn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 In 2 weeks you could put something together very low level. A programming language (with no prior programming experience) isn't meant to be learnt in a few weeks time. I re-read over what you mentioned and it's possible to gaint hat knowledge within the time period, but I think you are getting involved in something you are not expecting and expecting a better time period than you know. Unless I am mistaken and you ahve prior php or other programming experiences. KNowing xhtml/css already will help a lot however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 To clarify, I have been doing Access/VBA programming for over 10 years. Back in college I did COBOL, Assembly, FORTRAN, Pascal. Have dabbled with Java but never really understood OOP. Admittedly, I'm no C, C++, or J2EE developer, but I would like to think that I have lots of programming experience However, I've never used PHP or MySQL. Could I build a respectable site like I mentioned in maybe 2 weeks, or is that still a pipe-dream? :-\ Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjakreborn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 If you have done those previous languages as you listed. And you are semi-fluent in some of them. Then chances are you can learn enough php to do what you are wanting in about 1 good dedicated week (giving it a decent amount of hours per day). You already know programming concepts, all you need to do is learn the syntax and langauge specific theories behind php. Which isn't too hard with prior experience it's meant to be one of the easiest languages to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiemonster4470 Posted October 20, 2007 Author Share Posted October 20, 2007 Okay, so there is hope for me?! Do you know of any paper books or online tutorials that show you how to... 1.) Write data from a webform to a MySQL database? 2.) E-mail a confirmation back to the eprson who just registered? Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjakreborn Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Well emailing them is easy. Just use the mail function and there email address to send them a quick mail. mail('emailaddress', 'subject', 'message); Google "Php mail" and you will find hundreds of references. Probably the best place for quick access to what you need is www.php.net (the manual) and www.w3schools.com if you want to know the best online book for php is http://hudzilla.org/phpwiki/index.php?title=Main_Page This is the biggest "free" book on php and would also cover everything you needed and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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