Where/How did you learn php?

[Mick]

I used to stand in bookshops reading programming manuals when I needed to know something as I couldn’t afford the books. I also couldn’t remember what I’d read half the time and took to taking a notebook with me which got me ejected more than once. Thank heavens for t’interweb!

[eeji]

...You may be better off learning something like BASIC first...

This is where I started, with BASIC back in the 80s. Fast forward lots of years and I'm fumbling my way through phpBB as I try to build upon it to extend my forum to a full website. With some help from a few friends and the php docs it's starting to look ok. After 11 years or so using phpBB I'm still using the php docs to help me on other project sites. Also because all I had was BASIC (and without blowing my own trumpet, quite good with it in school) procedural php was the logical path for me to follow - I still can't get my head around OOP

[Mick]

BASIC is much maligned. Myself and my brother in law at the time (an IBM programmer) wrote the timetables for the whole of a City Corporation bus service in BASIC in the eighties and it worked for many years. Its amazing what you can get on an 8” floppy.

BTW: OOP is a myth, tidy mind = tidy code, somebody told me that.

[JLA]

Started the process of learning PHP here on this site way way way back. Was an experience to say the least.

[RMcGirr83]

From pthirik many, many moons ago

[bcousins]

How did you start to learn php?

It was a hot summer night in Australia, I sat down at my laptop and realised that I wanted to interact with databases and dynamic page content.

... and so I learnt PHP... because that's what you do.

[AmigoJack]

a hot summer night in Australia

Given the climate there isn't this a bit too vague? Sounds tautological, as in "wet water".

[bcousins]

a hot summer night in Australia

Given the climate there isn't this a bit too vague? Sounds tautological, as in "wet water".

Hot, as in, above 35 degrees C. It was the middle of summer and in the centre of a heatwave after all. Stuck in a house with dodgy cable TV.

[ponchi101]

Hello.
I am at the same spot that JustAGuy was a couple of years ago. Although I started programming with Fortran ages ago, and then did a lot of VB/VBA, plus a little python, I am running a board now and I believe I really need to learn PHP. I copied the link for the PHP manual, and will start there.
but, I am old fashioned (and old) and I have always liked books better. Are there any good PHP books out there? Amazon sells several and they all promise to make you a master of PHP blindfolded and in multiple languages, but I need one that will help me to make some extensions that I need for our board.
Thanks for any and all tips.

[JLA]

Best way to learn is to read the code and see what and how the different pieces work. Rinse and repeat!

[AmigoJack]

I copied the link for the PHP manual

That's too self-restrictive already - it's as easy as https://php.net/fopen where fopen can be replaced with any function name or instructions (i.e. https://php.net/else) - you really only type php.net/ into your internet browser's address, followed by what you want to look up. And almost every page comes with examples and mostly useful comments by users. Try it that way.

I am old fashioned (and old) and I have always liked books better

But don't you hate that you can't CTRL+F in a book? That you only have an index with the chapters? That even when you have a keyword lookup at the end it by far cannot come up with every keyword? That's one giant advantage for me. And not being able to stick notes to a non-book can be easily substituted by writing comments in your program code.


Also keep in mind that languages nowadays evolve much faster than at an era where Fortran and Algol were prominent - a book on nowaday subjects can become outdated within one year easily, because i.e. PHP 7 comes with so much more than PHP 5. I understand that you got along with your way and probably still do so. But how did you succeed in Fortran and VB and now don't recognize that PHP is in the same way procedural? Or object oriented programming as in VBA?

but I need one that will help me to make some extensions that I need for our board

Such a book will never exist, as this is phpBB specific. This has little to do with how PHP works, but instead how phpBB's concepts and a few other techniques must be understood - for that there exists the phpBB Extensions manual. And you might be interested in the phpBB Skeleton Extension as a start.

[ponchi101]

...But don't you hate that you can't CTRL+F in a book? ...
...But how did you succeed in Fortran and VB and now don't recognize that PHP is in the same way procedural? Or object oriented programming as in VBA?
...

Indeed, no ctrl+F in a book, but I like to use both things. It is not an OR issue; I like the book to compliment on what can be found online. But, as you say, a book can become obsolete very quickly. That was the reason why I was asking for a recommendation.
Thanks for the links, they seem very helpful. If I may use some more of your time: do you know of a good emulator to practice php? Yes, I got along with older languages and the structures will likely be the same. But syntax and commands are usually a bit different, which is where I need some guidance.
Your post was brilliant. Txs!

[AmigoJack]

a good emulator to practice php

XAMPP is the easiest way. One of the P's in that acronym stands for PHP (and the others mean you also get a full HTTP server, a database management system, and the Perl language, too). You don't even need to call your PHP files thru the internet browser - since PHP is only an interpreter you can call it from the command line to directly parse a file and output what's meant as output. It's as easy as creating this file:

Code: Select all

<?php
  echo 'hello world!';
  echo 3.1415+ 700;

and interpreting it thru calling php.exe -f helloworld.php. Using XAMPP has the benefit that at a later time you can also run a full phpBB installation at your local PC and testing your extension.

Or you download PHP right away - all you need is php.exe for starting to fool around.

[warmweer]

XAMPP is the easiest way.

Just in case: XAMPP is one of the easiest ways.
XAMPP is a personal webserver software package allowing emulation of a webhost, on your PC (not to host a website for the public, but to test it, or just to fiddle around with anything php).
Which one you use will depend on personal preference.
Other similar free packages are Wampserver and EasyPHP and if you have no experience whatsoever, then USBWebserver 8.6.1 and 8.6.2 or USBWebserver 8.6.5 are probably the absolute easiest to start with (these being truly barebones).

[RMcGirr83]

The best teacher I ever had, about 10 or so years ago, was an individual with a pseudonym of Ptirhiik. The original author of "Categories hierarchy". Looking back the absolute most patient person I have ever had the pleasure of "meeting" on line.