How did you learn php?

[ben.d.h]

Originally Posted by obaid.ahmed

according to me w3schools is the best place to learn php,html,css etc

I've heard other people say this before as well. Not really sure about it though.

I'm trying to get back into coding. The past two weeks I haven't done much. I was busy with a family emergency, and then I've just been busy with work and my girlfriend. I just quit my administration job on the other forum I go on so that I could focus more time here and on coding.

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. It's really helping

[jaydeee]

Im still learning PHP and for me it easier through video like lynda and youtube. However written documents is still necessary for reference.

[Eric Lewis]

I just learned by reading books and using the internet... I copied scripts to see how they worked, and changed things to suit my needs, noting what each function did. HTML is the weirdest because it doesn't exactly tell you what it's doing.

[Mark.cube]

I didn't worked a lot around PHP neither i was an expert in development but I had 6 months of awesome development experience. I learned primarily from practicing and writing code over and over again.

That's they best way to do it. Books are good guide but practice is the most essential.

[devino246]

I had tried to go through the tutorial on w3schools but found it too difficult without having a real use for it. Now that I have a use for it, learning is much easier. Anyone into web development should at least have general knowledge of PHP. It's immensely useful.

[SimpleMan]

I skimmed through the responses quickly and didn't see this link so you may want to check out http://php.net/ as well. In the top-left corner you will find links to an introductory tutorial and an online manual. Hope this helps.

[GMT]

PHP is so easy you can really just learn it off tutorials, there seems to be examples for just about everything. If you want to learn it officially you should order some books off Amazon. I have a background in app development so I already knew other languages, and hence PHP came really easy to me.

[SimpleMan]

Originally Posted by Eric Lewis

I just learned by reading books and using the internet... I copied scripts to see how they worked, and changed things to suit my needs, noting what each function did. HTML is the weirdest because it doesn't exactly tell you what it's doing.

While this can work, (changing things around with html without having a general knowledge of it, to see what happens) it's dangerous. When you make some changes to something and check to see what happened, it may look ok in whatever browser you are using but will be all messed up in others. If you do this, to maybe help you understand more, try running it through the validator. This will tell you any errors in codes and what lines they appear on. Then again, it all depends on the code you are changing. There is a lot that isn't w3 compliant in the first place.

[Brero-San]

the book "PHP 5/MySQL for the absolute beginner" by Andy Harris is where i started

[codefish]

If php is the first language you learn, better firt start with some common concepts - what is procedural and what OO programming? What is MVC? And then make some simple project for yourself. No need to memorize php functions as php.net has all you need.
SQL needs a lot of time and practice too.

[jackal]

You cant learn php until it is written in step by step procedure, which will only be available in physical text books only, (ebooks are being written by noobs now a days, certail good u can find but u will find them boring).

You cant learn it from w3schools unless you already have a previous knowledge of any other language like html. etc.

Better to join some coaching center.

[GMF]

Originally Posted by jackal

You cant learn php until it is written in step by step procedure, which will only be available in physical text books only, (ebooks are being written by noobs now a days, certail good u can find but u will find them boring).

You cant learn it from w3schools unless you already have a previous knowledge of any other language like html. etc.

Better to join some coaching center.

WRONG

refer to my post in this thread

While it is true that you should know basic HTML/CSS you can definitively learn from online resources.

In the past I didn't like W3School, but it seems that they are improving. You CAN learn from them.

[mimo91]

you can learn php easily by the newboston videos or through w3schools

[manojob]

I learn PHP from w3 schools.

[ColourKraft]

I learnt using the official php.net documentation, it's quite easy to understand compared to the documentation on other languages.

[Bernardcwood]

PHP is the open source platform programming language so its best so get learned it online. There are various sites form which we can get the better tutorials for the PHP step by step. SO online platform is best way to learn the PHP.

[freenet]

Only with internet and ebooks ^^

[jackal]

I have found a good source if you want learn php interactively
here it is

http://www.bigprof.com/free-php-scripts/php-commander.html

[MissTa]

I had hard time learning but easy for me to start doing with making simple login membership code.

Find tutorial to do and do it over again manytimes until you can do youelf easy.

Then try to do another script and do until you can do easy. then it become more easy

[darl]

My story started years ago, when i tried to build some fanpages (not facebook FP). I have realized that clear html does not give me desirable opportunieties, so I bought two books and trying to do with them news system, after that CMS.

Then I was interested in frameworks, my first was Symfony 1.2, now Symfony 2, i recommended them to work with PHP