New to web development and PHP

Looking for educational suggestions

[iteri]

I am new to web development and need to learn about PHP and programming. Does anyone have any suggestions on courses, classes, books, etc? Thanks.

[jatar_k]

try this thread
Learning PHP - Books, Tutorials and Online Resources [webmasterworld.com]

[gsbatch]

Hmmm. How do you answer that question without sounding like a promo? Well, here it is anyway.

I started with Virtual Training Center. It's $30 a month for unlimited access to all of their training videos on numerous subjects. It is like having an instructor sitting at your desk giving one-on-one training. Reading books is OK, and you need that knowledge, but I ended up with all this information swimming around in my head and still didn't really know how to bring it all together to make something useful.
Having someone demonstrate how to put that knowledge to practical use made the learning process go so much faster.

My two cents.

[edited by: jatar_k at 11:44 pm (utc) on Jan. 23, 2008]
[edit reason] removed url [/edit]

[Osagie Irowa]

For online PHP training, web development/SQL/ Java scripts etc. Check out [w3schools.com...] regards, osagie irowa

[edited by: jatar_k at 11:44 pm (utc) on Jan. 23, 2008]
[edit reason] no sigs thanks [/edit]

[pixeline]

Frankly, it depends on what type of student you are _ if you're good at self teaching, just challenge yourself to do a simple application, follow a few free online tutorials, get the basics.
but just google for "php tutorials" and you'll get tons of them. Eventually buy a book if you like the language and want to dive head and tails into it.
At all time, you will encounter problems & issues, which solutions are to be found in the excellent online php manual, or on this forum!

[edited by: coopster at 10:48 pm (utc) on Jan. 23, 2008]
[edit reason] removed url [/edit]

[formasfunction]

As corny as it may sound, I started out with PHP and MySQL For Dummies (http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Dummies-CDROM-Janet-Valade/dp/0764516507). It's worth it for the quick reference when you're starting out because it sticks to the very simple and common things you'll keep forgetting. In the beginning, sometimes, less information is better.

[phnord]

If you really are interested in programming, I would start by learning about programming topics such as object-oriented programming, functional programming, abstraction, data structures, design patterns, encapsulation, inheritance, etc. After you have gotten your feet wet a bit and are serious about learning to program, a good book to pick up is Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell...which is not language specific, but will teach proper coding. Once you have a solid foundation down, you can pick up any language with relative ease.

Most of the beginning books on PHP are just that, beginner books...that have no substance. You'll learn bad programming habits, disgusting insecure code, bad SQL usage and will end up building mountains of spaghetti code. The bad practices you pick up will take a long time to undo later on.

For a solid PHP 5 book, get PHP 5 Power Programming by Gutmans, Bakken and Rethans. Although I wish they would have written less about PEAR and more on PHP. But I'd start by picking up a freshman level, university CS text book for beginner programming and learn the fundamentals.

[iteri]

Thank you all for your help!