New to PHP.

Many thanks,

Godlike

For books I would suggest taking the time to visit your local book store,
and go to the computers section. Any good bookstore (like chapters) will
have many PHP books.

Cheers,
ChrisV

"Godlike" <G...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:y5BN7.3190$V51.5...@news11-gui.server.ntli.net...

Here is something I found at sitepointforums.com quite a while ago,
hope it helps:

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What is PHP?

Explained at a very basic level, PHP is a programming language you can
use to create 'automated' web pages. Using PHP you can write
everything from simple page counters to automated sites like
AmIHotOrNot or the gameplay forums.

PHP scripts (programs) are executed by the web server itself when your
web browser requests a page. They generate static HTML which is sent
to your browser - as a result the web browser never sees any PHP code
(it is dealt with by the server) and thus PHP scripts work fine with
ANY browser, provided the HTML the script generates can be viewed by
that browser.

Still confused? Check out the beginner's tutorial on the official PHP
website:

http://www.php.net/tut.php

If you want to build a website using PHP it is essential that your web
site host supports PHP - free hosts that offer PHP include F2S and UK
Linux.

http://www.f2s.com/
http://www.uklinux.net/

What about mySQL?

PHP and mySQL are often mentioned in the same sentence, however they
are completely different things. mySQL is a database system (like
Microsoft Access but without the complicated windows interface or the
hefty price tag). The PHP language has built in functions for
"talking" to mySQL databases, and since mySQL (like PHP) is completely
free they are a very popular combination. Using a mySQL database makes
it very easy to create sites that store large amounts of information -
such as the gameplay forums or an automated articles system.

Getting Started

Before you start learning PHP you need to have somewhere to run it. A
free account at F2S or UK Linux will suffice, but an even better
option is to install your own PHP web server on your windows PC and
run your scripts from there. You need the windows versions of Apache
(a web server), PHP, mySQL and a script called phpMyAdmin which will
help you easily create and administrate databases in mySQL. That lot
may sound daunting but there is a .zip file available for download
containing all 4 - simply unzip it onto your hard drive and away you
go.

http://www.firepages.com.au/dev4.htm

If you really want to install PHP and Apache yourself (which can be
good experience) there is an excellent tutorial here:

http://www.thickbook.com/extra/php_apachephp4_win.phtml

You can get the bits and pieces from...

http://www.apache.org/
http://www.php.net/
http://www.mysql.com/
http://www.phpwizards.net/ -- phpMyAdmin

Learning PHP

PHP is - in my opinion at least - an extremely easy language. If you
have had any previous programming experience (up to that point that
you understand what variables, arrays, if...then statements and loops
are) you shouldn't have any problems at all picking up basic PHP
syntax. Even if you don't have previous programming experience
starting PHP is a great way to get some.

My personal favourite PHP tutorial anywhere is this one from
SitePoint:

http://www.webmasterbase.com/article.php/228/

It starts with the very basics (installing PHP, what it does) and goes
on to cover everything from basic programming principles to advanced
usage of PHP and mySQL to create a fully databased site. I recommend
printing the article out, but be warned it comes to around 111
pages...

Also worth looking at are the PHP 101 tutorials on DevShed:

http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_1/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_2/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_3/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_4/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/PHP101_5/

PHP Books

Online tutorials are great but they can only go so far - in practise
the quickest and easiest way to learn something like PHP (if you're
prepared to shell out the money) is with a good book. Here are my
personal recommendations:

PHP Essentials. This is the book I learned PHP from - it expects no
previous experience and takes you through from the bare basics to
creating a fully database driven e-commerce site (complete with
information on how to encrypt credit card details). The only down side
is that much of the stuff in this book is covered in the WebMasterBase
tutorial mentioned earlier - however at Ł24.93 (which is pretty cheap
for a computer book) this is definitely worth considering:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/076152729X/

Professional PHP Programming. This is a BIG red PHP Bible from wrox
publishing. Think of it as the ultimate PHP reference book - between
this and the PHP manual there's very little you won't be able to
figure out. This book isn't ideal for beginners, but is virtually
essential once you've got past newbie level.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861002963/

Other books worth investigating (i.e I haven't read them but they've
been recommended by other people) include:

PHP: Fast and Easy Web Development
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/076153055X/

Beginning PHP4 Programming
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1861003730/

PHP Developer's Cookbook
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672319241/

The PHP Manual

PHP is blessed with one of the best written, most comprehensive online
manuals I've ever seen. The manual is available in several different
formats, including a .zip file for download to your local machine. The
most useful version is the fully searchable online manual at php.net -
complete with user comments. All comments are "moderated" before they
go on display on the site so the quality of information is extremely
high - in fact I've often found the solution to a problem with a PHP
function by browsing through the comments on that function's page in
the manual.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/

Useful Tip: You can quickly look up ANY function in the manual by
going to http://www.php.net/the_function_name - i.e
http://www.php.net/date will show you the page in the manual covering
the date() function. I use this all the time.

Advanced Tips

Once you've read through a tutorial or read a book the chances are
you'll be thirsty for more. The following are useful PHP resources
I've found since I started playing with PHP:

PHP Builder - this is the definitive PHP community site. You can learn
a huge amount by just reading through the article archive on this
site, and fresh content is posted several times a week.
http://www.phpbuilder.com/

Zend - the official site of the "Zend" engine, which is the lightning
fast code interpreter used in PHP 4. The site also includes a wealth
of PHP articles, tutorials and code snippets (my personal favourites
are listed below).
http://www.zend.com/

Introduction to Classes
http://www.zend.com/zend/tut/class-intro.php

Session Handling with PHP 4
http://www.zend.com/zend/tut/session.php

The PHP Base Library (phpLib). This is a library of functions that
handle many essential but complicated routines used by the majority of
database driven websites. Of particular interest are the user
permissions / session management classes and the excellent template
class - there is also support for a shopping cart system and a very
useful database interaction class.
http://phplib.netuse.de/

Be warned, phpLib is not for the faint hearted (the documentation on
the site isn't very friendly). Luckily there are some excellent
articles around on how to use the library:
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/david20000512.php3
http://www.users.f2s.com/faq/phplib_db.php3
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/chad19990414.php3
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/...PLib/print.html

Other sites:

Good list of PHP Tutorials
http://www.find.com.au/tutorials/we...t.asp?ob=3&pg=0

Installing and using phpMyAdmin
http://www.opendeveloper.org/PHP/Ho...ement_with_PHP/

Migrating from PERL to PHP
http://www.dotcomma.org/programming/view.php?id=36

DevShed's PHP Section
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP/

http://www.phpdeveloper.org/
http://www.phphelp.org/

Finally... places to get pre-written PHP Scripts

HotScripts
http://www.hotscripts.com/

PHP Resource Index (my personal favourite)
http://php.resourceindex.com/

PHP Wizards - home of phpMyAdmin among others
http://www.phpwizards.net/

--
"He was a wise man who invented God."
- Plato
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br...@spiderbite.org | http://brian.spiderbite.org

>Please could somebody let me know the best places to find info on learning

I have written a beginner article on php here:
http://www.rent-a-tutor.com/articles/show.php?article=001

I also offer an online-course PHP4 for beginners:
http://www.rent-a-tutor.com/courses/index.php

Hope that helps

:-) Marian
--
http://www.heddesheimer.de
http://www.rent-a-tutor.com - Software on the Web

Hope this helps,
gianni