What is the best way to learn php?

Question

Hi

I'm new to php and I want to learn it because i want to build web applications. For ex: Facebook apps, mobile apps, my own ideas ..etc. What would be the best efficient way to learn PHP or which direction should i take? There are so many books, tutorial and articles out there that teaches you how to learn php and everyone thinks their way is the best way to learn. Is there a standard way so that you get to learn one level at a time? So far my experience with php is that I've created an E-commerce site and integrate with 3rd party shopping cart.

Answer 1

Install WAMPServer (or an equivalent), and then start working through w3schools' tutorial. When you've got difficult questions, come back here and ask. It may also help you to sit down and read past PHP questions from the archives to see what problems other people faced, and how they solved them.

Answer 2

Learn PHP from Scratch: A Training Regimen

then maybe try with a framework like CodeIgniter

Answer 3

Our esteemed @bobince asked a similar question today with a number of very good requirements. If you want a security-conscious, best-practice tutorial, keep an eye on that question, there are some good answers already. (this is not to put down the other answers as security-*un*conscious, I don't know either of them. Just thought bobince's question worth mentioning.)

Answer 4

I wouldn't recommend you to start php using a framework because that way you won't learn the basis, and there is a lot of discussion whether to use or not frameworks.

Anyway you should start small, basic "Hello World" php application, maybe display your visitor's IP address, make a simple calculator, then you can move to Databases and make your way up to the top.

About PHP app there is an awesome tutorial at their "wiki" could find the link through, you'll have to surf it.

Answer 5

I highly recommend http://www.tizag.com/ and http://www.w3schools.com/php/.

W3 is a great reference, but tizag does a better job of explaining the basics IMO.

Answer 6

You have created an e-commerce site so you must know the basics already.

I believe there are two directions you can take. First there is the technical knowledge of PHP itself. You will gain this by creating a lot. Yes, you could read a book having a variety of commonly encountered problems. But for me these tend to be more like a reference. After you've read through it there's only one way to get learn it and that is by building.

Second, there's the analysis and design route. This is not PHP specific (though implementing it in PHP is different). I believe this to be very important also and skills you can apply outside of the PHP world.

You can advance your skill in a domain by focusing on an issue you find interesting at the moment. For example you focus on using sessions in your e-commerce application. Try to learn a lot by researching the topic from books or what you find on the internet. You won't be an expert and your application needs to go forward too so after some time you will implement the session component and focus on some other problem, eg how you can implement you session component in the larger application while avoiding coupling, which leads you to some design topics. You'll find that at some point you'll revisit those points of focus with greater understanding and expand your knowledge gaining more understanding.