Want to learn to program....

[palmettoexpress_ceo]

Hi all,

I currently have a website in MySQL / PHP....the meat of the site was created by phpVMS and all I did was follow the prompts to install it and set it up. What I was wondering, does anyone know of any resources for teaching yourself MySQL and PHP?

Also, I work in an environment that users SQL server 2008 and Visual Studio. My next question is, is SQL Server 08 and Visual Studio an easier program to learn? Does anybody know how the two compare?

I am totally new at this but really want to learn it....I want to learn the best route to take (i.e. free(MySQL/PHP) or $$$ (SQL Server/Visual Studio)).

What are your thoughts.

 

[slacker3]

I can recommend you
http://www.w3schools.com
to learn HTML, CSS, PHP and SQL.

It's completely free, all you need is some time.
Also you should get used to Apache and MySQL:
http://www.apache.org
http://www.mysql.com

 

[misson]

I don't recommend W3Schools. The quality of the information varies widely. Tizag Tutorials is a little better, but some of it is out of date.

What are your thoughts.

Learning to program doesn't mean learning to program in a specific language; learning PHP vs learning C# and ASP.Net is a false dichotomy. If you want to be hardcore, use the Wizard book. You can also find programming videos on iTunes U from accredited universities. You should also learn how to develop, which is a broader topic than programming. Many designs that are perfectly valid programs aren't well suited for the development process.

As for whether to start with PHP or ASP.Net, there's not a clear winner. PHP is simpler overall. ASP.Net has the easier to use IDE (for PHP, there's Eclipse, which is quite powerful but has a steeper learning curve than Visual Studio). PHP is better supported on X10, though that won't matter if you're using your own computer. I've seen much more bad habits evident in PHP code, but that's more due to the quality of instruction than a failing of the language. If anything, I recommend using Ruby or Python, or even Smalltalk or JS, to learn how to program.

If you want to learn frontend development, also study JS, CSS and HTML.

StackOverflow has quite a few questions relevant to yours; check out the answers for additional recommendations.

 

[bachstrad]

My learning path is currently Lynda.Com video tutorials "PHP and Mysql :Essentials" and "PHP and MySql:Beyond the Basics"
I am halfway through the first one and finding it very easy to follow - the whole thing about programming and Web Develpment is (IMHO) conceptual. Each concept is explained simply and the beauty of the videos is that you can keep going back over the examples, type them in and test your accuracy - most of my problems are quite simply poor typing - the more you debug your own problems against a standard sample the more you learn - as Ronald says "I'm lovin' it." Folliowing on from these two video courses is another course which has fifty real life PHP and MySQL projects OOP and MVC I am 59 so I reckon I have found a great retirement activity for the future. I am not in any way connected to the company I just found the presentation to my taste - so keep looking for something that suits your learning style and stick to it. Steve

 

[jorge777]

what is the best site to learn php, which has codes sources?

 

[zenadix]

actually the best way to learn PHP is through practice. create your PHP/MYSQL webpage and practice practice practice.

for tutorial, just google it.

 

[emoss76]

create your PHP/MYSQL webpage and practice practice practice.

I agree, reading is no substitute for the understanding you get from hands-on experience, but can be a big help.

What you might want to do is set yourself an objective for your site (e.g. a contact form, member login area, etc.), google for a good example (there are plenty of examples for both) and make your own solution using the coding concepts in the example. Then as your confidence increases, look to expand your site with more objectives (e.g. a member-editable database) and repeat.

If you're looking for a good book to get you started, I can recommend 'Build your own Database Driven Website' by sitepoint.com, which has a downloadable code archive. It covers intermediate database interactions, but does not cover more advanced topics such as object-oriented programming with PHP.

But by all means look around for other books/sites, there are probably better out there.

 

[jdawg2k]

Yal are blowing my mind with this thread! Can't wait to explore the resources!

 

[shatteredcode]

Awesome Site

www.phpvideotutorials.com

 

[galaxyAbstractor]

I would recommend http://devzone.zend.com/article/627 , that's where I learned PHP

 

[callumacrae]

Get a book

~Callum

 

[bhupendra2895]

I learned basics using o'really's head first.Then I started programming in Php and I felt that procedural code I am writing is garbage.Then I learnt how to implement classes in php.For that I searched articls on web for object oriented approach to Php.Now I learning zend framework and I have a plan to learn typo3 in future.I am getting inspiration for learning because I am creating projects in php as I learn new thing.So what Mission says is perfect.

 

[satishan]

can anyone tell how this structural query stores information and how this data in tables is so accurate..
and whether the new era of relational database more consistent and flexible..

 

[misson]

@satishan: that sounds like homework. Also, don't threadjack.

 

[matthew9090]

w3 schools tells you lots of information about lots of programming languages. Download the wamp server witch has already got php and mysql installed. it gives you phpmyadmin for a database.

 

[tellmeasong]

I can recommend you
http://www.w3schools.com
to learn HTML, CSS, PHP and SQL.

Good luck!

 

[cheezo]

php is quite easier. you need not to know sql if you wish since there is a gui to control all that.

once you knew php. you can also learn almost all languages. i suggest yuo to first learn C

 

[misson]

w3 schools tells you lots of information about lots of programming languages.

I can recommend you
http://www.w3schools.com
to learn HTML, CSS, PHP and SQL.

I'm going to revise my earlier statement about W3Schools to stress that you shouldn't use it: it is at times outdated, incorrect and incomplete. It may have been a passable resource in 2000, when there weren't many options, but not today.

you need not to know sql if you wish since there is a gui to control all that.

Even if you use a visual query builder (which isn't always available), it's important to understand SQL for things like optimizing queries and some queries that are difficult or impossible to design with a visual builder. You also need to be able to read any queries you come across in code.

In any case, you still need to understand relational DBs to properly use a GUI for the database; you still need to understand how to structure things. You need to study some relational calculus and, while SQL isn't the best language for this (it's more limited than others), there aren't many alternatives commonly used in practice.

once you knew php. you can also learn almost all languages.

There's nothing particular about PHP that makes it easy to learn other languages. You can start with any language and later learn others.

i suggest yuo to first learn C

C is useful to learn because it was so widely used (though not as much for new projects), but it's not a particularly good language for learning to program.

 

[Brosert]

I think for the most part, I agree with 'misson' (although I have used bits of w3school).

<rant>

You have to decide what you want to know.
Do you want to learn a particular language, or do you want to learn to program?
Most good programmers understand certain fundamentals that are more or less language independent (not entirely true, because there are many different types if languages, but please bear with me).

A lecturer once told me (or the whole class) that the difference between University (College) and TAFE (a trade school) is that TAFE teaches specific skills, while University teaches you to learn. While I don't entirely agree with this, I think he meant it the right way - you can know any language inside out but be useless as a programmer, similarly, if you know certain fundamental concepts, you can apply them to any language.
If the language you use is important when you are learning, then you're probably learning the language, not the concept.

At university, I used many different languages (a little bit), but most of my assignments required Ada or Java (very much an Object Oriented language). Despite that, most of my working life has used C and unix Shell Scripting - functional, and not at all object oriented (and I use a while plethora {well, at least 3} of others outside of work). While there are significant differences (and it may help to learn using a language in the same genre as what you intend to finish up using), the underlying concepts are much the same (and boil down to Data Structures and Algorithms - though they may have clever guises such as 'paradigms' or 'models' or something else...)...we deviate from the point.....

The point is, good programming tends to be language independent. It is easy to create a hack in any language (especially given the resources available on the 'net). In fact (as we see on the internet a lot), it's even possible to put lots of hacks with some pretty impressive results. If we want to 'program', however, (as opposed to just kludge things together and make them work), then there is a lot more involved.
A programmer chooses the language to suit the situation, not forces the situation to conform to his (her) available skills. If you find yourself choosing the language before you have investigated what needs to be done, then you're probably doing things the wrong way round...

CAVEAT: There are fundamental differences between certain types of languages. Logic programming (like Prolog) is very different to functional programming (lisp or miranda) and different again from object oriented programming (Java, c# etc). Web programming is further complicated by the fact that the underlying 'language' HTML is a style specification rather than a language per se...we digress....

If you want to learn to program, get a book titled something like 'Data Structures and Algorithms <in ....>'. If you want to learn to hack things together, google (or your favourite search engine) should be plenty enough.....

</rant>

 

[jdawg2k]

the html didn't process your rant command well. LOL.

i agree totally! for me i found the best suited is lite c but first i want to study c and c++ to get an understanding of its evolution!

I think for the most part, I agree with 'misson' (although I have used bits of w3school).

<rant>

You have to decide what you want to know.
Do you want to learn a particular language, or do you want to learn to program?
Most good programmers understand certain fundamentals that are more or less language independent (not entirely true, because there are many different types if languages, but please bear with me).

A lecturer once told me (or the whole class) that the difference between University (College) and TAFE (a trade school) is that TAFE teaches specific skills, while University teaches you to learn. While I don't entirely agree with this, I think he meant it the right way - you can know any language inside out but be useless as a programmer, similarly, if you know certain fundamental concepts, you can apply them to any language.
If the language you use is important when you are learning, then you're probably learning the language, not the concept.

At university, I used many different languages (a little bit), but most of my assignments required Ada or Java (very much an Object Oriented language). Despite that, most of my working life has used C and unix Shell Scripting - functional, and not at all object oriented (and I use a while plethora {well, at least 3} of others outside of work). While there are significant differences (and it may help to learn using a language in the same genre as what you intend to finish up using), the underlying concepts are much the same (and boil down to Data Structures and Algorithms - though they may have clever guises such as 'paradigms' or 'models' or something else...)...we deviate from the point.....

The point is, good programming tends to be language independent. It is easy to create a hack in any language (especially given the resources available on the 'net). In fact (as we see on the internet a lot), it's even possible to put lots of hacks with some pretty impressive results. If we want to 'program', however, (as opposed to just kludge things together and make them work), then there is a lot more involved.
A programmer chooses the language to suit the situation, not forces the situation to conform to his (her) available skills. If you find yourself choosing the language before you have investigated what needs to be done, then you're probably doing things the wrong way round...

CAVEAT: There are fundamental differences between certain types of languages. Logic programming (like Prolog) is very different to functional programming (lisp or miranda) and different again from object oriented programming (Java, c# etc). Web programming is further complicated by the fact that the underlying 'language' HTML is a style specification rather than a language per se...we digress....

If you want to learn to program, get a book titled something like 'Data Structures and Algorithms <in ....>'. If you want to learn to hack things together, google (or your favourite search engine) should be plenty enough.....

</rant>