New to Open Source - PHP 2

[LonnieJohnson]

Hello I have recently been introduced to the world of Open Source and am excited about it. I have developed for the past 12 years using MS products. Can anyone direct me to an easy tutorial on developing websites in PHP?

Thanks.

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[HiTkRdNek]

There are hundreds out there.. the best place to start is

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

Next explore php.net and get familiar with the structure of the language. When you have your first project google that with php and you're bound to find something related to it. Or you can start by PHP TUTORIAL and you will get thousands to choose from. Then just pick the one that works best for you and your coding style.

Happy coding!

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks. I appreciate the quick response.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[sd0t1]

The sites that I used that helped me are as follows.
I was a true PHP newbie. I had did a little VB about 5 years prior in college but nothing to brag about.

http://www.tizag.com

was a good site for newbies

http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

was also excellent.

If you've used MS products for 12 years, my links may be too rudimentary for you though.

The good news is this is by far the best forum for PHP on the web. Fast responses, great examples, and an overall willingness to help.
When I first started coding about 4 or 5 years ago, without this forum I think I may have had to give up coding. Most sites will give you a little training, but nothing will cover all your actual real world situations.
Before I found this site I could go weeks/months trying to solve one problem that was not covered well in a tutorial. Now with this forum, you pretty much get help that same day or the next day. Assuming you can't search and find your answers immediately.

Hope this helps.

 

[HiTkRdNek]

The good news is this is by far the best forum for PHP on the web. Fast responses, great examples, and an overall willingness to help.

I concur!! The people on here have been very helpful to me over the years. My previous account quit working so had to create a new one. I have had many problems solved on tek-tips quickly, even when the answer is RTM (read the manual) they at least point me to the right section in the manual so I can educate myself, therby learning the correct way to implement my solution.

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks. I am so eager to jump in. I guess the first thing I need to do is install php on my machine. I have Windows XP.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[HiTkRdNek]

One thing to consider before posting a thread is the FAQ's at the top of this forum. Some of the wiser people have written some great procedures on how to do things, such as installing PHP on a Windows XP machine. It's not difficult, I have done it several times in the past. However, I have run a LAMP install for the last seven years so I would have to refer to their FAQ to get started where you are at! Don't be scared.. DIVE IN HEAD FIRST, NOW IS THE TIME TO BREAK IT, have fun and experiment.. cause when you have apps running on it you're not going to have the same liberties as a fresh install ;-)

 

[vacunita]

You'll need 3 things to get working on PHP on a Windows a machine.

1. A webserver to serve the files
2. PHP to parse the PHP code
3. An editor to code the files.

1. Windows has a few optios including IIS and Apache, I prefer Apache.
2. Download the PHP installer from php.net and run it after having installed the webserver.
3. Any editor even notepad will do.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks again everyone. Do I need a webserver or apache to play around on my local machine?

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!

 

[vacunita]

Thanks again everyone. Do I need a webserver or apache to play around on my local machine?

That depends. If you are o.k. with running PHP through the command line, then no, if you want a website output in your browser, even a local one then yes.

PHP is designed to work through a web server so it needs the web server both to get the file to parse, and to return it to be shown.

Apache is a webserver

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[LonnieJohnson]

Thanks. I will work on getting the webserver set up. I will be back for more when I get the box.

ProDev, Builders of Affordable Software Applications
Visit me at ==>

http://www.prodev.us

May God bless you beyond your imagination!!!