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PHP Programming

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  • 21-07-2008 10:32pm
    #1
    thatoneitguy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 45 ✭


    Where did you get your start? Did you have prior knowledge of another C lang or did you just pick it right up. I am working on learning PHP/MySQL slowly and the language is pretty easy but just wondering if learning another language would make it a bit easier as far as syntax and such goes.


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    #2
    Adam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    In terms of syntax, I find php to be pretty much as easy/self-explanatory as it gets.

    I waffled my way in to a full time programming job with no experience at all! Lasted 8 months :cool:


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    #3
    thatoneitguy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 45 ✭thatoneitguy


    Oh I would agree as well. Right now working on just creating basic forms that enter and pull information from a table. I guess it will just come with practice. I just get confused with the "s and the 's and the { and the [ and when to use what.

    PHP is helpful but I would also like to use Cocoa for the Mac but that was way over my head.


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    #4
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,089 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Mirror wrote: »
    In terms of syntax, I find php to be pretty much as easy/self-explanatory as it gets.

    I waffled my way in to a full time programming job with no experience at all! Lasted 8 months :cool:

    Then what happened? :p


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    #5
    Adam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,866 ✭✭✭Adam


    I was let go with blazing compliments about how much I had achieved and was told to come back if/when I had a bit more experience. Result!

    Then I went solo and did far too much work on far too many nixers for far too little money and subsequently don't value my sorry existence.

    :(


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    #6
    p
    Registered Users Posts: 2,119 ✭✭✭p


    Mirror wrote: »
    I was let go with blazing compliments about how much I had achieved and was told to come back if/when I had a bit more experience. Result!
    Then I went solo and did far too much work on far too many nixers for far too little money and subsequently don't value my sorry existence. :(
    So he should probably do the opposite of what you suggest then, eh? :D *ducks*
    thatoneitguy wrote: »
    Where did you get your start? Did you have prior knowledge of another C lang or did you just pick it right up. I am working on learning PHP/MySQL slowly and the language is pretty easy but just wondering if learning another language would make it a bit easier as far as syntax and such goes.
    What's your background? Are you in school/college/working? Are you learning with a goal in mind, or just for fun? PHP is very easy to get to grips with & learn fast, but it is also quite easy to get you into very bad habits and it's a very flexible language. Often you'll learn how to do things in a quick & dirty way, but not in a best practice, reusable and secure way. So that's something to bear in mind. Despite that, it's very good at showing you results very quickly,

    If you're interested in learning to program properly learning C,C++,C# or even Java would be a good way to learn the basics in a more structured way. However, it might be a little bit more work upfront, so less fun.


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    #7
    Teh Russ
    Registered Users Posts: 87 ✭✭Teh Russ


    You could always learn Javascript - if nothing else, it'll teach you where to put your semicolons and curly brackets, how to do arrays, loops and conditions, and all that other stuff that's applicable across all the ECMAscript languages (JS, PHP, C++, Java, Actionscript, etc), plus it'll let you do funky client-side things with your websites. :)


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    #8
    jmcc
    Registered Users Posts: 7,343 ✭✭✭jmcc


    thatoneitguy wrote: »
    Where did you get your start? Did you have prior knowledge of another C lang or did you just pick it right up.
    Yes. C, a pile of other languages and even assembly language.
    I am working on learning PHP/MySQL slowly and the language is pretty easy but just wondering if learning another language would make it a bit easier as far as syntax and such goes.
    SQL (the SQL part of MySQL) is another language completely. PHP only interfaces with databases. However most of the stuff people do with PHP and databases is fairly elementary so you don't really need a knowledge of SQL to database administrator level. As a language, PHP is generally easy to pick up. Most computer languages are similar and if you are familiar with the concepts, learning a new computer language is easier than if you have no computer language knowledge.

    Regards...jmcc


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    #9
    njprrogers
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭njprrogers


    I reckon you should buy yourself a book to get an overview... I got the PHP5 and Mysql Bible which was very helpful when I was starting.

    Online Tutorials are great for answering specific questions as to how you do things but to get an overall feel for how a language works, buy a book and do a couple of projects in it.


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