Hey, how are you guys....?

I am new to the forum.

I had to join when i saw the list of top earners.

I know a few of them and I am impressed.

Though an IT entrepreneur, I want to get a good working knowledge of PHP.

Can anyone recommend what I can do. I will prefer to be taught because for a while now, I have had a few tutorials and a book I made a copy of...

but I am yet to make significant progress.


Thanks.

study study study. PHP isn't that hard to learn. there are plenty resources on the net. google is your friend.

you may want to take a look at these sites

http://www.programmersheaven.com/zone27/mh46.htm
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php
http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

this gives u very basic information you can search for more advanced topics as you develop your skills

You have to decide what kind of programming you want: procedural, or object programming. Procedural is easier to understand, and used by most php programmers.

My advice to you is this: If you are serious about learning php, you have to have a pet project in mind. Merely reading, and trying out bits of code won't get you very far. You learn better when you go looking for an answer to a question you already have. And that would only happen if you have a project in mind. For example, assuming you're building an application that requires image upload and resize, you would understand it better when you have an actual need to get it done within a real project.

If you have a personal computer, install LAMP, or WAMP. And start practicing.

There is no learning php without mysql. So prepare for that also.

Here are resources I use a lot:

http://www.phpbuilder.com (Post your questions, and ask nicely for help).
http://www.php.net (Look up functions and their use).
http://www.mysql.com (Everything mysql).

PHP is easy, but it takes patience and several years of dedication to master it.

Goodluck.

Here is a suggestion for a project..

Create a php application that lets you catalog your CD collection.

It should allow you to upload images of the artists, including auto-creation of thumbnails after upload.

You should be able to search for any CD in the catalog by keywords, artist name, or album name.

After search results are displayed, you should be able to re-sort the result by clicking on a link.

Results should be displayed 10 per page, and you should be able to click a link to view more results.

You should be able to delete an entry in your catalog.

You should be able to edit an entry in the catalog.

I guarantee you, by the time you're done with this project, you'd be half way through becoming a full-fledged php programmer.

Do this without using OPC (other people's code).

Oasis!

Its u again...I just love reading your posts. I learnt alot from the one u posted on nigeriaworld.com concerning setting up a webserver, the cost, challenges and all that...thanks for the free service.

Were you the one who said something about being a forever-student or something? I read that somewhere here and I have been putting my PHP skills to practices ever since. The thing is I got carried away by Paul Hudson's book. There is an online edition at www.hudzilla.org He is a good writer with alot u need to know be u a beginner or an advanced programmer.

After reading his book and some articles online. I felt like the perfect PHP analyst!  but when it comes to putting my skills to practice, I refer back to the manual  but it was not all that bad. But like you said putting your skill to practise is the best option. I started developing a CMS for Nigerian websites after I discovered the need to always keep their (web designers) content fresh! So the CMS would be business oriented, desingers would only design a template and insert my keywords to activate the features.... unlike Mambo and the rest of them who pitched their approaches on community/journals. I am looking at a CMS for Brochure websites that talks about ur products and services.

During my coding, I discovered alot of tips and tricks on how to code better, optimise your codes and keep your codes more secured. So being practical is the best....

Thanks for the homework! I checked www.oasisforlove.com  .You've got so much of javascript in there, and the overall feel isnt that great too!

Wassup..I was expecting the site to look so sexy like www.sexynaija.com. And that big love background make the site kinda draggy. All the same the functionalities there is superb!

@oasis do you do AJAX programming? I havent seen anyone do that in Nigeria and that is the way to go. I have downloaded so many materials that I hope I can use this vacation of mine to get through...

@naijaguru

I do a lot of tech writing, many geared toward helping people get started. My goal is to see Nigerians cash in on the billions of outsourcing dollars that India is enjoying today. Unfortunately, we're so deeply buried in 419 at the moment. However, it's encouraging to see you showing interest. Keep it up. Post questions if you have any.

As for my site, use it, and you'd discover what's behind the hood. I've never been interested in designing flashy anything that's why the look is conservative. It'd probably stay that way. I value function over heavy graphics.

@oasis do you do AJAX programming? I havent seen anyone do that in Nigeria and that is the way to go. I have downloaded so many materials that I hope I can use this vacation of mine to get through...

Yes.

I created a live chat program for my website. It's all AJAX.

Before you get into ajax, learn your javascript.  I read David Flanagan's book from O'Reily from cover to cover, and I also used Thau's JavaScript Tutorial.  http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/programming/javascript/tutorials/tutorial1.html

@ Oasis

Thanks for the encouragement, you are pretty right about the 419 syndrome. But if our MUMU 419ners could be doing lots of hacking and real time cracking. It'll still be better all the same. But its so unfortunate they are doing none! Its a matter of time I guess.

>Back to PHP
What free php debugger out there is as good as Zend Suite? Or at least to an extent. I use PHP Designer 2006...

>On Ajax
Is Ajax Client-Side programming or serverside? And whats its syntax and functionalities like. And on what platform does it run and other stuffs like that. Does Ajax have a site and a community like PHP.net and Zend.com?

Just as DHTML is Javascript+CSS,
AJAX is Javascript+XML.

Here is what AJAX does:

It allows you to update data on a webpage, even after the page has been fully loaded.  That is how I'm able to update messages in my chat application without reloading the chat window.

If you want to learn ajax, the Internet is your oyster.  Just google it.

I hope you know javascript inside out.  if not, you'd be putting the cart before the horse with ajax.

@Oasis,

I have been thinking Javascript is not very important cos u can copy codes and use it on your site. In my early HTML days, I used to hate Javascript cos of I had no programming knowledge and all I could find online are codes to place in your site.

I am having some interest now since its (javascript) syntax looks a bit like real Java and PHP.

You know my prgramming skills is coming from the HTML background. So thats the way it looks to me.

Interesting.

Thanks

How easy is it to develop in AJAX. I think it's the best way to go especially when coding in a narrowband environment.

Naijaguru Googles uses AJAX in their GMail service. That's why it's the fastest mail service now[i] (i don't know about the new Yahoo Mail and Hotmail though).[/i]

I have learnt enough from this thread, please keep posting in

Actually, joftech, AJAX has nothing to do with Gmail's speed. Try browsing the plain HTML version - it's also lightening-fast because they have no graphics or flash ads.

Apart from the fact that Google has a fast and strong webserver, I think Ajax helped their speed too. Try attaching a file while composing a message. While yahoo or hotmail would load for quite some time, Gmail gives you the chance to attach while you type and it loads at the same time. I think thats Ajax for you.

You can also replay to messages as fast as possible.

Ajax has little to do with google's speed. It's a misconception that ajax somehow enhances a website's speed. I don't see how.

First of all, when you download a page for the first time, the images, hte included javascript and css files, etc get cached in the browser. So the next time you request the same page, those items won't be download again. The only thing downloaded would be raw text data. Which is exactly what ajax also downloads. Maybe a bit of time is gained because the whole page doesn't have to be laid out.

Although since ajax works in the background, you are able to continue doing other things meanwhile. That's why google's gmail file attachment appears faster. In reality, the upload speed of your attachment is determined not by google, but by the speed of your Internet connection.

Although since ajax works in the background, you are able to continue doing other things meanwhile. That's why google's gmail file attachment appears faster. In reality, the upload speed of your attachment is determined not by google, but by the speed of your Internet connection.

If anyone here has used www.meebo.com and http://www.writely.com you will know that AJAX speed up things real quick in it's own way. Although it maybe the background processing of command like i have read somewhere before.

Anyone new to AJAX can do some readings here http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/resources/programming/xmlhttprequest

I think we're making too much of the speed gain. That is not the reason that google is fast.

You gain a bit of speed with ajax for the simple reason that the whole web page doesn't have to be rendered all over again for each request. However, ajax presents little speed advantage (email file attachment) when it comes to uploading, since that is limited by your Internet connection speed.

All in all, ajax is a good thing, but we mustn't make it into what it's not.

check out www.phpnuke.org
it's helpful.