PHP Books

[GingerNut]

Well, I've finally got my butt into gear and decided to learn php. Can someone recommend a good "beginners" book to get me started?

[cpradio]

do a search

[Kagey]

i learned with beginning PHP4 by wrox. It got me started fine. It might have the same effect for you

[techgnome]

I've been learning PHP by jumping straight into the fire. I d/l a web content manager written in PHP. From there it's been, "hmm.... what does this do? OH! Put that back..... not good....."

[The Hobo]

Books are too expensive (alteast for Hobo's like me). The internet is vast and resourceful. Find some tutorials.

And memorize the manual, or atleast learn how to consult it. Half the questions asked in this forum can be answered by reading the manual.

[GingerNut]

Originally posted by cpradio
do a search

I did, but there's more than one book out there, which is why I asked.

I don't mind spending a bit of money on a good book, it's easier to pull off the shelf to look something up than search online.

As for jumping right in, I've been setting up php websites for people for a while now but I've always used other peoples scripts and just modified them to suit. But to be honest, I don't know half of what it's all about, so I thought I'd better learn properly.

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by GingerNut
so I thought I'd better learn properly.

Whoa, whoa...

People learn different ways. There is no "proper way." What's best is what suits the individual. And if a book suits you, then great. But that doesn't make it proper.

[GingerNut]

Originally posted by The Hobo
Whoa, whoa...

People learn different ways. There is no "proper way." What's best is what suits the individual. And if a book suits you, then great. But that doesn't make it proper.

That's not what I meant. I meant that I would learn what it was all about instead of just guessing half the time.

[The Hobo]

Originally posted by GingerNut
That's not what I meant. I meant that I would learn what it was all about instead of just guessing half the time.

I've heard good things about the PHP Bible...but I've never looked at it.

[GingerNut]

Well, I just bought Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours. Really good book, very easy to follow, especially for a complete dope like myself.
I just wrote my first php script. It's only a "Hello Web!" but I'm all excited.

[techgnome]

Originally posted by GingerNut
Well, I just bought Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours. Really good book, very easy to follow, especially for a complete dope like myself.
I just wrote my first php script. It's only a "Hello Web!" but I'm all excited.

If you want to see some of the cool stuff you can do w/ PHP, check out my website http://devnewt.ionichost.com built using PHP (and no, I didn't write ALL of, but I have made some major modifications to it w/ more on the way.)