guide

[Pino]

have decided to have a plunge into PHP and MYSQL, i have been using

http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql

this guide, but the code doesnt workso hence its not going well, does anyone know of a guide for php and mysql qhich does work and is basic enough for begginers?

[visualAd]

You are right, there are silly mistakes in that code. It looks like the author wrote it in 5 minutes. The last thing you need when learning a new language is a tutorial contianing code with simple syntax errors and spelling mistakes.

Firstly I would recommend the online PHP manual. It is in its self a tutorial, demonstrating the basics of the languag and fully documenting every function with syntax highligted examples.

Each page has user comments, whereby anyone can add any other relevant information, such as information on bugs, or simply re explaining the use of the feature. In my opinion no other open source language, or closed source language has documentation as good as PHP's in house documentation.

http://www.php.net/docs.php



Secondly I am going to refer you to the online tutorials at the O'Reilly onLamp site. They have loads of easy to understand, accurate tutorials on solving real world problems in PHP. They also have in depth tutorials on MySql and the Apache web server.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/q/all_php_articles



Thirdly I would recommend you get a book. Yes I know it will set you back a few quid, but it is worth more than its weight in gold. Wrox have published some very good PHP books. I would recommend the PHP for Beginners book. They explain the language constructs in detail and give you some source code for full working PHP applications.

Here are couple of books which would tickle my taste buds:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...552435-4532406
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...552435-4532406



PHP is an easy to learn forgiving language. Don't let that crappy guide teach you otherwise. You are really better off just using the PHP manual.