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Some PHP related questions from a newbie

T

trojan18

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 4, 2005
39
0
I'm a total PHP novice and I just bought a book (700 freaking pages) that teaches php 5 and mysql...

my problem with this book is that it uses what i'll call programmer-speak...lots of references to booleans and what not. I think I might have picked the wrong book to start out with...which leads me to the first question..

1. Any one know of a really, really good book for a beginner to PHP and SQL...something that explains it in simple terms and is easy to pick up and read?

And one other question if you feel like helping me...

2. Anyone know of a good (and free) php content manager...like if I wanted to start an online news or blog site, i've heard of some php scripts that will let you just type the story right into the online browser and then it will post it onto the page for you. Any suggestions...basically this is the main reason why I want to learn PHP...because it can help you automate certain tasks and cut out the repetitive stuff.
 
Barnes & Noble has a pretty good line of books called Easy Steps. They have one on PHP 5. Pretty good introduction. Short and $9.95.

- PHP content manager, Mambo, mamboserver.com
- PHP blog, WordPress, wordpress.org

--David
 
last year, a client of ours came to us needing an online system that let university staff (one of their big customer bases) create and order business cards, letterhead and envelopes. the project was given to me, and knowing absolutely nothing about php or sql, i took a shot in the dark and bought PHP/SQL for the absolute beginner. the link is to PHP 5/ Sql for the absolute beginner, which is the latest version.

i found the book very helpful. it covers the basics of using php and then shows you how to add sql to the mix. it's very easy to understand and assumes nothing more than a cursory knowledge of html. for $20, it's definitely worth the money. i find having a print book for the foundation makes it a lot more comfortable to learn and far easier to move on to more complex online tutorials. you won't be coding the next amazon.com or drupal with this book, but it's an awesome resource as a first look at php.
 
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If you want to learn how to program, I'd recommend the only book I've ever found that really tries to teach the basics. It doesn't bother with any specific language, so when you're done with it you can't right any code, but you have the groundwork to tackle those other books. It's Programming Logic and Design from Thompson. URL: http://www.course.com/catalog/product.cfm?isbn=0-619-16021-7 that's the long version. There's an intro version and an Object focused version on that site.

Other programming books teach syntax, this book teaches you *how* to write programs.
 
Ok, one more question

For the guy who told me about textpattern (as well as the one who suggested mambo.)

i have both programs up and running but...I don't understand how it works...they are both properly installed on my site and entered into my mysql database. My question is...once i click submit on an article...where the heck does it go? I've written like three articles in textpattern but the only place i can find them is within the tp program itself...i don't know where i'm supposed to go within my actual site to view what it is posting....where do these programs send/output the actual article to after you click publish/submit??

i know i probably sound really really stupid, but like I said I'm a novice....

And thanks to everyone for the book suggestions.
 
SAdProZ said:
question. what is PHP used for? how does it differ from HTML?
Click to expand...

it's used for dynamic websites(aka databases) the basic structure of a php page is built in html but the php code is all run server side. So basicaly if you go view source on a php page you'll just html code.
 
trojan18 said:
For the guy who told me about textpattern (as well as the one who suggested mambo.)

i have both programs up and running but...I don't understand how it works...they are both properly installed on my site and entered into my mysql database. My question is...once i click submit on an article...where the heck does it go? I've written like three articles in textpattern but the only place i can find them is within the tp program itself...i don't know where i'm supposed to go within my actual site to view what it is posting....where do these programs send/output the actual article to after you click publish/submit??

i know i probably sound really really stupid, but like I said I'm a novice....

And thanks to everyone for the book suggestions.
Click to expand...

Did you check in the database?
 
Try this excellent site...

OpenSourceCMS

and open the folders in the left navigation pane. Dozens of content management systems all set up and ready for you to try out. The site gives you a userid and password and you can mess around with any of the sites to see how well you get along with their systems...news, administration, membership, everything!

Every two hours or so, the entire set of CMS's are reloaded and reset to default just-installed goodness.
 
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