Question about PHP Thx?

Question

I am trying to get a book and apparently there are a few books who teaches you PHP they all teach you PHP & MYsql. What do you guys recommend? I am 46 and a newbie & want to become a pro soon. Thx.

Answer 1

I learned PHP from reading the PHP documentation on php.net and by using the OReilly PHP book as an additional reference when the documentation was not very well expained.

I learned a functional amount of mySQL from http://www.tizag.com/phpT/

Those were very good resources and FREE (except for the OReilly Book but there are ways to get it...).

Answer 2

There are a number of good books available.  I just finished writing the third edition of my book:

PHP6 / MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner.

http://www.aharrisbooks.net/ph3ed

I've heard from many readers that the book was a good way to learn PHP.  I start from the beginning (well, I assume you know some XHTML and CSS, but more on that in a moment)

Every chapter begins with a project you will be able to do. I then demonstrate each of the new skills you'll need to use in small isolated programs, and bring them all together with the project.  

I have videos of me teaching the previous version of the book available here:

http://wally.cs.iupui.edu/n342/

We're making new videos with the newer material this year.

The newest edition supports the upcoming PHP6 (but you can still use PHP5 for all the programs if you prefer) and MySQL 5

Like most PHP authors, I also included coverage of MySQL because database access is one of the most common uses of PHP, and MySQL is a perfect companion to PHP.

If you need to back up a little and start with web development, you might consider HTML / XHTML / CSS All in One for Dummies.  

http://www.aharrisbooks.net/xfd

This book starts at the absolute beginning and teaches you everything you need to know about building web sites from the ground up including HTML, XHTML, and CSS. It then moves through programming in JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, and also introduces the emerging AJAX standard.  

I wrote this book hoping it would be the only book you'd need to purchase to become a pro.  As a bonus, I only use free software, so absolutely everything you need to become a solid web developer ships with the book and CD-ROM.

Good luck to you, and let me know if you need help. My email address is in the books.