How easy is PHP/SQL to learn?

T

Thank The Cheese

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Good afternoon everyone!

I'm currently working for a graphic design co. and doing some freelance stuff on the side. Although I do print design, I've become their "web guy", as I know HTML and CSS inside out, and have a solid knowledge of Flash ANimation too.

However, at some point I need to learn PHP/SQL, as more and more clients are going to want dynamic content - especially shopping carts and the like.

So, my question is, how easy is it to learn? How does it compare to HTML/CSS in terms of complexity and learning curve?

Cheers!
 
Thank The Cheese said:
Good afternoon everyone!

I'm currently working for a graphic design co. and doing some freelance stuff on the side. Although I do print design, I've become their "web guy", as I know HTML and CSS inside out, and have a solid knowledge of Flash ANimation too.

However, at some point I need to learn PHP/SQL, as more and more clients are going to want dynamic content - especially shopping carts and the like.

So, my question is, how easy is it to learn? How does it compare to HTML/CSS in terms of complexity and learning curve?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

They are quite different concepts. HTML and CSS are completely display oriented and don't really require any programming skills. They still require logic to be used effectively, but it’s not the same kind of if, else, and loop logic that you need to program. I'm not calling HTML/CSS easy or anything because to use it effectively you still have to be able to conceptualize and really know how everything works together. HTML/CSS have a completely different purpose. Presentation layer vs business logic.

If you have had any programming experience, whether it be JavaScript or maybe some scripting stuff with flash (I haven’t done anything with flash but you still have to do some programming I assume) it will be quite easy to pickup. PHP is a fairly easy language to learn, especially because you don’t have to deal with objects and classes if you don’t want to. SQL isn’t all that bad either, it is more of learning the key words and how things work, it isn’t SUPER complicated to do some basic queries. Of course you can get really technical and make it very complicated if you wish.

That said, even if you don’t have any programming experience there are TONS of resources for beginners out there to find out how to do stuff in PHP and MySQL. Google any question you might have and you will probably find what you are looking for. Search for PHP MySQL beginner tutorial or something and you get thousands of sites with useful info.

So to sum things up, if you haven’t any programming experience, you can certainly pick it up, and I don’t think it will be too much of a challenge, just more of a time commitment. If you do have programming experience, it’s just another language, a lot of the syntax is similar to other languages and of course all the functions are documented.

And to really really really answer your question. It shouldn't be any harder than learning how to do HTML and CSS the right way, there are a lot of things the same like learning key words and syntax.
 
excellent!! thanks so much for the post :D

I'm certainly not a Javascript coder, but I do understand how it works (if/then statements, while loops, etc). I also know basic Lingo scripting for Director. So although I have never mastered any programming language before, I do understand the logic behind them, which by the sounds of things will help me learn PHP.

I plan on buying a textbook 'PHP & SQL quickstart guide" from my local bookstore (rang and held it to pick up later). It is my 2006 New Year's resolution to learn it!

If anyone has any other print, online, or video sources they could suggest that'd be great. I noticed VTC offers video tutorials, which could be a good idea.

The prospect of learning it actually excites me (damn, I really am a geek!)
 
Just go step by step and do examples as you go. PHP is easy, but sometimes it's hard to remember all the functions. When I'm doing PHP I always have www.php.net open - very handy for quick reference of functions and stuff.
 
thanks for the reply HateEternal,

I first downloaded:

MySQL Standard 5..0.16 from here (the DMG also included a StartUp item package and a System Preferences pane, which I also installed; and
PHP 5.0.4 For Apache 1.3 from here

Following the book's advice, I changed the root level password for MySQL by typinh in Terminal:

Code: 
cd /usr/local/mysql/

bin/mysqladmin/ -u root password '*****'

I am saving my scripts in the SItes folder, and accessing them through Safari at:

http://<ip address>/<user name>/script.php

EDIT: Wait a second...if I'm using my ip address, no wonder I cant do it offline! (duhhhhh!_) I was just blindly following what the book said. what address should I be using to access it offline?

:/
 
you have two choices. 'localhost' or 127.0.0.1 which is the loopback ip. I prefer localhost because it is easy to type.
 
HateEternal said:
you have two choices. 'localhost' or 127.0.0.1 which is the loopback ip. I prefer localhost because it is easy to type.
Click to expand...

as in http://localhost/script.php ?

sorry to be such a spaz. I keep getting "could not find" messages, obviously because I'm not sure where I am in the systen, therefore I'm not sure what to type as the URL.

My scripts are in HD/Users/<username>/Sites/.

I've tried localhost/sites/script.php and localhost/<username>/sites/ with no luck.
 
Thank The Cheese said:
as in http://localhost/script.php ?

sorry to be such a spaz. I keep getting "could not find" messages, obviously because I'm not sure where I am in the systen, therefore I'm not sure what to type as the URL.

My scripts are in HD/Users/<username>/Sites/.

I've tried localhost/sites/script.php and localhost/<username>/sites/ with no luck.
Click to expand...

Ah, you're close! Now all you need to do is add a tilde (~) after the first slash, before your username and drop the "Sites" part and all will be well!
My home folder is named "maxelander", so the address for my Sites folder is:
http://localhost/~maxelander/

So if I have a page called "test.php" in my Sites folder, I'd access it with this url:

http://localhost/~maxelander/test.php

Hope this clears things up for you! If it doesn't, just post back again and we'll sort it out.
 
aaaAAAAaaah, coolies. worked like a charm :D

thanks everyone for your help.

It's about a week later and I'm ripping through the book pretty fast so far. The logic and structure is similar to Lingo, so I'm finidng it quite easy (touch wood!).

Thanks again!
 
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