on 31/07/02 9:38 AM, Wee Keat ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > Hi all... > > I want to know how do you guys learn so much about PHP?
practice and thinking :) > I have just started PHP about a month and a half ago and pior to that, I have > ABSOLUTELY NO knowledge in programming. neither did I about 2 years ago... and I only jumped on the MySQL bandwagon a year ago. > I bought 2 books, which is Begining PHP4 (Wrox Press) and Core PHP programming > (Prentice Hall). And that's all I can afford now... (I don't have a lot of > money.. i learn using my friend's computer). However, I am determined to > specialize in PHP. > > Can anyone point me towards a direction on how to do this properly? > > Can anyone guide me through by letting me do a small part (more importantly > not critical) of your projects as an excercise so that I can start a journey > of discovery? I can honestly say that the best way to learn (IMHO) is to make up a fictitious project (maybe centred around a hobby/interest?), and start working on it. Maybe it's a cliche contact database with your friends' names and address' n stuff in it. Maybe your into music, or cars, or whatever. Just make up a project, and start work on it. As you go, you'll want help with certain specific concepts, which you'll be able to find answers to in your books, or in this group, or hundreds of other resources. There is no substitute for practice on a real world project. Good planning, smart programming skills, quick problem solving and efficient code doesn't happen over night with a book... it will take HOURS of real world practice. Reading a PHP book or two end-to-end will be a valuable thing, but it will make a lot more sense if you can relate it back to a specific project, page or code snippet you've been working on. I haven't read any books yet, but I do the following: - read almost any article on PHP I can find on the web... even the smallest little snippet of code can really help you learn new stuff - read almost every post on this group... it's SOOOO time consuming, and I've backed off a bit now, but I learnt SO MUCH in the early days by reading everyone's posts... you store all the little code snippets and solutions in your head, and it really speeds up the learning Like I said, knowledge through books, articles and newsgroups is great, but it'll only "click" if you have a project on the go. Sure, you might re-write the code and re-think the project a few times before you get it right, but you'll have learned a heap if real-world problem solving in that time. Good luck, Justin French -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
