The best way I learned was just to do something that was relevant. Even today when learning new things, if I am just learning the theory and not actually putting it into place I don't grasp it as well. Make yourself a homepage, and put the things you want on there. Like sports? Figure out how to make a sports blog with predictions or whatever. When I was learning, I created my homepage with a blog, calendar, and a gallery because that's what I wanted to create, and I learned the most from that. Things start to click when you're more engaged.
On Jan 16, 2008 8:54 PM, B.A.S. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jake, those are exactly the sort of tips I was looking for--thanks so > much for the advice and for wishing me luck. > > Bev > > Jake McGraw wrote: > > Couple of suggestions: > > > > 1. Really read the documentation available at php.net, it is the best > > resource available online. At the very least, go through the the > > Language Reference section (although you can ignore the sections > > pertaining to PHP4). Additionally, anytime you're doing something with > > a string or array, see if there is a function available for what > > you're doing. I'd say 90% of the time someone has already done the > > hard work and all you need to do is read the documentation. As a short > > cut, typing "http://www.php.net/foobar" into the address bar will > > automatically search the PHP function list for any functions like > > "foobar". > > > > 2. Learn a templateing system, my personal favorite is Smarty > > [smarty.php.net] and get all of your HTML out of your PHP code. This > > ties into a larger lesson for all programmers, that is learning > > Model-View-Controller pattern > > [wikpedia.org/wiki/Model-view-controller]. > > > > 3. See how the pros do it, download Drupal [drupal.org/download] or > > Vanilla [getvanilla.com] or some other Open Source PHP project and > > look at some of the conventions these developers employ. You need not > > review every line, but get an idea for how these people organize their > > code. Install the framework and see how things work. > > > > That is how I've done things and I feel like I'm getting there. FYI, I > > started using PHP professionally about 2 years ago, but most of what I > > learned, I've accumulated in the last 6 months working as the sole > > developer for a major PHP application. You won't necessary move on > > from a noob to pro by just reading the documentation and doing the > > exercises, find something to work on (maybe write your own database > > driven blog) and throw yourself into it. > > > > Good luck! > > - jake > _______________________________________________ > New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List > http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk > > NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online > http://www.nyphpcon.com > > Show Your Participation in New York PHP > http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php > -- Brian O'Connor
_______________________________________________ New York PHP Community Talk Mailing List http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online http://www.nyphpcon.com Show Your Participation in New York PHP http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php