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Getting started with PHP and MySQL development.
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Posted by: Daniel
Introduction
So you want to be a web developer? Many people love the idea of being able to build their own custom scripts for their website, anything from guest books to forums, and using PHP with MySQL is a great way to do this.
According to the official website “PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML”. Essentially all this means is PHP gives you the tools needed to build your own scripts, and due to it’s full integration with HTML it’s the perfect choice for webmasters looking for a little bit more power.
MySQL is “the world's most popular open source database, recognized for its speed and reliability”. PHP and MySQL go together like bread and butter, if you are looking to expand your PHP skills and evolve into things like data storage, you can’t go wrong with MySQL, PHP has native support for data recovery and manipulation built in and it’s highly regarded as being one of the best SQL based databases available.
But the best part is this combo (PHP and MySQL together) are open source meaning you get to use all this incredible power for free.
Important Note
Before we can get started you need to understand some simple terminology to avoid confusion and to understand one of the combo’s powers. The difference between server-side and client-side: Server-side is anything that is run or processed on the server before being sent to your machine. Client-side is anything that is run or processed on the client viewing the website. The difference is minimal, but important.
With server-sided languages it does not matter what browser or operating system is used to view the page, the info sent will be the same because all the processing was done on the server before being downloaded.
However with client-side languages (such as JavaScript) each operating system and browser combination will be different. With client-side languages you run the risk that your audience might not have the relevant software needed to view the page properly.
This is where the combo’s power lies, if you need a script that will rotate banners on a site you know that with PHP and code for the banner to be displayed will be sent regardless of who is viewing the page, where as if you was to use JavaScript to do the same thing, for the banner to be displayed the person viewing the page needs to have JavaScript installed and turned on.
The downside to this however is that you will need a server that supports PHP and MySQL, generally this won’t be hard to find however, as stated above, both PHP and MySQL are free. And this brings me to my next point.
Getting Started
Before you can start learning PHP & MySQL you need to set-up a web server on the machine you will be learning on, this will enable you to make changes to your scripts on-the-fly and see the results of the changes instantly and not have to mess about uploading files to a remote server to check for the changes.
This might sound like a daunting task, and for some people it is, but we have an easy solution. The basic elements of the web server we need are the HTTP server (generally Apache), PHP (to do the processing) and MySQL (should you choose to store data). If you are feeling confident in your own skills installing software you can try and install each of these elements yourself, however be warned that this is not as easy task and you may end up with something that is not secure if not configured correctly.
What I propose you do instead is use one of the many PHP development packs available on the internet. Essentially these are packs of software put together with the soul aim of providing you with an easy to install web server with all the relevant configurations set-up do you can concentrate on working on your first script.
There are a number of different packs available on the internet all suited towards different people, however I personally recommend something called “PHPDEV” by http://www.firepages.com.au/. It has all the tools required to let you get started and will save you a lot of headaches.
What's Next
By now you should have a working web server environment installed on your machine and be ready and raring to get started. This is where you need to seek help from someone else. I personally am far from qualified to teach someone PHP, all I can do is point them in the right direction.
I can however highly recommend 2 books to you:
- SAMS Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours (ISBN: 0672323117)
- Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL (ISBN: 0-9579218-1-0)
I’ve read both these books and together find them a very good basis for learning PHP and MySQL.
If you can’t afford to buy ether of these books you might want to try look for some online tutorials, personally I can’t recommend any to you as I’ve never used any of them, however for a good list of tutorials visit http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Tips_and_Tutorials/.
That’s about it for this guide, I hope you found it helpful.
Posted by: Null Actor
Also, if you are already a proficient programmer, and just need a PHP reference, http://www.php.net/ can't be beat.
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