Any Way to learn php in teh UK

[homer09001]

i am currently teaching myself php with lots of never ending support from you great guys and girls but im still only familiar with basic php coding and would like to learn the more complex coding etc

so i was wondering if anyone within the UK new of any Learn at home kinda companies like ICS and Learndirect and that that offer learn at home course in PHP & MYSQL?

any help would be greatly appreciated

[TenFold]

PHP isnt that hard....I remember when I first learned it, I learned php without even reading a manual or any tutorials. My friend one day was making a cookie stealer script with javascript and php, and he sent me the source code. So I looked it over, and had no idea what it meant because I didnt know php yet. But I just kept looking at peoples sources and I could write my own scripts. Of course, then I went on to read tutorials and manuals just to further my scripting. :)

[justsomeone]

PHP is one of the easier languages I've found to learn, but as with anything, when you teach yourself and learn as you go along, there is always the risk of just getting better at doing things badly.

Make sure you get some good books on the subject and read them thoroughly. I also peronally recommend php|architect magazine.

You could follow examples/tutorials from these or other sources and use them to build up rock-solid libraries for user management, session management, input validation, output validation, mail handling, database handling, etc etc... and when you have all of these tools at your disposal, the applications become easier to build.

[Weedpacket]

And once you're on the Web, it doesn't matter where you are ;)

[Jason Batten]

The manual has all you need but it takes time to learn how to read the manual which old programmers with egos forget. Although the manual can be a bit short in it's descriptions for noobs of programming. PHP is easy if you have previous programming language experience. It is easier compared to other languages in general. Any book by Larry Ullman is worth looking at if you are completely new to programming.

Be careful with the books that you buy be sure to read the introduction before you even think about buying it, don't touch online tutorials not written in the second half of 2005 or this year. A lot of bad habits are picked up through dodgy publications.

[laserlight]

Be careful with the books that you buy be sure to read the introduction before you even think about buying it, don't touch online tutorials not written in the second half of 2005 or this year.
... with the possible exception of Practical PHP Programming (http://www.hudzilla.org/phpbook/), but then Paul Hudson did take quite some time to finish it.

[Jason Batten]

No, I wouldn't touch that thing. In no way professional enough, no offence to Paul. But even he says the following.

Paul Hudson says on hudzilla.org's about him page
..please let me make it quite clear: I'm not a programming expert - I don't even consider myself a good programmer..

[laserlight]

No, I wouldn't touch that thing. In no way professional enough, no offence to Paul.
For a teaching resource, it is not about being 'professional' - it is about being clear and easy to read, while remaining correct. That is something I find many pedagogical resources lack, but which Practical PHP Programming has, at least when I first read it shortly after Paul posted in PHPBuilder forums.

Of course, I am coming from the perspective of someone who has considerable experience in PHP, so it may well be not so easy to read and understand for a rank beginner, but I suspect that homer09001 can benefit from the material, if only to see what gaps in knowledge there are that needs to be further plugged up by reading the PHP manual.

Still, if homer09001 actually wants to learn programming above and beyond language features and idioms into the areas of programming paradigms and design patterns, then that's a different story. Such things dont change that much in a span of a few years, but it is best to work with a mentor for guidance or at least a peer to discuss ideas and share code with.

I'm not a programming expert - I don't even consider myself a good programmer
I have never worked with Paul Hudson on a project, or even looked over his code beyond code snippets intended for pedagogy, so I cannot fairly comment on how good a programmer he is. However, I do know that good programmers are not necessarily good teachers, while ordinary programmers may be good teachers if they have the skills to introduce, explain and clarify. Of course, if you are hopeless in a subject, there is no way you can be good at teaching it, other than parroting what the good teachers teach.

[Jason Batten]

For a teaching resource, it is not about being 'professional'It is my strong opinion that you should not be trying to teach other people unless you have the knowledge, skills and experience. All qualities a professional should have.