were and how would one.....

[NoliaBoy]

Go about learning php and mysql ?

because i would like to use these programs on a personal and public level. personal by using it at my site and public by making hacks and suck for everyone here.

I've been searching for books but all i ever find is cgi , asp , and c ++ at stores so im kinda lost :stupid:

[Admin]

Buy the book from SitePoint.com "Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL".
And if you want to learn MySQL in-depth (although I don't know how much Kevin's book deals with that), you should buy Paul DuBois' "MySQL" book(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0735709211/glance/104-3481805-0088721) which is excellent.
It also teaches you a bit how to interact PHP with MySQL, but the focus is on MySQL itself (teaching you query types, syntax, optimization, etc.).

[slade]

Having never read a book on mySQL or PHP, I can offer you no help there. However, I can say that I have seen many open source PHP code and that is the best way to learn. First of all, its free, second of all, there is so much of it, you can practically find anything you want, if you know where to look....

I would learn by looking at others code, its the best way I think. Look at their code and experiment. Find a good message board that can really help you (try www.tek-tips.com, better than the PHP boards here and at vb.com).

Hope this helps,

-Vic

[Admin]

That's true, but I wouldn't just look for free PHP scripts and learn from them.
Most free scripts aren't very good, if you know what I mean.
Sure some of them are perfect and all, but most of them are still not something you'd want to learn from.
Learn from highly respectable programs, because if you learn something bad right at the beginning, it will stick to you forever (well, not forever, but you get my point :)).

[FWC]

Originally posted by slade
Find a good message board that can really help you (try www.tek-tips.com, better than the PHP boards here and at vb.com).I definitely can't agree with this statement. First of all, there is almost nothing on PHP and MySQL there. Second of all, the message board software is horrible. :eek:

[slade]

How could you say the message board software is horrible? Granted it may not have all the trinkets that vB has, its powerful and solid as a rock.

And since the entire community is based around computer technology, its one of the best boards out there if you want to find your question. You have obviously not used the board enough to see this.

Prove to me where/how you can make your claims, and I might consider not plugging TT, if not, you have no case. (This does not include personal preference or layout, but rather how the board works).

-Vic

[NoliaBoy]

ok now would a vb be good to look at the php coding or not ?

[slade]

It depends, obviously, vB is really powerful, and thus you can conclude the code is very efficient and optimized, thus making it harder. Also, the vB code is not commented to well, so that may present some errors. However, vB code does have a good standard by which you can go by so that you can keep your code consistent.

If you like, I have some of my personal PHP scripts that I could email you. PM me your email address and I will do so if you like.

-Vic

[Mark Hensler]

I too learned form hacking and whatnot. I have one PHP book and no mySQL books. I've learned to use http://www.php.net and http://www.mysql.com effectively to find whatever information I need. I highly recommend you do the same. Books will become outdated, but those sites are kept up to date.

[Admin]

But usually docs teach you syntaxes and legal uses, not techniques. Books do that, and I think it's just as important.

[slade]

I would have to disagree, somewhat. While the documents do that, the PHP and MySQL docs have user comments appended to them (the online ones) that can be a life saver. The point out little quirks that no one would otherwise know about. Very useful. However, books give you practical examples on how to implement the syntax you just learned.

-Vic