Best Book\Resource to learn PHP from?
 

Can anyone recommand? how did you learn?

i have read loads of newb tutorials and such, useless... any real hardcore PHP tutorials out there? which i will actually learn something?

I also want to know, I have seen crappy ones that tell you how to echo writing and such but I already know that. Most books I see tell you a few commands and what php actually is but doesn't explain how to code it all :ermm:

Sams Teach Yourself PHP In 24 Hours :)

vBulletin source-code, http://www.php.net and sometimes Google - that's how I learned PHP.

Believe it or not, I picked up php by ripping a hack here apart and putting it back together again :D

from then on, php.net and google.
Google is your friend. :D

Started reading it by your recommandation... its great. thank you :)

PHP and MySQL Web Development, Third Edition. Great book IMO.

Larry Ullman's Visual Quickpro Guide: PHP and MySQL For Dynamic Websites :)

I second this, the vB source code has proved priceless for learning PHP, IMHO. :)

I agree .... i learnt by studying and reading vb scripts and hack script for hours looking at what each part of the script actually did ... then started to test out little scripts that i coded and went from there

Look like most of the people writing hacks learned in the same way.

And i think that is the best way to learn it also.

But there are more to php than writing hacks.
Its a good way to start of course.

Its a good way to learn php code but the vBulletin source is a far cry from showing you everything that can be done with php. I started that way to tho, and had done my fair share of lurking php.net ;).

If your are going to learn via code written by others don't limit yourself to one source. Anytime I see a script coded in php for download I grab it and fire up good old editplus (which most of the time is running in the taskbar anyway ;) ). The only problem with learning this way is you can pick up some 'bad coding habbits' depending on the source you learn from.

O yea word of advice to people who might be intrested in learning php. I have never seen an online tutorial come close to covering php as well as books have. I always recomend getting a good book over reading a tutorial via the internet for the newbie. Online tutorials still have their place tho, they come in handy after you have a basic grasp on php. And unlike a book they can be online at the authors whim, where the book takes awhile to print and publish.