[tamarian]

If you have no background in any programming languages, I would recommend not wasting your time with any specific language that you may never use.

Just start head first with a PHP book for beginners, like "PHP for Beginners". Studying Java first (or C++) can be an overkill, if you have no plans to use them.

Then you can setup a test seerver on your PC to test you PHP scripts and the book examples, or even a vBulletin test server. Next would be an introductory book into SQL, like "SQL Fundamentals", to learn about relational databases, including MySQL.

If you prefer to get some background first, I recommend getting a general book on "Programming Languages".These types of textbooks are ideal in introducing you to the basic concepts of programming languages and techniques, runs through the most popular languages and some historical ones, and explains the differences between them, without committing you to any specific language. These books are an easy read, and show you the differences between modular and object oriented languages, and how they handle/translate algorithms.