Suggestions

[zeeshan]

In how many days did u all learn php using www.w3schools.com only can u tell me please and how did u learn them i mean by just reading or just by reading and making a notes and etc which will make me know.by the way iam both writhing and learning

[jhecht]

I didn't use w3schools for PHP. The PHP tutorials here ######. I basically just started off with assignments that i gave myself, and used the reference at php.net along with tutorials from other websites on the subject of the issue i would be having. The only way, i believe, to learn a language is to actually start writing code. Reading about syntax and all of that is fun, but it doesn't get you any know-how in writing the code.Best of luck

[zeeshan]

what refference did u used from php.net is it not enough for me to learn it from w3schools

[jhecht]

function documentation. most functions have examples as well as an explanation of what they do.

[jeffman]

I think it might help Zeeshan even more if those who respond add how much experience they already had with a programming/scripting language like C++ or even javascript BEFORE they started learning PHP. There is a huge learning curve to aquaint onself with syntax, loops, conditionals, variable types, functions, objects, and so on. Anyone who knows that stuff already can pick up a new language pretty easily compared to someone who is just starting to program.So here's my answer: I have only recently started to script in PHP and it is going very easily for me. But I've been writing code (as an obsessive hobbyist) for 30+ years. In some ways I feel that I knew the language before I started, so I was able to create working functions from scratch in my first script. My biggest challenge will be learning to write PHP idiomatically (as in, "You could do it that way, but the rest of us do it this way") and getting a grip on 1001 built-in functions that I've always written my own small routines for. I think this means I'll be studying a lot of PHP scripts (good ones, hopefully).

[zeeshan]

yeah thanx,do i need to learn c and c++ because iam just 14 and c and c++ i need to learn them at 20 yrs till then i need to wait i think but i will learn c and c++

[jeffman]

At 14, I'm not sure learning C or C++ is all that important. Just setting up a compiler and getting used to the programming environment can be a hassle, and that has nothing to do with the code itself. Memory management is also a huge problem by itself that you could live without right now.Interpreted languages like javascript or PHP are probably better places to learn programming concepts, since editing one file is very easy, and the script interpreters take care of things like memory for you. So I would get good at one or both of them before moving on to a compiled language.Maybe what you really need is a book. I don't have any in mind (sorry) but you need more than just a list of data types and built-in functions. You need to learn how to create a whole program, write your own functions, create your own objects, and how data should flow from one routine to another. Maybe there are tutorials on the net that do that (maybe someone could recommend some) but I've never seen anything like that here at w3schools.You also need to be warned against bad habits that you'll have to unlearn later in your career. When I was your age I learned how to program in BASIC. And like many self-taught programmers, I learned to write "spaghetti code." Then when I learned C, I had to unlearn it and think about functions. If I'd been taught to use BASIC's subroutine syntax from the beginning, that would not have been a problem.

[Matpatnik]

For me, I start from scratch with php 3 years ago without any code knowledge, I start creating my own function last year and this year I hope being able creating my own class. I'm trying to learn Java because it's an oops based programing (Kill two birds with one stone)

[boen_robot]

I started web developing (as a whole) in about... I think this is now the 3rd year.... and without prior knowledge of any programming languages. I began with HTML and CSS with an idea (as everyone), eventually learning stuff up like XML and XSLT, eventually reaching PHP.Note however that even though I did not had programming language knowledge, I already had knowledge of how networks and OS-es work, as I was, and still am, working at my father's computer shop, selling hardware, reinstalling Windows-es, Flashing BIOS-es and answering to silly questions like "How do I transfer music from my PC to my stereo?", "How do I divide my internet traffic between my two computers?", etc. This knowledge really helped me understand how HTML and CSS work, and from then on, how the rest of the languages involved work. And knowing how things work is the essense of being good at anything, especially in computer context.

[teng84]

ignore double post

[teng84]

i learn using php in two weeks by 5 pages of lecture... that contains db connection etc..I was force to finish 3 local sites so i have to learn PHP that fast or else i will receive failinggrades as well as my classmates that rely on me

[jhecht]

I knew HTML, CSS, C++, was a beginner at Java(never really learned much more of that),javascript, and XML and its subsidiaries(considering they're all XML...), and had read through PHP scripts before i seriously sat down to learn it. I learned most of it in about a week. The rest was just a practical application of the knowledge. And age really doesn't matter. I learned HTML,CSS ,C++ and Javascript when i was 11 or so(learned PHP about 14, never really needed it because this was just a hobby). I'm 17 now, just to try and put that all in perspective for you. If you think logically, and can do basic algebra, you should be able to pick up syntax relatively quickly, the thing that separates nubes from people who are good is practice, and understanding of when to do what.

[zeeshan]

yeah i just reffered and mostly i have learn 6-7 chapters in basics section at w3schools

[justsomeguy]

Interpreted languages like javascript or PHP are probably better places to learn programming concepts, since editing one file is very easy, and the script interpreters take care of things like memory for you.

I would tend to disagree, but I'm a bit biased. While an interpreted language as a first language might be easier, it's not going to make you a good programmer. The first language I learned was Turbo Pascal in high school, then in college the intro language was C++. I was writing C++ applications before web pages. We also did a lot with C in college, and covered several other languages to a lesser degree. I can't recall covering any interpreted languages in college (LISP and PROLOG aren't interpreted, right?). Learning compiled languages make the programmer much more aware about what you're doing and how you're doing it. PHP is extremely forgiving, you can have errors or mistakes all over your code that might not even show up based on the error reporting level. You might think you're doing it right, because it runs, when in reality the things you're learning are only going to hurt your understanding later on. Even though I don't have to allocate and deallocate memory in PHP, or deal with garbage collection, since I did those things in C then I am able to write much more efficient code in PHP because I have a better understanding of how the code is interacting with the hardware. Learning an interpreted language doesn't give you any understanding of how the code interacts with the CPU, or the memory, etc. Even the steps required to produce a compiled and linked executable from a page of C source code force you to understand certain things about how it all works.I say learn C first, if you learn an interpreted language as your first language you're going to end up like someone who learned VB as their first language. You'll have an understanding of the concepts in your specific language, but you won't be able to use those concepts in other languages and you won't be a very good programmer overall. If you want to learn C, this is what to get:http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C_Program...Language_(book)http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language...3971&sr=8-1That is *the* book about C, accept no substitutes (and it's probably available in your language, check the list of translations on the Bell Labs page). O'Reilly also has some other good books:http://www.oreilly.com/pub/topic/cprog?

[jeffman]

Well, it's hard for me to argue, since, as I said, I didn't really understand programming till I learned C, and Javascript and PHP didn't exist at that time.Maybe if the environment was strictly ANSI (just text output to an empty window), so you weren't messing with a GUI at first, C would be a good place to start. That's basically how I did it. There was no GUI on an 8088.I would totally NOT start with a flashy WYSIWYG, drag and drop environment that writes most of your code for you (in simple programs anyway) because then you'll never get the sense of what writing a program really means. You could write a mini word processor and never do more than tweak a few lines of code. Not much learning there. Like microwaveable dinners. You can learn how to heat without learning how to cook. (I'm not saying this is what justsomeguy was recommending.)

[justsomeguy]

Right, the environment they had us on was a Solaris network of 5 servers with gcc installed on them. This was literally my first program in C++:

#include <iostream>void main(){  cout << "Hello, world!";}

Eventually I bought a copy of Visual Studio 6 so that I could compile at home, I still have the box with the academic pricing sticker on it.In our high school programming class I was able to get an A by writing programs to do basic line drawings, which impressed the teacher when half the class couldn't manage to compile anything.But if I can say this without sounding arrogant, if two of the people on here with a better understanding of programming then most both got started in C/C++, that should give you a hint if you're trying to learn how to program.