PHP is one of the most popular programming languages we have world of web. Many major websites on internet use PHP to organize their Database structure including the most famous Facebook. The largest Blogging platform for Bloggers, Yes! I am talking about WordPress is also created on PHP. Basically, PHP is a back-end programming language which has the ability to output data in simple HTML or XHTML format.
You can easily connect to your database, get things from it and then show it on your website. Any smart programmer will prefer to use PHP when making an application for users where data management is highly used. Let’s say a website like Facebook uses PHP to ensure that whatever data a user sends to database is saved in it, so later it could be used again.
There are many new alternative which are being introduced in the modern programming. However, they are still alternatives. You can also search more about the latest developments in back-end programming like Node.js on Google and about other useful languages which are just introduced to the industry.
But still PHP is still the most famous and used language worldwide. More than 32% of webs are created on PHP and to make things more good, PHP developers also introduced PHP 7 which is two times more faster than the PHP 5.6.
The reason why I will recommend PHP on any other server-side language is because there are tons of free and paid courses and manuals available for PHP on web, where other server-side languages are still new and yet to be tested.
You can easily find any sort of solution for any sort of problem that may occur during your code practice.
So now when we know how important and useful PHP can be, let’s start finding those areas of web which can be useful for us to learn PHP.
Initial Stage:
Let’s assume that you are a complete newbie to programming, you even don’t have knowledge of basic fundamentals of Javascript neither PHP and that would not be the problem really, since you are just starting in.
But make sure that you have basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, If you even don’t know much about these languages then please first go to this page and choose a platform for yourself from where you can learn basic HTML and CSS.
But I will prefer Codecademy, KhanAcademy and w3schools on any other platform to learn HTML5 and CSS3.
So we will consider that you are familiar with HTML and CSS. I will say it again, if you don’t have basic HTML and CSS knowledge, then please go back and first learn these two basic web-development languages.
So to learn PHP, you need to first learn the basics. For this follow the following steps:
1. Codecademy
Codecademy is one of the most famous platforms where people go to learn few of the industry’s most useful languages. On Codecademy, you can learn many other languages too including Javascript, Python, Ruby on Rails and many more but we will stick with PHP.
Basically, Codecademy does not offer an in-depth PHP tutorial but they will help you to learn the basics and that is our motive right now. So complete Codecademy’s PHP course, Make sure that you remember everything.
Don’t leave anything unlearned and focus on the Object Oriented Programming(OOP) sections because they will be very useful when you will want to create Object Oriented applications.
2. W3Schools
Now when you have managed to learn the basics, it’s time to recall them and learn a few more new things. For this go to w3schools’ PHP course and start learning the first section which is named “PHP Tutorial” in the left side menu.
Now don’t move forward, stick here for now. And follow the next step.
The Next Part, But What We Just Learned?
Congratulations, you have just learned the basic PHP skills that are required to move forward. Now it’s time to move into a more advanced form of server-side programming. We will call this stage “the middle stage”.
The Middle Stage:
Now when you have learned the basics, you can move forward. But before moving on, first let me tell you that what we are going to learn in this stage. We are basically going to know that how we can insert, get or manipulate anything in MySQL database with PHP.
So to start learning database management. Go to these websites:
The New Boston
The New Boston has a variety of different type of courses including C++, C-Sharp, Javascript, PHP and many more. Our concern is PHP in this particular article. So go to New Boston’s PHP course and watch the videos 96 to 139.
We do not need to watch the starting videos since we have already done that part in the previous stage.
Udemy
Udemy is another high-quality website which has more than 30,000 courses about different subjects. It also has many advanced PHP tutorials but since we have to choose the free one, so we will go with Infinite Skills’ PHP course that they have uploaded on Udemy.
On this course, you will be learning all the useful things that will be very useful in the real-time programming. However, this course is a bit outdated. It was published in 2010, so make sure that you get yourself updated with the new modifications in PHP. For this also go to the next website.
W3Schools
We are coming back to w3schools. Now we will be learning, in-fact recalling our knowledge of basic PHP and HTML forms. We will also learn PHP advanced section to make sure that we haven’t forgotten anything that we learned in Udemy course. Also learn MySQL database section to repeat everything in your mind that you have learned first.
The Next Stage, But What We Just Learned?
Eureka, You have just completed the advanced PHP course and you have now become a serious programmer. Now it’s time to learn AJAX to make our applications more updated and more advanced. We will call this stage “the final gossip”
The Final Gossip
I have called this stage “the final gossip” because it will be really easy for you to learn if we will compare it to the previous tutorials from which we have just gone through.
Basically we will be learning AJAX in this stage. If you don’t know what AJAX is, then let me tell you few things about it. Basically, AJAX is a technique from which we load some specific data on the browser from another file without loading the whole file. Which means we will be getting data from other files without reloading the whole page.
Facebook notification menu is a good example of it. When you click on it, an AJAX function happens which gets data from notification page and loads it on the menu so you don’t need to load the whole page instead you just click on a button which gets data from the notification page which is showed in the menu.
So to learn AJAX go through this tutorials:
The New Boston
Go to New Boston’s PHP course and watch videos 171 to 184. After watching this small tutorial you will be able to create your own AJAX application which can load data from a file without reloading the whole page.
Now let’s refurnish our skills. For this go to next website.
W3schools
Go to PHP- AJAX section and read each and every word. Make sure that you keep learning new things and ask for help on forums like Stackoverflow and Quicksprout.
Also read the references section to enhance your skills.
Final Words
If you have reached this far, then congratulations for completing your PHP course. Now you are a complete PHP developer who knows how to make Cookies, Sessions, he can use AJAX and can manipulate database with PHP commands.
To keep upgrading your skills, also keep learning more. Here are few more recommended websites that will help you to stay in touch with latest PHP developments and developers.
source: articleSteller