PHP
November 7, 2007
I’ve been asked many times (by web designers) about what programming language they should learn so that they can build database driven websites. My short answer is of course: PHP.
That said, I felt a little more detail was required: why do the competing technologies (ASP, ASP.NET, Ruby etc …) suck compared to PHP … in that regard?
From the article:
The article’s title (I admit,) will get some people little miffed at me. But, what can I say, the truth hurts!
Seriously, this statement is valid and is worth talking about because there are a lot of web designers out there who are considering the leap into building dynamic (database driven) web applications. And with so many choices (ASP, ASP.NET, Ruby etc …) it can be very frustrating when trying to make that choice.
Of course, I believe (and know) that PHP is the choice language/technology for web designers. But why are the other technologies not a good choice for web designers?
You can read the rest at killerphp.com:
Why ASP, JSP and Ruby suck for web designers
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
read more
October 8, 2007
Hi,
In my continued attempts to teach web designers how to program with PHP (now an essential web design skill,) I’ve just released part 1 of 3, of my video series on creating custom functions in PHP.
We cover the very basics and learn about one of the key advantages of creating functions in php versus just write straight PHP code to your pages.
The Video: Custom PHP Functions
Part 2 and 3 will be out soon.
Thanks,
Stefan
www.killersites.com
read more
October 4, 2007
Hi,
I just released three videos on PHP functions that targets total beginners to programming and PHP.
The Videos:
I cover basic topics like how to spot and use functions, what are functions ‘returns’ and what are function ‘arguments’.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
read more
September 6, 2007
Hi,
I’ve update my beginners tutorial on object oriented PHP adding steps 18-22.
Again, this is a code intensive article where I expect you to follow along with your PHP editors.
More to come.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killerphp.com
read more
August 26, 2007
Hi,
I’ve update my beginners tutorial on object oriented PHP adding steps 12-17. I cover two new basic OO concepts in these steps:
- Constructors.
- Access modifiers.
Again this is a code intensive article where I expect you to follow along with your PHP editors.
More to come.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killerphp.com
www.killersites.com
read more
August 23, 2007
Hi,
I just released part 1 of a two part tutorial that teaches object oriented PHP to total beginners.
The tutorial is made up of 23 simple steps where you will learn practical OO PHP.
From the tutorial:
This tutorial is designed to teach total beginners object oriented PHP.
This is not a long-winded theoretical blathering that you see all too often; instead, we actually start writing OO code very quickly.
… I believe that this ‘hands-on’ style of learning, makes understanding OO (object oriented) PHP much easier … and less boring too!
So before you begin, get out your favorite PHP code editor and be ready to write and run some object oriented PHP code.
Object Oriented PHP Tutorial
I hope you guys find it useful.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
read more
December 11, 2006
Intermediate level book for active php programmers. From the book’s cover:
‘Recipes and solutions for PHP programmers’
This is a very good book, actually one of the best recipe books I’ve read period.
You can tell that the authors are still actively writing code – you can feel it as you read the chapters. The book consist of a series of techniques (they call recipes) that are commonly needed by php programmers.
Some example recipes:
- How to Sort Arrays
- Send HTTP headers
- Encode a string for use in a URL
… this book is packed with all kinds of php goodies. There is much more to be found .. I just never list too much from a book since you can easily look it up online.
😉
THE ‘QUICK HITS’
After a brief introduction, each chapter provides a bunch of micro-tips related to the recipes discussed in the chapter. They call these tips: ‘quick hits’.
I found the ‘quick hits’ to be very useful because they provide a very concise and easy to read look at aspects of the php language. I can see myself referring to this book often just because of the ‘quick hits’.
I actually keep this book nearby to flip through once and a while, just to give me ideas. It has already helped on a php 5 project I am working on.
CONCLUSION
This I think is a great book. It has lots of practical information and is without a doubt, one of the most useful books on programming I’ve read – and I’m talking all languages.
Buy the book if you work with PHP or planning to.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
read more
December 5, 2006
For those of you interested in PHP, I have a new article out in the December issue of Web Designer Magazine:
OOP in PHP.
It is a beginners article that targets total newbies … in terms of OOP (object oriented programming).
By the end of the article, you will have a good understanding of the fundamentals object oriented programming, and you will have enough knowledge to use and build your own objects in PHP.
CIAO,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
read more
November 1, 2006
Hi,
I wanted to mention that I have a new PHP article out in the Oct issue (#124) of Web Designer Magazine.
Article Title:
‘Learn to build a php contact form while learning to process forms and send email with php.’
I’ve also released Quicktime versions of the PHP video tutorials – they come with the magazine’s DVD.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
read more
October 17, 2006
The ‘cookbook’ series from O’reilly press target a reader who understands (at least) the basics of a subject, these are not good books for beginners. This is the 2nd edition and covers PHP 5.
PHP Cookbook presents PHP by task rather than by language construct. For example:
- Accessing Substrings
- Controlling Case
- Parsing Comma-Separated Data
- Taking String Apart
The above list is taken from chapter 1 on strings. You’ll notice that there are no function names listed, but rather string related tasks.
That style of organising and presenting the material by common task, makes ‘PHP Cookbook’ very handy for any PHP programmer.
In my experience as a web developer, there have been many times when I would have a task to preform but wasn’t exactly sure how best to handle it … a book like this allows you to flip around and find what you need.
YOU WILL LEARN THINGS TOO!
Besides showing how to preform common tasks with PHP, PHP Cookbook also does a good job discussing PHP concepts and aspects about the language – for example:
What is the difference between ereg and preg?
We learn that preg works more like Perl regular expressions, where the function also needs delimiters – you will have to get the book to learn more!
HOW THE RECIPIES/EXAMPLES ARE STRUCTURED:
Each recipe is broken down into three subsections:
- Problem – a simple statement of what we are trying to do.
- Solution – a concise code snippet (usually) doing what we need to do.
- Discussion – shedding more light on the subject at hand.
CONCLUSION
I like the ‘cookbook’ series of books. If you are a PHP programmer, I know this is a book you probably should have sitting on your desk.
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com
read more
