Teach yourself how to program
As some of you may know, I have taught myself a lot of the programming I know. It started with HTML, then CSS, some JavaScript, and then I moved on to PHP and MySQL. AJAX and Java are in the works, though I have some help from school with Java. In any case, I thought it might be good to write how I went about teaching myself PHP.
With HTML and CSS it was a little easier because I had Frontpage to learn from. But the best way to learn those 2 things it to look at other people’s source. I still do that occasionally when I see a cool CSS effect that I want to try. There are also an infinite amount of resources on HTML, as well as other Web based languages. W3 Schools is, in my opinion, the best.
Learning a programming language like PHP is a little harder than that because PHP is processed by the server, and is invisible to the user. When I taught myself, I first purchased a book that familiarized me with the language. PHP/MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner is great for that. It covered not only the language, but some theory behind programming. I strongly suggest you learn theory if you are serious about programming. While languages change, theory will always be the same. Don’t just learn the syntax of a language- but how and why each component works- Ifs, Whiles, methods/functions, etc.
In addition, read online tutorials, how tos, and do it yourself. The programs from that book and books like PHP for Dummies are good. Do a program a day- even if they are simple and easy. They are meant to teach you how to use certain types of syntax. My Del.icio.us links on the side usually have some good PHP/programming resources. PHP.net is and will always be the best. It’s a huge database of all of the php functions- Functions are code written outside of the main program that can be called upon. The ones on php.net are built in, already written. These will save you massive amounts of time you would spend writing your own stuff. PHP has over 700 built in functions. Occasionally, on this site, you will find something I have written, and I will make the code available for download.
It is not always easy to learn a programming language, but if you work hard, do practice programs and READ, you will be well on your way to writing your own apps in no time. Later!