I made the leap to PHP from Perl and C. If you already know one programming language, learning another is simply a matter of translation. As far book suggestions are concerned, O'Reilly does a great job. However, the *BEST* learning aid is someone else's code. Being able to look at code that does something teaches you how to read, which in the end helps you to write.

 

just like me. But the key is looking at clean code and not crap like I did...

 

one of things ALL of the php books i got (and i got tons of them), is that they would code php embedded into HTML...

worse mistake, IMO...

i do a pseudo MVC. more of MC and V...

 

I'd suggest you read about object oriented programming before jumping into php, it'll help explain a lot of what you see in other peoples code, at least code worth looking at. You dont need to be an expert, just understand what its all about.

here's a good starting point:

http://http://www.devarticles.com/c/...amming-in-PHP/

 

I did the whole observe other peoples code route. Works well IMO.

 

I can't believe I never saw the responses in this thread..


I have absolutely no programming experience.. I mean I have played with PHP and built my own "upload picture" tool that worked pretty well.. but thats about it.. I don't have a full understanding as to how it works.

I love using websites as resources but not as my complete answer to learning when it comes to this stuff.. I knew CSS okay, but not really well.. then I picked up a book and my ability in CSS skyrocketed.
So I definitely prefer the book route+website tutorials.

After I get the feel for PHP, I am going to move over to Ajax and Javascript just for the know-how.

thanks for the suggestions guys.