PHP 5 and MySQL

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A few months ago I asked my dad for a book on databases. Today he handed me a book called PHP 5 and MySQL. It is a completely foreign language. I mean, it's interesting, and I'll get through it eventually, but I dunno if it's what I needed. He also said he'd pay me if I figured it out and wrote something for his business. So far I haven't been able to make heads or tales (that means "make sense") of chapter one.

Does anyone know anything about what PHP 5 and MySQL are? Or where I could go to "translate" the book? Or any helpful hints on how to go about rememberizing all this stuff? I am only four pages into the book and already it's telling me to install a server. I think I am way in over my head.

Do you have any prior experience in computer programming? Starting off trying to make a Web application with a database at the backend is probably rather complicated for a novice coder.

You don't have to install and configure a Web server and relational database management system (RDBMS) yourself if you buy an Internet domain and a webhosting account. You'd just need to know how to upload your content and access your database schema.

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. It's designed to support many user accounts with their own userspace for records of data. Microsoft Access would be an example of a simpler, more novice-friendly DBMS for home users and small businesses. You or a computer program ask for sets of data by using a specialized language called SQL, the Structured Query Language; most RDBMS's communicate in some dialect of this declarative language.

PHP is a loosely typed scripting language that is supposed to be easy to learn for people unfamiliar with computer programming so that they can start writing simple applications to do all kinds of text and data processing quickly. It's relatively low on structure, so it's easy to write your program/script as you go instead of formally designing/engineering it ahead of time (although that's always a good idea). I've used PHP with MySQL, and I found writing even simple Web applications to be tedious in it, so I'm learning Ruby now and plan to see what the Ruby on Rails framework has to offer me in terms of Web application development.

Anyway, you can think of databases as overly intricate spreadsheets. Databases are composed of a set of tables with rows and columns. Each record in the database is another row of data in a table. SQL lets you ask for a subset of this data that meets relevant conditions; you can also combine data from several different tables; indeed, tables of data are often interdependent (this is why they are called relational databases). Database design and administration is a totally different area of specialty in the field of computer science, and I recommend you learn computer programming and systems administration at least a little before you try to tackle databases.

Oh, I quite heartily agree with you. This big book is going to be sitting on my bookshelf while I figure out what the heck it is talking about. That's my dad for you, though, thinking that just because I'm quick on the uptake I'll be a programming genius in a week.

If you've got any questions, I've used PHP and MySQL for a computer science class on databases before, so just PM me.

For some general pointers, start out by learning a programming language like Ruby or Python, and just try to develop simple console (text-only) applications. After you know programming basics (variables, methods/functions, classes and inheritance, conditions, etc.) you can learn specific programming interfaces (interfaces to, for example, database management systems, windowing subsystems, network stacks, etc.).

I taught myself PHP and MySQL when I redesigned my site:

http://www.eraseronline.com

I don't confess to being an expert, but I found it was much easier to learn once you've got a specific purpose in mind (especially for the database part).

Indeed. I have a lot of experience with PHP+MySQL, along with a few other databases and programming langauges.

I've never successfully learned anything by reading a book. In every case, I've had a specific goal to perform, I either had to use a certain programming language or wanted to learn one, and figured it out from there. I'd generally grab code snippets that would do something similar to what I want, then use books and online documentation to figure out how to modify it.

Create a goal for yourself. Keep it simple at first--something like a simple web page that just uses PHP to display the current time. As you learn more about the syntax, move on to something like a "contact me" form that e-mails you the contents and/or stores it in a simple MySQL database. As you start getting more experience via trial and error and copying other peoples' code, you'll get more and more comfortable creating increasingly complex stuff on your own. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I am slowly working on it, and is making more sense as I transfer the written information into something practical.

Im in the same situation, except ive actually got a degree in Computer Science and still can't program. Which makes me a loser.

Im teaching myself web design/dev.

I have just been given some webspace from a friend which includes PHP/MySQL support. Now im stuck with a project to develop. I mean I just want to create a simple webpage, but I can do that using pure HTML + CSS.

But I want to learn PHP. One thing im not sure of is what *exactly* do you use PHP for ? i know its a scripting language, i know it makes tasks on websites quicker, but what kind of tasks are these ?

tutorials never seem to discuss this and its annoying. Tutorials only do this ... what is a variable, how to loop, working with files etc. But never offer anything practical.

Help !

How did you get through a university computer science program without being able to program?

OK I lie, I can program, just Im still not very good.

Basiclly I chose all the modules which didnt include it because I was finding it hard. But my fimal year project required coding. I didnt get it finished in the end, but I had to do one hell of a write up to compensate. And I managed to scrape through ... only just.

I personally prefer ASP over PHP, but thats just me. mySQL is great, mainly because of its price tag (or lack there-of).

Honestly, these two things do go hand in hand, but need to be learned separately. It took me a good year and a half to wrap my head around databases. Its not easy to digest, and can only begin to make sense after you've worked with it extensively.

Databases involve a lot of theory, a lot of rules, and a lot of patience. I love databases, but it certainly wasnt easy for me to pick up... which usually isnt the case with me. I've been programming since I was 7 or 8, it comes naturally to me. Databases are a different story.

PHP makes content in a web browser (a website, to most people) dynamic, in that different content can be shown by PHP, depending on the conditions given. [geek note: it's a recursive acronym for "PHP Hypertext Preprogramming", thus it applies to content shown in a browser].

It can make a web page work like a program, instead of just showing the same static content each time the page (script) loads. Things can be displayed differently depending on the content pulled from the database, and values can be manipulated for display prior to actually being shown.

Example might be displaying an individual client record from a database with 3 columns: IDNumber, Name, and Gender. When PHP is told to show record "12345" (often in the URL, as in "http://www.serveraddress.com/script.php?ID=12345"), you can display the data in custom ways, like showing the associated name on blue background if the client is male, or a pink background if the client is female.

That may be an excruciatingly lame example, but I hope it's somewhat informative for starters. I've never been able to learn scripting without a practical goal, and certainly not without lots of examples to modify and play with. I don't know of any PHP applications that don't use a database of some kind, if even just a flat text file (which may be an easier way to start learning than with an SQL database server).

More to the point, database design is both art and science, and like any other programming tool it helps if you learn the theory before trying to tackle specifics. Things like normalizing and denormalizing are not part of any language. They are simply a way of looking at data and rearranging it until it makes sense. Once you have a properly constructed database you can work with it using almost any language you want.

hiya,

setting up a localhost use to be a glorias affir playing with .conf file for hours at an end. but now there are kits which do it all for you.

If i were you rather than getting a webhost, try installing xampp (dowload here http://www.apachefriends.org/en/index.html) it is simple to set up and it is free. A good place for started tutorials is www.webmonkey.com and pixel2life.com

i know people here have allredy offerd but if you need a hand with anything PHP related then drop me a PM. this is what i do for a living

hopy this helps

Jammie