Topic: best way to learn PHP?

[shazoo!]

I've been dealing with phpbb3 for about 5 years now, not actually PROGRAMMING, but manually adding code, tweaking, etc.

I really do enjoy doing it, and I think I'd like to learn actually programming php specifically for SMF.

Are there any books or sites that anyone can recommend that can get me started?

I have a few mods in mind, and would like to give it a go

[Joker™]

Beginning PHP 6, Apache, MySQL 6 Web Development

I refer to that book in college time, still do sometimes these days. Moreover start making some small codes on your own, it really helps in getting started.

[Yoshi]

Beginning PHP 6, Apache, MySQL 6 Web Development

I refer to that book in college time, still do sometimes these days. Moreover start making some small codes on your own, it really helps in getting started.

Dontcha mean PHP 5?

Anyhow, I usually refer to http://w3schools.com/ as my tutorial site
Then use http://php.net/ to search for anything you don't exactly understand

[Doctor Deejay]

I am sure many programmers would kill me for this, but the best way to learn PHP is to use it. Choose a software you want to make and use Google. Ask your friends. Use Google. Ask EVERYTHING you don't understand and ask for feedback. Try looking at the code of other projects and try to understand what it does. That's how I learned php.

[Yoshi]

I am sure many programmers would kill me for this, but the best way to learn PHP is to use it. Choose a software you want to make and use Google. Ask your friends. Use Google. Ask EVERYTHING you don't understand and ask for feedback. Try looking at the code of other projects and try to understand what it does. That's how I learned php.

* Yoshi2889 kills Dr. Deejay

Haha kidding. That's a way to learn it. Some programmers make good notations/comments in the source code of a project (like SMF) that explain what piece of code does what.
I personally suck at making comments so I usually put something silly in them (aka don't use my code to learn PHP)

[Doctor Deejay]

Some programmers make good notations/comments in the source code of a project (like SMF) that explain what piece of code does what.

Exactly

Oh and don't be afraid to make mistakes. I made mistakes all the time, but mistakes are good, because you can learn from them.

[shazoo!]

Thank you so much!!

I do really like how SMF is set up.

I liked Phpbb3, but SMF somehow seems "cleaner", if that's possible.

Looks like I have a lot of reading to do   I use w3schools for css all the time, I didn't even THINK to look if they did php too!!

[Yoshi]

Yeah, SMF is way cleaner then any software in my opinion. SMF's more made to make modifications to it's core.