PHP
Advanced Guide to Learn the Realms of PHP Programming
Table of Content
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Introduction
This book on PHP programming contains proven steps and strategies on how to code in PHP and build websites. I have provided functional codes so that you can study the details, understand how it works, and start practicing right away. You can load up the codes to directly display on the webpage as each code is already embedded in an HTML page.
The best way to work with the codes is to customize them by introducing the changes you want to make, and then loading them up on the webpage. PHP is an interesting language but it is technical as well. You may see errors popping up everywhere on the editor. Therefore, you should study the codes that are given in the book carefully. Start by pasting as they are written into the editor, and then load them up to display the web page. The most technical part is the section on object-oriented programming. However, with a bit of extra focus, you can master it as well.
Programming is about how much you practice in the text editor. The more you write a code in different styles and with different values, the better is the chance that you can master it.
Chapter One: The First Steps to Learning PHP
There are many reasons to create your programs in PHP. You may be interested in learning PHP because you want to put together a website with some interactive elements.
PHP in the Web World
PHP is used to building website. Instead of a PHP program that runs on a desktop computer for one persons use, it runs typically on a web server and is accessed by lots of people who are using web browsers on their computers. This section will explain how PHP adjusts itself into the interaction between a web server and a web browser.
When you sit at your computer and also pull up a page with the help of a browser like Firefox or Safari, you may cause a little conversation to break out over the internet between your and anyone elses computer. Web server reads your programs that you have written in PHP. The programs are like simple instructions that you have communicated to the web server through PHP. The web server figures out what to do. PHP refers to either the interpreter or the programming language.
PHP is referred to as a server-side language because it tends to run on a particular web server. Technologies and languages like Flash and JavaScript are known as client-side because they run on desktop PC or a web client. The instructions that are given in a PHP program cause the interpreter to output as a web page. The instructions trigger the web browser to do something like popping up a new window. Once the web browser sends the generated web page to client, PHP seems to be out of picture. If the page's content contains JavaScript, the JavaScript runs but stays disconnected from the PHP program that has generated the page.
A dynamic page that is generated by PHP is just like a postal letter that you write to a friend across the world. You can add to the page whatever is on your mind and send it off to your friend on the other side of the world. The content of the letter is tailored for a specific person to whom you are sending it. Once the letter is enveloped inside the mailbox, you cannot change it. It will immediately fly off to the destination. You cannot modify it as your friend reads it.
Why PHP?
PHP is free to use. Whether you run the interpreter on an old PC or a million dollar super computer, you do not have to pay any licensing fees, maintenance fees, upgrade fees, and support fees. Most of the Linux distributions have got PHP preinstalled on them. If your system does not have that, you may be using another operating system like Windows.
As one of the open source projects, PHP allows anyone to inspect it. Even if you lack technical expertise in PHP, you can deploy someone to do the investigation for you.
Installing PHP
In the following section, I will explain different steps for installing PHP on your computer operating system.
Installation of a Web Server
You cannot just run PHP in the browser as you do with HTML. If you want to run PHP, you will need a server installed on your computer system so that the browser can parse PHP scripts and then run several MySQL queries to the database on it to return the results. You also can use a host that supports MySQL and PHP so that they may upload it to the server and allow you to test your website. You can install different servers on your computer system like WAMP, XAMP, and MAMP. I will explain the installation process of XAMP that is suitable for Windows operating systems. It is a completely free open-source platform web server package for Windows, Linux, and Max.
The first step in the process is to download the latest version of XAMP. Once you have downloaded that, you have to locate the file on your local machine and then double-click on that to kick off the installation process. Your antivirus system likely interferes with the process. You might need to switch it off until the server finishes installing it to avoid potential problems.
Text Editor
You will need a text editor to write PHP code. Any text editor will work for you. You can even use Notepad to write the code. However, Notepad++ will help you write cleaner and more efficient code in a faster way. It will highlight the syntax and it has the auto complete process. The text editors will save you time and pain. Now that you have installed XAMPP, you should start apache web server for the browser to run your scripts. Click open the Control Panel of XAMPP. It will start Apache.
Each PHP script is embedded inside an HTML page because PHP scripts are used to build website pages.
PHP Variables
If you want to build a website with PHP, you will need lots of data and know how to store it. The data may be a name, a date, a picture, or a number. PHP offers you a way to store data with the help of a variable. Each variable in PHP has the $ sign in front of it. There will be no spaces in between the name of the variable and the sign.
Chapter Two: Expressions and Control
The preceding chapter introduced you to the basics of PHP like the installation framework and PHP variables. This chapter will walk you through how PHP programming works in and how you can control the flow of a program.
