When I was first starting out, I bought this book over at Sitepoint by Kevin Yanik. He writes so that the beginner can understand.

Build*Your*Own Database*Driven*Web*Site Using*PHP*&*MySQL, 4th Edition - SitePoint Books

John

You do not need a book. If you easily want to learn PHP, w3schools.com is the best. It is the best for all. I learnt from that.

Just use the tutorials found at brugbart.com and sites like w3cschools. Just remember to use the official reference found at php.net.

Remember, you do not need to learn the stuff you don't need. But you should beware of securite from the start, this can be done by searching for any given subject + security, to see if theres anything you should look out for.

go there and find link
. MpowerWebStore . com

Something I don't get - You are a complete newb to programming but you are developing an extension for Joomla?

I would hire this out on elance or G-uru if I were you.

The book I used to learn PHP was by Hugh E. Williams and David Lane. Take time and do the exercises and you'll be able to apply them to your extension.

When I'm programming I always have php.net running in a window (for that extra support)

Good luck - if you'd like some help you can always pm me.

writing an extension for joomla as your first project could probably be a mistake, you could outsource it?

I'm a big fan of the book: PHP5 Objects Patterns and Practice by Matt Zandstra.

I thought it was a great book for any starting out, as it teaches a lot about the process of writing an app.

I suggest you look at the PHP website itself. They have really good tutorials.

-Howlinghawk

Learning PHP isn't an easy task if you have no experience in other programming. I would suggest taking an online course for as little as 300-500 bucks

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