Programming for the Dummy... where do I start?

There is an O'Reilly book called "PHP and MySQL" that starts basic and builds. It's excellent. In fact they also have one on PERL. You can go to their site at Technology Books, Tech Conferences, IT Courses, News - O'Reilly Media and preview some of them. Barnes and Nobles usually have a good selection.

Rodney

I actually prefer the W3Schools Online Web Tutorials site. Its free and they have just about anything you would need to know. I learned HTML through using their site pretty much alone so its fairly simple. I've also learned all the CSS I know from there.

The best watered-down place to learn online is Tizag. It's taught me enough to be familiar with the code and syntax. I then bought a book and was very comfortable with the advanced topics.

What is your skill level? Have you *ever* programmed before?

If not, php/mySQL will probably take you a bit of time. If you spend maybe 1-2 hours/day, after about 5-6 months you should be somewhat proficient in it. But it is still quite a learning curve.

As for PERL, you don't really need that. It is a really annoying language, one that super geeks like. You'll lose your hair trying to figure out how to do things more complicated while trying to be lazy. If you like banging your head against a wall until it really hurts, then you'll like Perl. Or, if you want to marry a computer science guy that hasn't showered for about 2 weeks, then it is also a great language to learn.

There are two things basically in programming.Whenever you are given a problem you first prepare an algorithm,an algorithm is the step by step solution to the problem written in a natural language like english.
Actually programming is all about developing the skill of coming up with good algorithms.
Once you have done that you can use any programming language to convert it into a technical program or script which will be fed to computer for execution.

PHP is not tough ,why dont you start learning it,if you face any problem post it in this thread and i will solve that problem.

For everybody from basic to somebody with some knowledge I recommend 2 softwares and either one will work great. They both allow you to program with very little coding. They both have WYSIWYG drag and dropping and great IDE's. Microsoft offers Express Editions of their Visual Products for free. Visual Web Developer Express, SQL 5 user, Visual Basic, visual C++, and some of their developrs have created a site called learnvisualstudio.net. If you are a student you can also look at academic versions which are like 90% off. The express products do not have the same functionality of the non express products but they are not substantial differences.

The other product is Netbeans which helps you learn to program in JAVA, PHP, HTML, Javascript, Python and many others. This software is 100% free. They also offer a lot of great free training

i recommend you to learn from linda.com . video tutorial . and w3schools.com . or php.net

May want to try WordPress. It seems easy to manipulate.

SitePoint just released the 4th edition of their first book:
Build*Your*Own Database*Driven*Web*Site Using*PHP*&*MySQL, 4th Edition - SitePoint Books

The original version of this book (which was a 10-part article series on SitePoint.com) was where I started programming PHP 10 years ago. It's beginner-level and assumes you know basic HTML but no PHP or MySQL.

I was in the same boat I wanted to learn PHP to write my own programs rather than outsource. After failing to follow free online courses and ebooks I joined an online e-course with CDI college and was a heck of alot easier to follow and understand with hands on material.

there is only one difference between a programmer and not a programmer. Programmer has start doing it, while the other still thinking of doing it.
Programming is easy if you will start doing it. Grab a book and start spending time on compiler/interpreter. Thats all you need.

Starting is somehow takes a while. It will make up your mind but if you will survive 1 to 3 months depend on your calibar, you can be the best. By survival i mean, you will face alot of errors and if you will not run away, you will be successfull otherwise it will remain a dream.

Perl is nasty. There are fifty different ways to do EVERYTHING, they all use special magic syntax, and honestly it's the closest thing we've had to a write-only language since APL. It's not particularly hard to write something in Perl, and it does a good job, but if you ever have to read someone else's Perl code... oh, God help you.

For PHP and MySQL, try here:

PHP/MySQL Tutorial - Part 1

hehe, don't try to learn it all! Its a bit like wanting to be a bricklayer, plus an architect, plus a roofer, plus a plumber, plus an electrician in order to build a house.

Part of being smart and doing it yourself is knowing enough to know how to control the workers without you spending years learning what they know.

I am a software engineer and program in C++ and many other languages and there is still so much stuff that I don't know. I don't know how to copywrite or market properly and that alone is such a big learning curve.

The secret to programming is that everything is logical and straighforward. The most important thing is knowing what you want.

Knowing what you want in programming speak is called "Requirements". Once you know what you want you get someone to design and build what you want.

All you need to know is where to buy a domain, where and how it is hosted and you need to know ftp.

After that it is all in the requirements.

Good luck!

A Great site with Video Training is VTC.com and it's only like $30 per month and you also get a certificate of completeion with every course. They have a great video on PHP