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Start learning PHP — Useful resources for beginners and advanced

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Start learning PHP — Useful resources for beginners and advanced!

If you're wondering where to start from learning the PHP language or needing some more knowledge to deep dive into the language, you are on the right place!

I want to share with you some links with useful materials to start learning. All you need is the motivation to learn and go ahead!


Official PHP documentation

Essential

Other sources:

Community Standards

Books

Editors/IDE

Video Courses

Some people prefer learning from videos, though be warned that most tutorials found on Youtube are of questionable quality. There are some quality tutorials though:

Debugging & REPL

Library and Dependency Manager

And some cheat sheets in order to get some code started:

How to install PHP on different OS

Windows:

  • The simplest way to start working with PHP on Windows would be

    • download the zip archive from the topmost link labeled zip on this page
    • unpack it in C:\PHP folder
    • start running your php scripts in console right away, with C:\PHP\php your_script.php
    • run a web server by opening a Windows console and typing C:\PHP\php -S localhost:80 -t C:\WEBSITE where C:\WEBSITE is a folder where your site would be. Then just open http://localhost/ in your browser
  • Or you could try a bundled software pack such as MAMP, XAMPP, WampServer and such.

  • Or if your requirement is using IIS, then you could try IIS and PHP

  • Or install Docker and use one of the Docker environments listed below

Linux (Ubuntu):

macOS:

docker (OS independent):


You can find some useful Stack Overflow question and answers/tutorials here:

PHP guides, introduction and others

PHP and Databases

PHP Arrays

Object-Oriented Programming

Dates and Time

Common Errors/Error Handling

Others


And last but not least—with only reading, nothing happens. Watch, read, and exercise! Do some projects and practice, practice, practice and it will get easier and easier to learn new things from the examples.

Cheers and wish you the motivation to learn and deep dive into it!

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    Yes, Laracasts has an excellent 2023 edition 'PHP for Beginners' course covering the fundamentals taught by Jeffrey Way: laracasts.com/series/php-for-beginners-2023-edition Commented Oct 30, 2023 at 13:32
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    Symfony casts also worth mentioning. Framework related but also covering some of the php, API, JS topics which are helpful. In terms of what to read i would personally suggest this book PHP Objects, Patterns, and Practice quite helpful in terms of OOP and Patterns understanding. Commented Oct 31, 2023 at 13:39
  • (As there isn't any edit summary field here, the first would have been: "Dressed the naked links. A reference changed.") Commented Jan 26, 2024 at 1:45
  • (As there isn't any edit summary field here, the second would have been: "Refs: <en.wiktionary.org/wiki/must-read#Noun> <en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cheat_sheet#Noun> <stackoverflow.design/brand/copywriting/naming>") Commented Jan 26, 2024 at 1:46
  • (As there isn't any edit summary field here, the third would have been: "Dressed more naked links.") Commented Jan 26, 2024 at 1:46
  • (As there isn't any edit summary field here, the fourth would have been: "Refs: <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS>") Commented Jan 26, 2024 at 1:46
  • 2
    I think the article is overformatted. Way too much is in bold. Italics and bold should be used sparingly. Commented Jan 26, 2024 at 1:48
  • 1
    laravel-france.com could help French beginners to start with PHP and Laravel ;) - FR - On installe PHP sur votre machine Windows - EN - Install PHP on Windows Commented Aug 7, 2024 at 9:15
  • 1
    Can you create a new section named "Essential"? For example "PHP. The Right Way" is not only a place to learn but also helps us to code more clear Commented Jan 15 at 8:02
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