I am a web application programmer, Search Engine Optimization Developer and all-around Geek.
Mental Ramblings of a Self-acknowledged Geek.
Posted: January 29, 2009
Variables? Like algebra?
Yep. Like algebra.
Just like in algebra, variables in PHP will substitute for a value. But a variable in programming is different from in math, because a variable doesn’t just stand for numbers. You can use a variable to stand for just about everything from numbers, to characters of the alphabet, strings of text, entire sets of different values, even other variables!
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Posted: January 27, 2009
PHP is a server-side, interpreted scripting language.
What does that mean? Well server-side means it runs the code on the web server, so your users don’t download the code and run it in their browser, like with JavaScript. This means that you’re not making your visitor’s computer do all the work, and it also means that your code is more secure, because your visitors don’t ever see the actual code, only what you send to their browser.
Interpreted means that it doesn’t have to be compiled into a program, like a windows .exe file, to run, but the web server interprets the code live as it comes to it.
A scripting language is really basically a ‘lite’ programming language.
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Posted: January 25, 2009
A lot of people around me have had questions about PHP lately. Seems like I’ve been doing a lot of PHP training. So I decided to begin posting PHP lessons for the beginner with no programming experience. I’m basically assuming no experience with writing functions, variables, or anything else that a lot of training takes for granted. All you’ll need to learn PHP is to have a familiarity with proper XHTML and CSS, though again you don’t need to be a super CSS guru supreme.
My next post will contain the first lesson, which will really be more of an introduction to PHP.