Why I am learning PHP after all these years

[LPH]

I am a very proud copy/paste webmaster. Someone supplies the snippet and the code can be put into the right place. However, each line of PHP - and CSS - had little meaning until XF and XenScripts WP bridge were installed.

Why were these the catalyst for changing my behavior?

The vB forums were constantly overrun with spam, hard to maintain, and quite bluntly over the past two years my focus was never on the content. This changed with XF. The defaults and a few resources set the site so the content became important. Once the WP to XF bridge was installed then I wanted to understand how to improve the navigation.

Desktop server was installed and reinstalled after screwing up some things. Anyway, It all started to come together - how to modify the login_bar.css, how to modify the WP toolbar, how to modify a theme.

So - I took some advice and bought a book on PHP, started reading, and started tinkering.

My original code still sucks but I'm starting to read more WP codex and starting to understand arrays a little better.

So thank you XF. Without XF then I would never have installed the bridge, never looked at a theme's functions.php file, and never thought of installing Desktop Server. After 15 years of avoiding PHP code - I look forward to the day I can contribute to WP and XF with original code.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Great story.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[ArnyVee]

I've been thinking of doing this same thing!

Congratulations on taking the next steps to learn and customize your site(s)!

There is a free option online with the w3schools here: http://www.w3schools.com/php/

But I'm sure there are a lot of others as well. I wish you good luck on mastering php. And, be sure to share with the community if you come up with something useful

 

[LPH]

I've been thinking of doing this same thing!

Please go for it!

Congratulations on taking the next steps to learn and customize your site(s)!

Thank you. It's a journey that I'm looking forward to walking. Well - I guess it's a crawl at the moment. But the movement feels good. LOL.

There is a free option online with the w3schools here: http://www.w3schools.com/php/

I've tried online options before - to just copy/paste. The book's layout is really supportive of getting up to speed quickly. Open the pages on the topic - the left page has the text and the right page has a series of examples.

be sure to share with the community if you come up with something useful

And there is the goal - to share or contribute to the community. So I created this blog post to maybe help others get started too:

http://www.layneheiny.com/2012/05/06/editing-wordpress-twentyten-child-theme/

 

[mmoore5553]

I agree learning php and sql is very good. I highly recommend sitepoint. I started out doing vbulletin then progress to WP. I am happy to say self taught. Good job IPH. It is very rewarding and fun once you start putting it all together.

XF is a totally different beast as far as coding . So good luck there.

 

[Sador]

I still wish I could learn PHP eventually.

 

[ArnyVee]

I've tried online options before - to just copy/paste. The book's layout is really supportive of getting up to speed quickly. Open the pages on the topic - the left page has the text and the right page has a series of examples.

Which book did you get lph?

Sounds like it has a very common sense approach which is what I'd need as a complete novice.

 

[LPH]

XF is a totally different beast as far as coding . So good luck there.

Yep - that's why I'll start with the easy stuff

 

[ragtek]

and that's why i started some years ago with coding, as i became a vbulletin customer

 

[LPH]

I still wish I could learn PHP eventually.

Which book did you get lph?

The book is by Murach, PHP and MySQL.

http://www.amazon.com/Murachs-PHP-MySQL-Murach-Reference/dp/1890774561

The layout is really good for hunting through code and trying to understand it.

 

[LPH]

and that's why i started some years ago with coding, as i became a vbulletin customer

Guess it's my moving from a script-kiddie to a novice.
Someday I hope to code as well as you.

 

[Sador]

The book is by Murach, PHP and MySQL.

http://www.amazon.com/Murachs-PHP-MySQL-Murach-Reference/dp/1890774561

The layout is really good for hunting through code and trying to understand it.

I've tried some walkthroughs and really just failed at it.

 

[LPH]

I've tried some walkthroughs and really just failed at it.

I can attest to 15 years of that

 

[Adam Howard]

I actually envy you in that you're starting from scratch.

Having spent my time coding for vBulletin I find it a little difficult coding for something else. Maybe because vBulletin didn't always stick to universal standards on anything & it was more "voodoo magic" getting things to act as you expected (not exactly text-book). Not to add that XenForo is easier; as it has a few more automated (automatic) short cuts and I still have the habit of doing everything manually in a text editor.

Also because, php 5.4 and newer will require more of a strict php coding and less "on the fly". And when you get use to doing things one way over the other; you find yourself (I do) doubling checking & remembering that you need to do it another way.

Not sure if I've explained this properly in away you can understand, but there it is.

Best of luck to you in your continued self-education and I hope in time you'll contribute a few free modifications for XenForo

 

[LPH]

Not sure if I've explained this properly in away you can understand, but there it is.

You were very clear. It is an advantage to start with a blank slate so that the newer strict preferences are learned from the beginning.

Best of luck to you in your continued self-education and I hope in time you'll contribute a few free modifications for XenForo

Thank you. I'm a slow learner but it's been a blast for the past week.

 

[mmoore5553]

I actually envy you in that you're starting from scratch.

Having spent my time coding for vBulletin I find it a little difficult coding for something else. Maybe because vBulletin didn't always stick to universal standards on anything & it was more "voodoo magic" getting things to act as you expected (not exactly text-book).

I grew up doing VB work so i totally understand where you are coming from as it is hard to learn once you coded VB so long.

 

[DRE]

Man I don't have time for all that. Right when I was tempted to learn php I checked myself and remembered what my goals are in life. None of them involve php. Best of luck to you though.