PHP with MySQL Essential Training
Product Description
Website and database assimilation is a necessity for many of today’s businesses, and learning to work with PHP is key to integration success. The objective of PHP with MySQL Essential Training is to teach both new and experienced web developers the comprehensive steps for building dynamic, data-driven, interactive websites. Instructor Kevin Skoglund demonstrates the entire process of building a content management system. He starts with the basics of the PHP language (variables, arrays, loops, functions, etc.) and works up to building dynamic web pages with a MySQL back end. Kevin also covers blueprinting applications; structuring and interacting with databases; building, validating, and processing forms; and regulating user access with passwords. In addition, he provides practical advice, offers examples of best practices, and demonstrates refactoring techniques for improving existing code. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.Topics Include:
- Viewing PHP configuration information
- Exploring data types
- Understanding logical expressions
- Working with loops
- Defining and using functions
- Building web pages
- Creating a database in MySQL
- Building a content management system
Duration: 10.75 hoursOn 2 CD-ROMs
Could you imagine being able to write a site like Amazon.com from scratch? Well if you master everything in this title you will have the basic knowledge toward that end. Even though he creates a real contact management system, the theory is similar and you can continue from there.
I taught Math and Computer Science professionally, and I bought this tutorial to learn the specifics of putting together a dynamic website using PHP (I’m a Java, VB, SQL, and C/C++ programmer). I may be a bit biased with my background, but this guy is a top notch instructor and speaker. I sat thru the entire course, even though what I was really interested in was the very practical website he sets up at the end.
Many of the concepts in php are built on C and Java. Although its not a language that would win any awards from the Computer Science community (extremely loose typing for example), it is EXTREMELY powerful and will make writing web applications faster and easier. The array and string processing functions are nothing short of remarkable, and make it SO much easier for a new programmer to write effective programs. One line of code turns a delimited string into an array, or vice versa. Sure you can do many of those things in C++, but you would have to be an expert programmer. PHP is wonderful.
There is also considerable background on SQL/databases.
This title is well worth the money, this course in a private college would be well over a grand. He takes you from installing the necessary software to finalizing a website that can be developed into something much larger. If you have even the slightest background in programming you should be fine.
I would give this 4 1/2 stars if I could, because it may require some extra effort for the absolute beginner. If your computer experience consists of web surfing and MS office, depending on your aptitudes you may find it a bit difficult, the same way some people find foreign language or music difficult. Others can start speaking Chinese from a web tutorial. Again it depends on you.
I would strongly suggest a pre-requsite of Basic HTML and CSS from free sites such as w3schools (google for others), maybe even a programming tutorial from there. However, the title is very good because many “easier” tutorials will leave you feeling dry at the end and you won’t really have anything to show for it.
With my experience in teaching programming languages to newbies, you may have to devote many hours, pause the video and do some googling to solidify these concepts. Becoming a great programmer needs time, patience, and dedication. Do not expect to simply watch the videos and become and expert. Bring a notebook and take notes, type each example into the text editor.
Sometimes he will ask you to complete something that he started, and I would be a bit intimidated if I were totally new to programming. I suggest going through those exercises two or even three times until you completely understand it. Again, consider spending a few hours a day for a month to master this material if you are COMPLETELY new to programming. A professional programmer may pick up php fluency in less than a week.
This video would be great in a corporate setting to cross train front end web personnel into programming if they are working on a project. Also, considering how web-centric the world is today, even management and non-technical types would benefit from the intimate understanding of what goes into a dynamic-data driven website(he gets into business analysis of the programming situation). Even if you aren’t going to do the programming, understanding this title can help you leverage other resources and help you get the best result.
Mr. Skoglund also has an advanced PHP video published[...], I will probably be purchasing that too in the near future.
http://www.amazon.com/MySQL-Beyond-Basics-Kevin-Skoglund/dp/1596715413/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253132473&sr=1-3
Rating: 5 / 5
I have been an embedded software engineer since the early ‘80, my staples are c, c++, and assembler. This stuff was all magic to me. I won’t tell you this is simple, but I will tell you that I had never written a (real) webpage muchless any type of CMS (yeah.. I learned that here). I installed Apache, PHP, and MySql on my Mac and linux box.. and it came up seamlessly (hugely to my surprise) and spent over 40 hours doing this lesson taking about 70 pages of notes. This is a godsend for me, it is an entire new skillset that if you have done some programming it will make sense and you will not be sitting there thinking about what he missed.. he didn’t, it’s all good. I can’t recommend this enough. thank you kevin.. BTW: learning on DVDs is the way to go, just like taking a VERY comprehensive Software class at College, except this professor knows how to explain it all.
Rating: 5 / 5
Kevin Skogland does a fantastic job laying out the foundation in working with PHP and MYSQL to build dynamic web sites. The videos are clear; the audio is in excellent tone and rhythm for learning. Kevin gives clear instruction and creative challenges from start to finish to insure your understanding of PHP and MYSQL in a practical way.
Kevin will take through the setup of APACHE, PHP, MYSQL and phpMyadmin on Windows and Mac before journeying into the nuts and bolts of tying them all together. From the fundamentals, to creating a Content Management System, Kevin will have you well on your way to mastering dynamic web sites.
Whether you are using this as an introductory course or a refresher course, you will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
This video series is not geared towards the beginner. Mr. Skoglund is obviously an accomplished programmer, but has a difficult time explaining the “what and why” of what he’s doing. He’ll write a piece of code, then say “oh, and we can add this” and “we can add that” and he’ll add multiple layers of code upon code, but doesn’t explain why he’s doing it.
He tends to speed up considerably after chapter 10, and I know it’s a video, and you can pause it–but it’s difficult to follow his combination of speed, lack of explanations, and multiple add-ons.
I’m quite disappointed, but what can I do, it’s already paid for.
Rating: 3 / 5
I’m very happy with this training video, and it walks the user through the basic php codes including working with variables, loops, conditions, etc. The one thing I will say, is that if I had known that Lynda.com had a subscription based membership I would have gotten it there. If you subscribe, you can join for $[...]/month. I would say overall I’m very happy with this cd-rom. I just wish I hadn’t paid so much for it.
Rating: 4 / 5