My PHP Learning

Select the Right Editor for Your Code

2011-01-05T12:05:00.001+08:00

Notepad++

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
This is an open source software, a very nice replacement for Windows Notepad. Simply click on the Download to get the download link, at the time of this writing, the current version is 5.8.6. You can read for more information about this software at the homepage.

Run the downloaded file, as usual, Next, Next, … and the Notepad++:

It is very nice and light editor, with the code folding feature that can “fold” all the portion to make your code look nicer.

PDT (PHP Development Tools)

http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/
Go straight to the download page, http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/downloads/ and choose the All In Ones package (at the time of this writing, its version 2.2.0), download takes few minutes to complete, file size around 141MB.

The downloaded file is a zip file, unzip all to some place, maybe your desktop and you can directly use the PDT. There is no installation required, simply run the eclipse.exe file under eclipse folder. Then you will need to configure the workspace folder, there you can start your PHP coding. Anyway, it is advised that you copy the eclipse folder into your “C:\Program Files” folder, or if you are using Windows 64 bit, “C:\Program Files (x64)” folder.

PDT, built on top of the open source Eclipse platform, quite a powerful, and “heavier” PHP editor compare to Notepad++. You can build a PHP project here, manage your files in your project better, and it do comes with a bunch of feature to help your coding, which I am still exploring.

Easiest Way to Setup PHP on Your PC

2011-01-03T11:55:00.001+08:00

The very 1st step in learning PHP is to setup a PHP server on your PC, that enables you to test run your PHP coding. I believe there is a lot of guides and step by step, that you can find on the internet, on how to setup PHP on your PC, but the easiest one for me, is using EasyPHP (www.easyphp.org).

Simply browse to EasyPHP site (www.easyphp.org), and click on the DOWNLOAD button. It includes PHP, Apache, and also MySQL database. At the download page, you can simply choose the latest one, EasyPHP 5.3.4.0 (at the time of this writing, the latest version is 5.3.4.0, which includes PHP 5.3.4, Apache 2.2.17, MySQL 5.1.54, PhpMyAdmin 3.3.8.1 and Xdebug 2.1.0). The download takes about 2 minutes, size about 17.3MB (all in one package).

After the download complete, run the downloaded file. The installation should be simply Next, Next, Next, and remember to choose “Launch EasyPHP” before you click Finish. You should have an EasyPHP icon located at your tray icon if it is launched. Double click on that icon, and the EasyPHP status windows should pop out, showing the status of Apache, and MySQL. Both should be “Started” if everything goes accordingly. If you want to close this status windows, don’t click the “X” button, it will stop EasyPHP running on your PC, use the Minimize button instead.

So, if you follow the default installation of the EasyPHP, you should have the root directory installed at “C:\Program Files\EasyPHP-5.3.4.0\www\” or if you are using 64-bit windows, at “C:\Program Files (x86)\EasyPHP-5.3.4.0\www\”. Right click at the EasyPHP icon to reach the menu list, and from the menu list, you can reach the root directory by clicking on “Explore”, Administration page by clicking “Administration”, local web page by clicking “Local Web” and bla….

After you have Apache and PHP running on your PC, you can start your coding. If you have any doubt on the usability of Apache and PHP on your PC, you can simply run the test below.

Open the Local Web, it should fire up the default EasyPHP page, because the www root directory is still empty.

Using Notepad, create a file called “phpinfo.php” and put that file in the www root directory. Edit the newly created file and insert these line to that file:

<?php    phpinfo();?>

Now at the Local Web page, change the address “http://127.0.0.1:8888/” to ”http://127.0.0.1:8888/phpinfo.php” (or simply click at the link given here). You should reach a page with bunch of information about the installed PHP.

So, if you can see the page correctly, similar to the image above, then I guess you have completed the Installation and Configuration of Apache and PHP at your PC. Now you can start your PHP coding!

About This Blog

2011-01-02T22:27:00.002+08:00

The main purpose of creating this blog is to share all my experience in the process of learning PHP language to create a dynamic website through the book: Beginning PHP and MySQL From Novice to Professional, Third Edition.

I am previously doing mostly electrical engineering stuff, and recently started to learn about website, and interested to build my own website. I’ve tried using free service like blogspot, wordpress, joomla, and drupal, but it seems like all these website template, or I should call it ready-made website, is not powerful enough that you cannot fully customize it to certain level. Another purpose of learning PHP is to understand more about the coding of the website, and how a website really function, that maybe I could create my own extension/plugin for the free services that I use previously.

So, here is the starting point, and yeah, wish myself best of luck!