Where to start...Help!

[williams22]

I am interested in learning web programming. I would like to learn things like PHP, MySQL, and XML. What other things should I learn for web programming as well? In what order should I learn these things, I can't seem to find a place to start. Are there any good forums or websites that could help me? Please give me a general idea of how to start learning all of this.

[suchit]

I assume you have a working knowledge of simple HTML at first. If not, go to your local library and find a "HTML for Dummies" book. Dont worry, you are not a dummy. After that, it becomes more specialized. It seems you are database oriented, so then look for a database oriented book; start of with PHP (not too difficult) and then move onto more complicated things, such as XML or ASP. Also remember to install the required software on your system to test your skills on.

[williams22]

Yes, I do know HTML. But my problem is I don't know where to go from here. I am thinking I should learn PHP and MySQL, but I don't realy know what else is out there. Could you list some other things that I may want to learn? Also, could you point towards some good websites or forums that deal with this? Thank you

[qball]

Once you get HTML, depends on what you want to do?

XML is really HTML+, Style sheets, HTML+, DHTML is DHML. Think of this helps presentation in browser.

If you want to create dynamic webpages on the server side, regardless of DBs:

PERL is old, but prevalent UNIX.
JSP/Servlets/Beans is java solution. Helps if you are programmer of some level.
ASP is MS solution.
PHP is PHP solution.

All are scripting (except servlets/beans, some PERL) and all can connect to DB.

If you want to create dynamic webpages on the server side with DB. You use the above and connect to a DB, so you need to learn DBs including SQL.

Access, sucks but good starting point.
Oracle, DB2, SQLServer are the big boys.
MySQL is free and somewhat capable.

I would recommend trying PHP with MySQL. Try their websites and www.sitepoint.com should prove useful.

[kozmoh27]

I found this tutorial helpful when beginning with PHP and MySQL:

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...tutorial4.html

And once you get going, both sites have excellent online documentation with user commentary:

http://www.php.net/docs.php

http://www.mysql.com/documentation/index.html

Good luck.

Cosmo

[Telexen]

http://www.devshed.com/

[tenor_david]

Here is a good tutorial on XHTML. XML is a general markup language, whereas XHTML is a specific subset of XML.

http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/

XHTML really separates structure from style. To incorporate stylistic elements, you will need to use some form of Cascading Style Language, whether it be through inline style, embedded style sheets, or calls to external style sheets.