NYCPHP Meetup

[Mitch Pirtle]

On 8/26/07, Anthony <speel3k at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey, i'm kinda new around here and just tinkering around with php. My
> question to you guys is how did you learn? by reading or by taking apart
> scripts and adding your own style or what? I'm very curious.

I had a project that was failing bigtime, and had to fire the
developer that I'd hired to do the work. He'd chosen to do the work in
PHP, and since I have this masochistic tendency to spend all my time
cleaning up other's messes, I taught myself.

By the time I was done with that one project I was already pining for
new features and such, as this was the early years (I think around
1997, 1998). Back then I was mostly writing apache modules in c, and a
lot of PL/SQL...

Your approach depends on your existing experience, and your
personality and learning style. I learn by doing, and have been doing
this longer than most of my coworkers have been out of diapers. Others
may work differently, and want an example, or a book, or even a class.

Just like all other languages, there are nuances of performance,
security and such that can only be learned by doing. So rolling up
your sleeves and diving in might be the fastest way to get you on the
road, so to speak.

-- Mitch