Goals
Understand the structure of a PHP Web application, install a PHP-enabled Web server, write some simple scripts.
Notes
Follow these instructions to download and install XAMPP.
Remind yourself about some concepts that you learned in MIS 100, MIS 300, MIS 305, and other classes. Read about file organization, file types, HTTP, and some useful tools.
Remind yourself about some basic HTML concepts.
Read Mastering PHP 4, chapter 1, up to and including Hello World.
Get your own hosting account. This page will help. Learn how to upload files to it. WinSCP is a good tool.
Introduce yourself on the class forum in Moodle. Use the forum when you have questions about content or exercises.
Exercises
Exercise 1. Hello world!
Write a PHP page that will output your name and the city you live in, using the echo or print statements.
Run solution Download solution (try it yourself first!)
Exercise 2. What is the time?
Write a PHP page that will report the current time on the server. Hint: try printing this: date("h:i:s");
Run solution Download solution (try it yourself first!)
Links
Here are complete PHP books on the Web. Here are some:
MySQL-PHP Database Applications
A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0
Great list of PHP programming stuff
You can also check out this search.