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Introduction to PHP

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Introduction to PHP course photo

Introduction to PHP

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Course organiser: Matthew Buscemi
About the Course Organiser: 

My name is Matt, and I work as a web development professional.  I have been using PHP since 1998 to build dynamic webpages, and it is one of my favorite programming languages.  I hope to share that enthusiasm with this course's participants.

No of Seats: 
80
Course Status: 
Completed

Members

tousif baig's picture
admin
tousi
Fergus Gibson's picture
admin
Fergu
Matthew Buscemi's picture
admin
Matth
saulo venancio's picture
admin
saulo
Amy Donahue's picture
admin
Amy D
Aaron Bylund's picture
Aaron
Jade Elizabeth's picture
Jade
Andrew Berg's picture
Andre
Anuradha Vaidyanathan's picture
Anura
Ahmed Abdel Razzak's picture
Ahmed
Aryeri Kai's picture
Aryer
Ashlea Lanier's picture
Ashle
Ikem Nzeribe's picture
Ikem
Mark Hutchison's picture
Mark
David S's picture
David
Bogdan Camalessa's picture
Bogda
Carlos M. Cornejo's picture
Carlo
Chanel Barber's picture
Chane
Chaun Keating's picture
Chaun
Chris Fleischmann's picture
Chris
Carrie Oviatt's picture
Carri
Matt McGuire's picture
Matt
david bergerson's picture
david
JD Richards's picture
JD Ri
Dana C's picture
Dana
Are you ready to take the leap from static pages to dynamic content generation?

Summary

"If you threw a dart at a wall filled with the top websites from around the world, chances are excellent you'd hit one using PHP."

This is a quote from a favorite XtraNormal video of mine. And, although I think many would find large chunks of the video to be objectionable, the statement above rings largely true. PHP tends to get picked on from time to time (Ruby on Rails, I'm looking at you), but for all the negative press, PHP has proven itself time and time again for the greater part of the last decade. PHP developers are widely sought after, and some knowledge of PHP is nowdays an essential tool for any aspiring web developer.

This course is about programming in PHP. It's about exploring PHP's strengths and its flaws. It's about why PHP has remained remarkably resilient, while many web application frameworks have come and gone in the time it's taken PHP to become and remain a major web scripting language. It's about learning to leverage the tool that is the PHP language, so that you build the website you've been dreaming about.

Topics Covered:  PHP Programming Fundamentals, Dynamic Webpage Content Generation, Best Practices for PHP Server Programming

Target Skills: 1) design and implementation of simple dynamic webpages using PHP, 2) utilization basic PHP programming structures, 3) basic tenets of good PHP application design, and 4) the basic components of PHP web security

Course Timeframe: 1) January 26 - April 6 (10 Weeks), 2) 1 one-hour weekly meeting (chat-based) (exact time TBD, based on participant and coordinator availability) 3) the one-hour weekly meeting may or may not include small group assignments (voice conference chat, Skype, when available) (If you do not have a mic or high speed internet connection, do not worry!  Your small group will accommodate you!) 4) approximately 1-2 hours of readings and programming assignments scheduled per week

Signup Period
: January 8 - January 22 at 1:00 PM Hawaii Standard Time.  I will close the course to new signups at that time.  Selected participants will be notified by 1:00 PM HST January 23.

Learning objectives

This course will provide participants with an overview of the PHP scripting language and using it to build web pages with dynamically generated content.  The course will begin with an introduction to programming concepts, and will quickly proceed into using PHP to build dynamic webpages. The course will consist of weekly online meetings, weekly readings, weekly programming assignments and a final project.

Schedule/Syllabus

Comments

I'll probably be taking this

Tim Black's picture
Tim Black
Mon, 2010-12-20 21:56

I'll probably be taking this course

I'd take this course.

Jeffery Watkins's picture
Jeffery Watkins
Fri, 2010-12-24 15:45

I'd take this course.

Would definitely take this

Nick Doyle's picture
Nick Doyle
Fri, 2010-12-24 21:13

Would definitely take this course. Let us know when we can sign up.

nice :D

Miguel Angel Frías Bonfil's picture
Miguel Angel Fría...
Fri, 2010-12-24 21:46

nice :D

Just what I'm looking for.

Randy Simpson's picture
Randy Simpson
Fri, 2010-12-24 22:00

Just what I'm looking for.

I'm very interested in this

Dave Johnson's picture
Dave Johnson
Sun, 2010-12-26 23:36

I'm very interested in this course, have messed around with PHP, but need to get deeper into it.

Would LOVE to take this

Aaron Bylund's picture
Aaron Bylund
Mon, 2010-12-27 08:35

Would LOVE to take this course. Very experienced with graphic design, CSS/HTML and decent with jquery.....now it's time to really learn PHP. So far only dabbled in it, but I'm ready to become a more complete designer.

I'm very interested in

Faysal Ahmed's picture
Faysal Ahmed
Tue, 2010-12-28 19:25

I'm very interested in learning PHP. At the end of 10 weeks, what should I be able to do with the knowledge I gain through this course?

Thank you for your feedback

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Matthew Buscemi
Tue, 2010-12-28 21:18

Thank you for your feedback Faysal. In order to answer your question, I have added "Target Skills" to the course description. For a more detailed outline of the weekly topics in this course, please see the course syllabus (there's a link on the left side of this page near the top).

i'm highly interested in this

Omkar Joglekar's picture
Omkar Joglekar
Wed, 2010-12-29 15:22

i'm highly interested in this course. When am i supposed to submit the sign up task?

Sign up opens on January 8.

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Matthew Buscemi
Wed, 2010-12-29 21:08

Sign up opens on January 8. My source of information is this post to the School of Webcraft mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/p2pu-webcraft/browse_thread/thread/10fcbf.... I don't mind receiving the sign up task submissions early, but I would advise against early submissions at this point. First, I can't be 100% certain that my course proposal will be approved. Second, this is the first class I have proposed to the School of Webcraft, and I may receive new instructions for the sign-up process in the coming days that I'm not now aware of.

would definitely like to take

Rajarshi Bhattacharjee's picture
Rajarshi Bhattach...
Wed, 2011-01-05 21:43

would definitely like to take this course

very interested in this

Paul Diamond's picture
Paul Diamond
Thu, 2011-01-06 07:40

very interested in this course!

I am interested in taking

Sarah Elk's picture
Sarah Elk
Thu, 2011-01-06 18:49

I am interested in taking this course. I've been working with HTML and CSS for years and would like to take my web development skills to the next level.

Working on the sign-up task right now...

Count me in

Brad Moring's picture
Brad Moring
Sat, 2011-01-08 18:28

Count me in

Please sign me up. A contact

Patrick Chuprina's picture
Patrick Chuprina
Sat, 2011-01-08 18:42

Please sign me up. A contact email with sign-up task sent to you.

Hi, can you please help me

Electro 60's picture
Electro 60
Mon, 2011-01-17 12:59

Hi, can you please help me understand the sign up task. Apparently I have found myself confused in two loops https://docs.google.com/drawings/edit?id=1ouH3DPRUDfX144ZM0cj-CScuXPZ3Nf...

Please sign me up as well.

keith's picture
keith
Sat, 2011-01-08 20:13

Please sign me up as well. I've sent the sign-up task. Thank you.

Hi everyone. It seems there

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Matthew Buscemi
Sat, 2011-01-08 20:33

Hi everyone. It seems there was some confusion about when the Webcraft courses will be opening. I previously posted that sign up would begin today (January 8), but looking at the Community Call notes from this Thursday (http://pad.p2pu.org/webcraft), it looks like that date has been changed to Wednesday, January 12.

I apologize for not making a note of that here sooner. On January 12, a button will appear at the top of this page that says "Sign Up" (or something to that effect). This button will link to a form that you can use to apply for the course. Please do not email me sign up task submissions or post them as comments here. If you have already done so, I commend you for your industriousness and eagerness to join... BUT, I cannot promise that I will be able to find your application 7-14 days from now if it is buried in my email. PLEASE be sure to use the sign up form when it becomes available on January 12. I will post again here if I learn anything more from the P2PU/School of Webcraft.

So, it looks like the School

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Matthew Buscemi
Sat, 2011-01-08 23:04

So, it looks like the School of Webcraft homepage has been updated with the new January 12 date as well (http://p2pu.org/webcraft). I also got an email this morning from the School of Webcraft Project Lead, Pippa Buchanan, asking me to add the viewing of a video to my course. I believe all course organizers were asked to do this. So, I made the pseudo-code flowchart into task #1 and added the video viewing as task #2. While I was in there editing, I made a few changes to the pseudocode flowchart task, which, hopefully, improves it.

I know that many of you have been working it already, and so I paid very close attention to my changes, in order to make sure that it is still the same assignment you have been working on so far. My goal was only to clarify the assignment.

Of course, as it states in the task itself, if you have any questions of concerns about the task, feel free to contact me via the contact form on this page.

Okay, so it appears School of

Matthew Buscemi's picture
Matthew Buscemi
Sun, 2011-01-09 06:07

Okay, so it appears School of Webcraft has approved my course and opened it for applications today.

looking forward to the

Steve Curran's picture
Steve Curran
Sun, 2011-01-09 17:17

looking forward to the class
Steve

PHP WITH MATTHEW<? phpprint

dev shrestha's picture
dev shrestha
Mon, 2011-01-10 23:50

PHP WITH MATTHEW
<? php

print "

....what else goes here? i wish to learn more.....

";

?>

very eagerly waiting to join

saikrishna poddutur's picture
saikrishna poddutur
Tue, 2011-01-11 11:04

very eagerly waiting to join this course!!!

Looks like a good course,

Paul Butler's picture
Paul Butler
Tue, 2011-01-11 20:20

Looks like a good course, hope to be a part of it!

Can't wait to get started :)

Jonathan  Creamer's picture
Jonathan Creamer
Wed, 2011-01-12 04:09

Can't wait to get started :)

I'd like to build a stronger

Scott Edmonds's picture
Scott Edmonds
Sun, 2011-01-16 06:22

I'd like to build a stronger foundation. I am really looking forward to this course. Thanks for the offering.

Really looking forward to the

Linda Yepiz's picture
Linda Yepiz
Mon, 2011-01-17 11:33

Really looking forward to the class, and hoping to be a part of it! Thank you for the great course offering!

I am in the same boat as

Jason Nyquist's picture
Jason Nyquist
Mon, 2011-01-17 15:25

I am in the same boat as Electro 60 - never really saw a flowchart until this sign-up task. So while I'd like to help Electro out, there's that whole "blind leading the blind" thing... I've already submitted it, but if anyone out there has any edits/advice for my flowchart I'd be grateful.
It's here: http://goo.gl/Py1ee
Thanks!!!

So many people signing up

Phillip Ikuvbogie's picture
Phillip Ikuvbogie
Mon, 2011-01-17 20:30

So many people signing up already.
I hope I get picked, I really want to learn this course