PHP 8 for Absolute Beginners (PDF)

Embark on a practical journey of building dynamic sites aided by multiple projects that can be easily adapted to real-world scenarios. This third edition will show you how to become a confident PHP developer, ready to take the next steps to being a Full Stack Developer and/or successful website or web application programmer.

You won't be swamped with every detail of the full PHP language up front - instead, you'll be introduced to a small, versatile subset of PHP by learning to use it creatively to develop dynamic projects. You will see how to use variables, control structures, functions, and object-oriented programming. Secure programming techniques are used throughout the book to demonstrate the proper way to defend against hackers. You will learn how to plan and create MySQL/MariaDB databases and access them using PHP. During this process, you will be introduced to data objects, UI design concepts, and design patterns. Model-View-Controller(MVC) methodology will be used to keep a consistent logical design for each project.

Four main projects will be introduced: an image gallery, a blogging system, a data management dashboard, and an interactive game. Initially, a general discussion of how operating systems make programming easier, more reliable, and efficient will be provided. A brief example will follow to demonstrate installation of the latest versions of Apache, PHP, and MySQL/MariaDB. Basic PHP logic will be used during the development of the first project, an image gallery. Once these concepts have been absorbed, a further review of additional concepts of PHP 8 will be discussed, followed by an extensive blogging system will use MVC to reinforce and introduce additional PHP techniques. You'll also discover the use of Google Charts to create a data management dashboard. Finally, you'll explore arrays in more depth by developing logic for a checkers game.