Re: php tutorial

Gahh. I managed to screw up the mailinglist address for phpdoc@ *sigh* :) -Hannes On 9/9/07, Hannes Magnusson <hannes.magnusson@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Peter > > > The manual is written by people who know the language inside and out > so we may jump over things that we think is "common knowledge", sorry > :] > > I do agree though. The *basic* stuff is jumped over pretty fast. > The superglobals $_GET and $_POST for instance... > There a couple of POST examples and one example using GET via forms, > but nowhere do we really explain what $_GET really is or that > ?parameter=value&anotherparam=anothervalue will be "magically > converted into the superglobal array $_GET, which will contain two > keys, "parameter" and "anotherparam". To access them use > $_GET["parameter"] and $_GET["anotherparam"]"... > > > Is someone willing to improve these docs a bit? :) > > -Hannes > > > On 9/3/07, peter <copytiam@d2.net.au> wrote: > > Hi, > > I've been to your php tutorial page and have a large problem. > > Nowhere can I find out what php is in simple terms , or why and how i > > should use it. > > I am a very rank amateur running a hurriedly built website > > (http://dysf.info/index.html) cos noone else in the club would have a go > > at it. > > We have gallery I managed to install for our photos and it's php. so > > obviously our server is set for it - but no matter how closely I read, > > statements such as "think of php as html with a whole lot of great > > dynamic/whatevers" give me no actual simple idea of what php is - the > > tutorial goes straight to installing pages on the server. I'm lost. > > Couldn't someone who knows what it is explain what it is instead of > > telling us to think of it as something vague? > > Or is there another knowledge source you know that it suitable for those > > who don't know exactly what it is and wish to find out whether we need > > to learn more about it and how to use it? > > I may sound critical but I am interested in learning - I think - and I > > can't get basic information to start the thought process from php.net - > > maybe it's for advanced users only who need advanced instructions? I > > don't mind a learning curve but a first step is neccessary. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > From the preface of the manual > > > <http://de.php.net/manual/en/preface.php>: > > > > > > PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is > > > borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific > > > features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web > > > developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly. > > > > > > > See Above from your FAQ _ it might have been a good start to explain > > what a dynamically generated page is, otherwise we start with no > > understanding at all and cannot really move forward at all to consider > > whether php may be useful or not. - . the more I try to find out, the > > less I can find. > > I'm sure this is not the intention of those who spent so much time > > putting info out? > > Anyway, any help would be appreciated. > > I was a commercial writer by trade and have had computers since dos > > days so I can usually understand things with reasonable explanation. > > Thanks so much and keep up the hard work > > peter p > > ps I have been looking at a friend's site which someone built with php > > and I can't see anything in the least "dynamic" about it that even I > > couldn't have done with a basic html editor- mind you the term "rank > > Amateur" is a kind one when referring to me alongside the term > > "webdeveloper". > > pp > > >