Re: LAMP starting point [message #183269 is a reply to message #183267] |
Fri, 18 October 2013 16:20 |
Denis McMahon
Messages: 634 Registered: September 2010
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On Fri, 18 Oct 2013 07:00:00 -0700, Rudra Banerjee wrote:
> I am an enthusiast with zero background knowledge in database and php.
> I have got some space in a server to setup a database (its not a paid
> project).
> I will use LAMP to setup the database (i.e. database of book's
> catalogue. like a library) that can be freely used and updated by
> anonymous users.
> Given this goal, kindly suggest me some starting point. google is full
> of resources, but most often then not, confusing and self contradicting
> for a beginner.
Define your data structures. Define your user interfaces. PHP is the glue
that sits between the two. Designing data structures is an art form unto
itself, you could look on the Stanford class to go website and see when
their next database course is running.
Free online php tutorials tend to be crap unfortunately, the best
reference for php is the on-line manual.
Do you have any experience in php, sql or html?
Without at least a working knowledge of all 3, you're going to have
problems, especially as most of the php you'll be writing will be
shifting data between html forms and an sql database, or between the sql
database and html documents.
Having said that, if you're competent in another programming language,
and understand basic programming constructs like loops, decision making
etc, php isn't that hard to pick up the basics of. Making a secure php /
mysql (or mariadb) application is however a different kettle of fish.
Questions:
Will you be using mysql or mariadb? Why?
Will you be using html 4.01, xhtml 1.1, or 'html 5'? Why?
If you can't answer the why, you don't know enough to make the decision
yet!
Will you be using Javascript and / or CSS? If yes, do you have any prior
experience of these? Because if you don't, forget about using them until
you have the basic website working.
Oh, and this newsgroup is only relevant for the php parts of the
discussion. If your php is functioning correctly, but you have told it to
produce the wrong html or the wrong sql, there's a limit to our ability
to spot that here.
One final thing, as a lot of this sort of application involves using php
to generate sql or html strings, you really really really really really
need to have a very good understanding of string handling across all 3
languages, especially the use of various quote characters, and how to
generate a quoted string in one language from within another language.
Jerry, what did I miss?
--
Denis McMahon, denismfmcmahon(at)gmail(dot)com
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