PHP

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to make the decision of the technology to go with for my self managed learning, I couldn’t decide weather Flash or PHP was the answer. After looking at several job advertisements PHP appeared to be more popular than flash.

I think it would be beneficial to my learning and in the future to know PHP 5 and MySQL. If learning PHP 5 it would almost be necessary to further this learning to MySQL as the two technologies fit hand-in-hand.

I think as the web changes it is important to keep up with current technologies. The internet is changing, people don’t want to just visit websites, they want to interact with them. It is ever more important for websites to contain dynamic information.

In the past I have “dabbled” into the previous version (PHP 4). I have had no formal tuition in this subject and my understanding was basic.

• Changing configuration files on script installers
• Very basic statements

Many employers are now looking for people with a wider range of skills such as server side programming languages, XHTML/CSS are now seen as expected. With larger website implementing content management systems PHP is becoming more and more important.

After the self-managed learning plan I would like to understand the uses of both PHP and SQL; what programming language should be used for what purpose. It would also be necessary to know how to use the code correctly and securely.

Most internet websites now collect information from their users, either in the background or by asking the viewer directly. I would need to be confident with the use of a database, how to set up and manage all aspects, from inserting information, creating it’s structure and updating. Outputting information is also a must.