Hmm .... is it better to learn half of a lot of languages, or all there is to know about a few?

I'm a VB, C++, and Java programmer ... and if someone were to ask me to write an application, I'd do it in C++ right off the bat just because I know that language the best.

It's nice to know a few and to know the strengths and weaknesses of 'em all, but then choose your favorite one and continue with it.

Interesting question..

I think that it really depends where you are in life, I mean I'm 20 years old and in university. I also work 2 jobs and run a small business. I often find myself trying to do everything including fixing the kitchen sink. (Design, coding, business aspect, etc.) I really don't have the time/option to sit down and commit myself to one feild, let alone a single language. Clients expect you to be able to handle everthing, and rarely like to deal with more people than what is absolutely necessary. The only way I could find it feasable to sit down and learn absolutely every aspect of a language is if I was paid to do just that, and the learning time would be immense.

I guess my advice would be to pick an area of interest - ie. webdesign, and learn all that you can about it. Don't limit yourself to one technology, but instead try to understand the benefits of all of your options. You can do this and over time you will inevitably end up with a favourite, and you will probably naturally become an expert/guru in that particular language/tech.

Just my idea, it makes sense in my head.. honestly

On a side note I have found this book to be an invaluable resource to learning the advanced topics of PHP - PHP Advanced for the WWW, ISBN 0-201-77597-2

Of course you need to know the basics before diving into this book.. The php.net manual is a good start and an invaluable resource for all things PHP. Also alot of the online tutorial sites will help you get up to speed (www.sitebuilder.com, phpcomplete.com/, ect..) And don't forget about #php the IRC channel, found on both FreeNode (irc.linux.org) and efnet (irc.powersurfr.com) possible on other servers aswell.

Hope this helps!

Aaron Holmes
Gurix Web Professionals
www.pureguru.com

Hmm ... thanx for the info ...

When it comes to programming (for me, anywayz), I think one of the most important things is just to grasp all the concepts. Then you can apply them all w/ different syntax, etc. Of course, this doesn't really apply too much to the different technologies out there, but rather to a handful of similar languages. (e.g. C++, Java both require an understanding of OOP)

I'm also trying to get myself familiar with PHP. I've done a WHOLE LOTTA playing around with the back-end of this forum, for example. inscissor is right, the syntax is very similar to C++! I'm glad I wound up spending my time with php instead of asp (VB annoys me).

I think if you're really considering being a web developer, you should at least be familiar with the basics of the "big five" : Perl, JSP, ColdFusion, ASP, and of course PHP. I suggest writing at least a simple shopping cart in each language. Shopping carts are good applications to practice with because it brings forth solutions that are used in general applications. That is session handling, database access including design and SQL, security, XML; the list goes on. I suggest being familiar with each so you know the ups and downs of each. It's not enough to just follow someone else's opinion... it's better to see it yourself; what's so bad or good about a particular language/method. When the time comes around to handle a problem upon request, you can then make an intelligent decision on what to go with (ColdFusion, PHP, etc.). Of course this comes after seeing what the budget is, who's working on it, who will be maintaining it after you leave, what tools (servers, IDEs) you will be giving, how easy it is to debug/extend/upgrade, and how much time you have.

Bored with ASP? Every language itself is boring, what makes it interesting is how you use it, not the language itself. Every language can pretty much do the same thing, just the syntax is different. If you feel "bored" try to extend whatever language you're using to other technologies. If you haven't looked into these, here are some topics to keep you occupied:

Coding Methologies (component reuse/extending)
Internationalization and Localization
Handling Sessions throughout Clusters
Regular Expressions
Optimization
Scaling
Security (Server, Database, Application)
Web Services
XML, SOAP, XSL/XSLT
Database Theory (Diagrams, Normalization - 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, etc.)
CORBA, COM/DCOM, ActiveX, Services
Application Framework (n-tier, .NET)
WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) - Wireless programming

Of course, you can't forget good ol' JavaScript, CSS, HTML, DHTML, and XHTML. Also, the use of databases, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Sybase, through whatever language you're using.

These are some topics that relate to whatever language you use. I hope you find them useful.

But anyways(man, I REALLY got off topic there... ), you wanted to learn PHP, and wanted some good resources. I recommend two good books which got good reviews at Amazon.com:

PHP and MySQL Web Development by Luke Welling, Laura Thomson

A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0 by W. J. Gilmore

Some good sites are (besides php.net):
http://www.phpbeginner.com/
http://php.weblogs.com/
http://www.phpbuilder.com/
http://php.resourceindex.com/
http://www.phpworld.com/
http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/PHP

Another tip is no matter what technology you're "mastering," always keep up to date with other technology. You don't have to use it, but just keep up with what's new by visiting Builder.com, Slashdot(which sometimes I despise, but I'll let that go for now), C|Net, etc... you can think of others.

kudos for the post dan

Why thank you. :shock:

This is a post that I have very little time to make but would like to put my 2 cents in on for this thread. 1st off - i definitely 2nd the KUDOs to inscissors on the post - nicely done. but, 2ndly, as a good techie should i need to voice my differing opinion :!: the following is a very rough sketch of what i want to say, and i'll polish it w/some edits over the next coupla days.

html
css
javascript
cgi via pearl
php4

Dreamweaver
Flash
Access/ColdFusion/Domino/Oracle/other web-centric db (record-locking or distributed-replication, as needed)
Photoshop
Illustrator

c/c++
java
jsp
asp
xml

acrobat
gif/jpeg solution
mov/mpeg solution
avi/mp3 solution
compression solution


dhtml
ssi
vrml
wml
j2me

hmmmmm, but which order? & this is just s/w oriented - w/much more out thre, nver mind things like ssl & vpn, & i completely ignored bilateral communciations techs like emails & chats... so much to know, so much to learn, so much to show, so much to earn!

Well, because Alpha brought up ASP and PHP, I decided to talk about server side technologies only. Knowing server side technologies is not enough to become a web developer. You have to have some web design experience too (basic techniques, tools). Also, some business knowledge helps.

Here's a list of tools/technologies that I list in my resume.

Programming
C++
Java/JSP
ASP
PHP
Perl
ColdFusion
SQL
JavaScript
Visual Basic
Assembly
Bash Unix Programming
Pascal
QBASIC
HTML/CSS/XML

Web Page Design
Macromedia Dreamweaver
Visual InterDev
ColdFusion Studio
NetObjects Fusion
Microsoft Frontpage
Adobe GoLive
Macromedia Homesite
Netscape Communicator
AOL Press

Graphics
Adobe Photoshop
Aldus PhotoStyler
Adobe LiveMotion
Caligari trueSpace
Ulead Cool3D
Macromedia Flash
Swish 2.0
Photoworks

Servers
Microsoft Internet Information Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Personal Web Server
Apache HTTP Server for Windows
Apache Tomcat
Macromedia ColdFusion
MySQL Server
Oracle 8i
Xitami Web Server for Windows
WarFTP Server

IDEs (GUIs) for Programming
Visual C++
ColdFusion Studio
Homesite
Visual BASIC
Borland JBuilder
Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0 (DOS)
Borland Turbo C++ 3.0 (DOS)

Office Skills
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Excel
Adobe Acrobat
Windows 2000, 98, 95, NT
DOS

Music/Audio Editing
Sonic Foundry Sound Forge (WAV/MP3)
Sonic Foundry Acid (WAV/MP3)
Audio Catalyst (WAV/MP3)
Dance eJay (WAV/MP3)
Techno eJay (WAV/MP3)
GoldWave (WAV)
music@passport (MIDI)
Recording Session (MIDI)
Noteworthy Composer (MIDI)
Digitrack (MOD)
Fasttracker (MOD)
Cubic Player (MOD)

Other Tools
WS_FTP
Multimedia Builder
Norton AntiVirus
Norton pcAnywhere
ZoneAlarm Firewall

Yeah! QBASIC rulez!

Anyway, back to the topic...
If you want to learn PHP, you might want to download a free websever. That way, you won't need to keep uploading your code to test it... it can be very tedious to find that the error you searched for for half an hour is a missing ')' those damn semicolons that I keep forgetting to append to the statement.

Try Fireserv. It is Apache, php, MySQL, and Perl all ready setup. I can't compliment it's interface, indeed I designed my own for it using VB. Now if only I could get that Icon working...