How to become a PHP Developer: Learn and Earn

How to become a PHP developer? Indeed, there are many students, programming enthusiasts, web site owners and web designer wannabes, who want to find a good answer and a right guide for this question. I hope this hub would be a stepping stone for them to learn more about PHP.

First what is PHP?

PHP language stands for Hypertext Pre-Processor -- it is a server-side scripting language. PHP language is free to use and easy to learn if you have a background in other programming languages -- especially if you already learned and applied the basics of Java. PHP is used in order to make webpages more interactive. Hence, in learning PHP, you need to know the basics of HTML, for you to have an easy understanding on making a PHP script. PHP script is what you call to the codes of PHP that are executable on PHP servers. If you want to learn the HTML basics, check out my tutorial here.

What are the PHP servers and PHP editors?

There are many PHP servers but the most common are Apache and IIS (Internet Information Services). In order for you to practice offline, you need to install an application, which has an Apache or a PHP server. As for me, I first used XAMPP, it has an Apache and also MYSQL (a database server which is needed to store and manipulate information). If you do not have XAMPP, you may download XAMPP for free here . You can also find tutorial on how to use XAMPP here.

The PHP editors is where you code or make your PHP scripts. Some commonly used PHP editors are Notepad++ and Netbeans editor.

How to learn PHP Programming?

Learning PHP programming is not hard at all, especially if you have an experience in coding html files as well as making java programs. If you have a back ground on other programming languages, you would find that PHP is not that different compare to how other programming languages behave. The syntax of php scripts is easy to understand and easy to follow. What you need to do is to familiarize how the built-in functions work and work yourself through the PHP if-else statements, PHP arrays, Loops and PHP functions. If you understand these PHP basics you could step forwand to advanced PHP, which deals on storing, updating, deleting and retrieving information on and from the database. I guess, that is the most exciting part. At this point, you can already make your own PHP applications as you wish and begin your journey as a PHP developer.

To learn how to program in PHP, check out my tutorials below:

Why PHP cares about HTML?

We all know that HTML is a building block on making a website. To have a more interactive website, PHP and HTML should go along together, that is, an HTML file with PHP scripts and a PHP file with HTML tags. You can see example here on how HTML and PHP go along together. HTML is an interpreted language which not needs any compiler in order for it to run. As long as you have a notepad and a browser you can experiment with HTML tags and see the result right away on your browser. If you want to learn more about HTML and to experience on how to code this scripting language, see my other hub here.

How can you run PHP scripts on your website?

PHP is a widely used language use by web masters, so there are many web hosting sites which support PHP. The best example are Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla. If you have a web site hosted by a site which supports PHP, then you can make and run your own PHP scripts in your web site template.

So, What do you need on learning PHP first and foremost ?

Actually, you only need,

1. A wondering mind

2. PHP installed server and database server (preferably XAMPP, which has Apache and MY SQL)

3. HTML Basics

Basically, these are what you need on learning PHP. The rest is all depends on your drive to learn. If you have that wondering mind you will not stop asking, reading and finding answers about the in and out of the language. So in the process of finding answers, you are also learning in a most convenient and less stressful way. You can practice first offline and familiarize all the PHP basics by reading my tutorials on here.

Now the final question, how can you earn and make money with PHP?

If you already an expert, you can make money online with PHP language inside the comfort of your own home. There are many paid services online which requires a knowledgeable PHP developer to help them make and fix their web sites. The best examples are Odesk and Elance. If you are really creative, you may also consider on making your own interactive web site, sell your application and offer your own services for a fee. Through this, together with patient, drive to learn and trial and error, you can earn and make money as a PHP developer.