Newbie - PHP & SQL devt environments

[ozchris]

Hi.

I'm a wannabe developer.
Have fixated on PHP and MySQL as the skills to learn.
My ultimate aspiration online is freelancing, work from home.
Currently a mum with an antique IT degree that covered Pascal & Cobol.

Bought books on PHP & SQL, which mainly covered syntax and simple examples.
It feels like I've been reading for ages, but accomplishing nothing.
I can't really afford to spend much more money, so am looking for as many free things as possible.
So far I just code HTML.

To get started, what should I do?

- Do people use development environments for PHP/SQL?
- Are there any available for free?
- Or do people just load their stuff to the internet and test it online?
- Are there other things I should be learning - eg javascript?
- Am I too ambitious?

Would love to hear how people started.


Chris

[buntine]

Realistically, it can all be done from notepad.. Though, it would be more logical to use a development program which colored your syntax, mainly for readability.

www.chami.com offer an excellent peice of software which i use to write all my scripts. Look for HTML-kit. Its free too!

Both MySQL and PHP are free so you shouldnt really have to spend anything.

Regards,
Andrew Buntine.

[ozchris]

my PHP book implied i had to keep uploading my code to test it.

Isn't there a common way of developing and testing PHP offline?

I think HTMLGoodies mentioned downloading and installing an apache webserver, to allow offline devt. The download seemed large, let alone what it would be like when installed. Is this what people usually do?


And the SQL book mentioned MySQL Studio, but only gave access to a trial version. I haven't installed anything for SQL yet. Just scanned the book.

[clairec666]

http://www.aprelium.com/abyss

I'm using the above web server (abyss) at the moment. You can install apache, but I found abyss easier. It means you won't have to upload every file when you want to test it.

The download time is quite small, installation is easy, and it is also simple to confugure with PHP and MySQL.

[clairec666]

Sorry - that link isn't working. I'll find the proper link for you.

[clairec666]

Got it now!!

http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/index.html

[ozchris]

i went to the website, http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/ and checked it out.

Good testimonials.

The site doesn't mention anything about SQL access.

What did you do to configure it for SQL?

And do I go to mysql.com and download mysql 4.0 or something?

You are very helpful. I'm getting excited about finally starting some coding after so many years.

[clairec666]

Yes, mysql.com has all the download stuff for MySQL. I didn't have to do anything to get abyss web server to link with MySQL, I just installed both on my computer and they work fine together!

Have you downloaded PHP yet? http://www.php.net/downloads.php

I can't help much with the downloads...... sorry! I installed mine off a CD-ROM, so I'm not sure how to get them off the web.

I'm quite an expert on one thing, though: installing PHP on abyss. If you've downloaded it and are having trouble after that, I can probably help a bit.

[ozchris]

excellent!

will have a go at installing them tonight (it's late in Sydney), and check them out tomorrow.

thanks, Chris