Most effective way to learn PHP / Codeigniter

[eluser]viisik[/eluser]
What is the most effective way to learn Codeigniter for a person who also needs to learn PHP,

what is the right order of learning process, what to start from ,
and what of the following contributes most to fast learning:

a) reading PHP manual php.net

b) trying to code by yourself - learning by coding

c) reading Codeigniter books

d) trying to learn from other peoples written code

e) reading Codeigniter user guide

whats your opinion

[eluser]Jelmer[/eluser]
Start off by learning the basics of PHP (PHP5 preferably). Where to start is another thing. If you got a lot of experience using other languages you can probably skip the "for dummies"-type books. Otherwise I would certainly start by buying such a book, this one for instance.

If you have lots of experience with another language you could also start by reading up on the way PHP handles variables, functions, objects, and all those on the php.net documentation. Also try to understand and possibly change basic examples to learn.
Bottom line is though that it's mosly best to start out by reading good books (on your experience level of course). Learning by yourself can bring you a bit further, but often you only know to do things one way and don't know why you do them that way - that's where a good book can teach you a bit of background.

If you got the basics you can try out CodeIgniter.
First make sure you get the MVC pattern, and why it's usefull. You can program everything using only controllers but after a while you'll run into problems which become huge when you want to create larger applications.
When you get the basics you can read up on Controllers, Models, Views and Libraries in the userguide. After those comes the easy part, learning to use Codeigniter's libraries and helpers. The User Guide is very good, so read it carefully.

That's probably the way to go...

[eluser]skunkbad[/eluser]
1. You should have a good understanding of HTML and HTTP requests. You should know what a HTTP header is, and what a GET vs. a POST request is. PHP is primarily used to output HTML, so if you don't know what you're outputting, then you won't make it far.

2. This has been discussed here many times, but it is my opinion that you should learn PHP before CodeIgniter (CI). Search this forum and you'll hear why people say the opposite, but I think learning PHP allows you to know what's going on in CI, and you'll be able to do what you want.

3. Once you've learned a bit of PHP, you should try to understand what the difference between procedural code is vs. OOP. CI is OOP, and if you don't understand OOP, you'll get stuck in certain instances when using CI.

4. You should fully understand the security issues of PHP and websites in general. Poor use of PHP can lead to your website getting hacked (pretty easily actually). CI has a bunch of things that protect you, but you should still know what's going on, and be able to customize your data filtering.

5. Learn CI for the shortcuts and speed of programming. It's quite amazing how it helps structure your code and prevent "spaghetti code". If you're not familiar with spaghetti, you will be.

[eluser]kent.elchuk[/eluser]
If you are absolutely new to PHP, you can always practice, but I think getting a formal certificate is worthwhile since you will type commands in php, unix and mysql until you are blue in the face. With a good school, you will type a zillion commands in php, unix, and mysql. I did the self-study way for 10 years and still decided to get training and had only regretted I did not do so earlier. The combination was nice, but starting with schooling will get you learning faster.

At that point, you will be close to take advantage of codeigniter to use procedural php or OOP. If not, keep practicing.

When I started Codeigniter, I bought 2 books and read the user guide. It took about a week before I could template it nicely and know where and when to use the files.

[eluser]skunkbad[/eluser]
[quote author="kent.elchuk" date="1291694468"]If you are absolutely new to PHP, you can always practice, but I think getting a formal certificate is worthwhile since you will type commands in php, unix and mysql until you are blue in the face. With a good school, you will type a zillion commands in php, unix, and mysql. I did the self-study way for 10 years and still decided to get training and had only regretted I did not do so earlier. The combination was nice, but starting with schooling will get you learning faster.

At that point, you will be close to take advantage of codeigniter to use procedural php or OOP. If not, keep practicing.

When I started Codeigniter, I bought 2 books and read the user guide. It took about a week before I could template it nicely and know where and when to use the files.[/quote]

Can you provide some info and link to the formal certificate?

[eluser]kent.elchuk[/eluser]
This school is good. You can take it anywhere. Worth every penny. Can always be ZEND certified afterwards.

Oreilly School Of Technology

After these courses, you will find CodeIgniter will continue where the courses left off. You can use OOP to make things simpler and it will make organizing your pages very simple. Or, you can use pure php in your views and to connect to you database.