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CodeIgniter for someone totally new? - First Steps
#1

[eluser]gamma911[/eluser]
Hey guys.

I actually stumbled upon this framework through a friend and was looking for something to start me off with PHP development in a serious way. Im looking at building robust scaleable apps for the web to use in an intranet company environment and also in an internet environment. At the moment I can program some things in PHP and I would say I'm past novice but still very much a beginner/intermediate.

1. IS CI for me?
2. Where do I start, can anyone suggest video tutorials, books, sites etc to get me going and also the best programs to use on pc?
3. What makes CI different from other frameworks like symfony and cake?


Cheers so much for the help.
#2

[eluser]xwero[/eluser]
1. You have to work with it to know it is for you. Maybe some other framework makes more sense to you.

2. Read the user guide carefully and keep an eye on the forum. This is for me the only source of information and it got me far into the bowels of CI.

3. I take the CI user guide over any api documentation and you can use as much of the frame work as you want. Although it's not recommended you can put all the model and view code in the controller methods and start chopping up code from there.
#3

[eluser]Josh Giese[/eluser]
the tutorial videos are what sold me on CI
#4

[eluser]maadmac[/eluser]
[quote author="gamma911" date="1199775316"]
1. IS CI for me?[/quote]

How can we know that?

Quote:2. Where do I start, can anyone suggest video tutorials, books, sites etc to get me going and also the best programs to use on pc?

Definitely with the two video tutorials published here, to get your "a ha!" moment. Then the User Guide will make a hell of a lot more sense. If you hunt around a bit, you can find other vids on the intertubes.

Quote:3. What makes CI different from other frameworks like symfony and cake?

First and foremost, the fact that ExpressionEngine came first and CodeIgniter is a spin-off means everything in it is rooted in a real-world, practical for-profit software application. To me, that means less theory and more getting things done...(and Rick Ellis was a rockstar before he was a PHP developer). That makes a big difference for me, and so you get a lot of smart people from EllisLab working on both EE and CI. As far as I know, CakePHP and Symfony were not germinated in a similar environment.

Most importantly, though, is the learning curve: as competent a PHP developer as I am, CakePHP's documentation utterly baffled me. I read it now and I still can scarcely make heads or tails of it... the CI API and user guide, by contrast, seem a lot easier to read and use.

Ultimately it doesn't matter much. It's all PHP, just different ways of looking at the same thing. It's like, do I use BBEdit or Textmate to do my coding? Pros and cons, pick one you like. Me, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Panic man. Once you go Coda, you never go back.
#5

[eluser]gamma911[/eluser]
Thanks for the replies guys, starting to delve deeper now.. anyone got any recommendations for software to use on windows?
#6

[eluser]tonanbarbarian[/eluser]
software to use on windows?!? you mean like fdisk and then a linux install cd?
if you must use windows get wamp to setup apache mysql and php
there is another forum thread talking about prefered editors
personally i think eclipse is pretty good - look for easyeclipse as as the name suggests its pretty easy to get started with as you can download a fully setup php envirnoment
#7

[eluser]gamma911[/eluser]
[quote author="tonanbarbarian" date="1199811210"]software to use on windows?!? you mean like fdisk and then a linux install cd?
if you must use windows get wamp to setup apache mysql and php
there is another forum thread talking about prefered editors
personally i think eclipse is pretty good - look for easyeclipse as as the name suggests its pretty easy to get started with as you can download a fully setup php envirnoment[/quote]

Sorry guys I'm quite aware on requirements to use the software. What I'm really asking is windows users - what software do you have in your toolkit for code editing and uploading etc..
#8

[eluser]xwero[/eluser]
I have to agree with tonanbarbarian eclipse is a good IDE for CI development on windows. If you are looking for an editor you can check out komodo edit or jedit or the old trusted vim.

There are multiple threads about what to use but i guess everyone has his own taste so you should try out some IDEs and editors before you settle with one.
#9

[eluser]maadmac[/eluser]
Here's a thread about Windows editors:

Windoze

There's an even longer thread, like 12 pages, of people weighing on code editors that's around here somewhere...Personally I've not yet encountered a Wintel editor that I like, I've used Notepad++, Context, PSPad and a few others. They're all undesirable for one reason or another. Some people really like Aptana with the Eclipse module; I thought Aptana was a visual UI trainwreck (but then, I'm a dyed-in-wool Mac guy, so I'm a bit spoiled).

It all boils down to this: you need a local copy of Apache (with PHP installed), a local copy of MySQL and a text editor. You can install the servers yourself manually -- I've done it on Windows and it's a gigantic pain in the keister. You're much better off with an installer package like wamp or xampp (I prefer xampp over wamp, personally, but that's mainly because it installs a little tray icon that lets me manage the servers easily). Either is fine.




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