Introduction to PHP (P100)

PHP is an open-source embeddable server-side language which is simple enough to use on small sites yet powerful enough to handle large, complex applications. This course is designed to provide students with a basic working knowledge of PHP.

Through reading assignments and lessons, it will acquaint students with the structure and foundations of the language, including variables, arrays, flow control, functions and form validation. Weekly exercises tie these concepts to practical applications.

This course takes an integrated approach to PHP, tying it to its (X)HTML and CSS environment so that students finish with a recognition of PHP's place in the overall process of web development.

Objectives for this class are to:

Learn foundations of PHP programming and security
Become familiar with 6 basic PHP data types
Learn basic flow control structures
Create and use functions and includes
Learn simple and deep form validation
Learn to construct sticky forms

Outline

Week 1: Foundations of PHP

Introduction: document creation and configuration.
Punctuation and syntax
Scalar data types
Control structures: if() and switch()
Built-in (internal) functions
Function focus: scalar printing and data type tests

Week 2: More Strings and Single-dimensional Arrays

Strings, part 2
Arrays, part 1: indexed and associative
Array-specific control structure: foreach()
Some useful array functions (printing and sorting)
Additional information on working with scalars and arrays
Another control structure : the for() loop
Converting strings to arrays and vice versa
Array-related testing functions

Week 3: Multidimensional arrays, user-defined functions and form basics

Arrays, part 2: multidimensional arrays
More control structures: while() loops and includes
User-defined functions
Form basics: how form HTML relates to PHP
The $_GET and $_POST superglobals

Week 4: Form Processing, Part 1

Processing form input: external processing vs. self-processing
Four steps in processing form input
Processing focus: cleaning and printing form data
Putting it together: cleaning and printing a scalar-field form

Week 5: Form Processing, Part 2

Cleaning and validating array fields
Processing focus: validation
Sticky forms
Putting it together: cleaning, validating and printing a mixed-field sticky form

Week 6: Validating and Sending Mail

The mail() function
Validating form mail: checking for injected headers
Putting it together: cleaning, validating and sending email
Becoming a graduate of the FMSV

Prerequisites

Although this is a beginning PHP course, it is not a beginning programming course. Students must have completed the P010 course (or equivalent experience), and some practical experience using basic control structures and data types is helpful. The course assumes a working knowledge of HTML or XHTML, either through experience or the H101 or H401 course. This is a time-intensive course. Students should be prepared to spend 10-12 hours a week on reading and assignments. Those who are fairly new to programming are advised not to take it while taking other classes.

Requirements

Students should have access to a reliable web host running PHP and enough web space to post their assignments. If you do not have one, the eClasses.org student accounts offered through Bizland supports PHP. Students may choose to load PHP on their local systems, but this is not necessary. If a student chooses to do a local installation, she or he should understand that debugging installations is not within the scope of this course and that assignments must still be posted in working order to an accessible online account for grading.

Additional information:

Your place in the course is confirmed by your payment. Introductory courses are intended for students with no experience in the subject matter and are seeking beginner level training.

Refund Policy: Please read our Terms and Refund Policy before registering for this course.

Additional Cost: Book and software might be required for the course. Read the Requirements and Book section for more information. Course fee does not include the book and software cost .

How eClasses Work:Instructors post lectures (text-based, no video or audio), reading selections, and hands-on assignments once a week in the online classroom. Students can discuss the assignments with the instructor and amongst themselves in the classroom area. This format has no set meeting time, which allows students to attend class at a time most convenient to them, yet still provides logically organized communication between class participants. Students can apply for the completion certificate after finishing the class.

Price:

$250.00

Item No.:

P100

Instructor:

Triche Osborne

CEUs:

Duration:

6 weeks

Open Courses:

Start Date: Apr 26, 2010

(Register by: Apr 29, 2010 )

Start Date: Jul 6, 2010

(Register by: Jul 9, 2010 )

Start Date: Sep 13, 2010

(Register by: Sep 16, 2010 )

Testimonials

Instructor's Profile

Since 1989, she has worked in the computer industry, first as a software trainer and support technician, then as a systems analyst in Unix environments and for the last seven years, as a freelance web designer and applications developer. She is an active participant in three professional web design lists where she enjoys helping others solve problems with JavaScript, PHP and MySQL. Gabriele Bartolini, co-instructor, has been a Web developer for over 10 years, with experience in various programming languages (including C, C++ and PHP) and technologies (including XHTML, CSS, XML, XSLT and Web accessibility). For the past 8 years, he's been actively involved in the open-source community, with the development of free software applications. One of his specializations, is the development of database driven applications for the web, using PHP, MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Before you register for this class, please read the Outline, Prerequisites, Requirements, Books, and Refund Policy sections carefully.

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Completion Certificate - Introduction to PHP (C.P100)

Testimonials

Rating

"Triche and Gabriele do a fantastic job with this class. By week three, we were clamoring for an Intermediate and even an Advanced PHP class to be taught by them. They are responsive to students, and I feel they really care whether I (and the others in class) learn to write clean, secure, efficient PHP code." - Pamela Riesmeyer
"The 30-plus page detailed lectures with step-by-step examples are well-written. The instructors are kind yet firm about students learning best practices and writing secure PHP code. They will teach you how to write modular, reusable code. They will make you think, but they will also keep working with you on both the required and optional assignments until you understand why you should code in particular way. The course is worth far more than I paid." - Heather Ebey
"This has been the best class I have taken anywhere. I learned more in 6 weeks taking this class than in the past 2 years trying to learn on my own! I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to learn php." - Lori Berkowitz
"Triche and Gabriele are phenomenal instructors. They responded daily and in depth answering all questions and concerns and explained the material in whatever way we needed to hear it in order to understand it! The material was plentiful and the exercises were real world. I walk away with so much more from this class then I ever expected. I would love to take an intermediate php/mysql class with these instructors if you could make it possible! :)" - Kara O'Day
"The course covered information not normally found in books. This made the practical assignments difficult to do without lots of back and forth with the instructors. Excellent course but the most difficult I have done with eclasses." - Robert Way
"This class was amazing - and I get the feeling that some concepts were introduced which were slightly over our heads (as beginners) and yet were important for us to note. It was a lot to digest, but the assignments were very good. Please consider adding an Intermediate PHP class soon as there were MANY of us who would have immediately registered! Kudos to the instructors - they were incredibly helpful and it was obvious how much time and effort they put into the responses to our assignments. Thanks for an amazing class." - karen gehrman
"Excellent class. Would love to see a second PHP class and be able to take it to the next level. The instructors were both very helpful and very knowledgeable. " - Sue Ayres
"This course was better than expected - using security and form processing as the subject of exercises was brilliant!" - Michael Duerr
"Lectures and supplemental material were excellent. Both instructors gave clear, very detailed responses to questions as well as feedback on assignments. Their clarifying comments on student assignment were personalized and complete. The was challenging as it should be, in my view. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and hope I have a chance to take another with the two of them soon." - Renee Morris
"We've covered a lot of ground in a very systematic way. I was impressed with the class material, the carefully designed exercises, the thorough answers to our questions. Triche and Gabriele were very helpful and extremely patient in going through each line of code and giving us hints to make us think instead of presenting us with ready answers. Looking forward to an intermmediate course." - Esther Saba