PHP and MySQL for Beginners

An excellent course, I was new to PHP and found this course easy to follow. I found the BlueFish editor a little strange at first, but now I love it and I can see how it will save a lot of time.

This course taught me a lot as a PHP beginner. Most of the concepts were easy to grasp. The exercises and examples were, for the most part, easy to understand and complete. There is a LOT of video in this course. The only reason I wouldn't give this course five stars is because there were some errors in the content, and there was some confusion as some of the lectures got out of order. Also, it seemed slightly outdated. But I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who wants a good and pretty thorough introduction to PHP and MySQL.

Well - I struggled all the way through this course to the bitter end and did manage to get everything to work. But what did I learn after many, many hours of exhausting work? Not a lot - 90% of the effort was expended on trying to keep track of various versions of snippets and making sure they were added to the right bit of increasingly complicated code. After that there was little time or energy left for actually learning PHP. The course is badly conceived as if any errors creep into your code (or are there in the code supplied) and you cannot correct them, then everything from that point on will fail and the course becomes worthless. Add to this a tutor who does not respond to questions helpfully or even at all and I rate this course as low as is possible.

Not knowing anything about PHP and MySQL, I find that the course approach to teaching is for us beginners. Cool.

If you are a beginner like me, this course is a must. It really delivers a lot for price.

I've found this course VERY instructive and well-rounded from an experienced PHP developer teaching us the basics as well as good code-writing. My single gripe is more at Udemy than the instructor but is the inability to search through lessons. I wanted to refer back to a lesson and because the title of the video lesson is truncated on the right hand side menu, I had to scrub/watch 40 videos just to find the appropriate one. The public side of this course which shows all lessons is easier to browse through . Otherwise, this is very well done and I'm glad I have it as a resource.

I took this course hoping to find something that does go beyond just the basic Variables and String Functions that most PHP courses focus on and it delivers. But, this course does get quite in-depth and looking at the comments below I think the course is beyond the ability of some of the users. Unfortunately, not everyone can program and some people just will never be able to write any kind of code at all. Coding is being able to adapt what you've learned to different situations, it's not about being hand-lead through each and every possibly scenario, an example of this is user who lists using the Mac instead of the PC, if such a simple variant is enough to confuse you don't take up programming at all. If you however find you can quickly relate what's being shown to other situations then you've got the underlying skills to be a programmer and this course will really help you.

I've just finished and felt I should write a small think you. I've learned a lot and I'm really glad I took this course, the snippets saved me a lot of time and also introduced me to the BlueFish editor which I think is a great little program. I can think of no better way to learn PHP / MySQL and I hope this author posts more videos soon. Thanks

I am highly disappointed about this course. I purchased this course after it was reduced from $99 to $24. But since then I have not been able to access any of the lessons. I will like to have my refund so that I can find another place to learn PHP because Udemy.com has proven to be a waste of my time. Thanks.

Coding for developing a form for websites that has space for names, passwords, submit button etc.Unfortunately I did not realize that this was specifically for PC adaption. I use a Macintosh computer and the information was not what I was looking for. Thanks, unfortunately I paid for the course. Oh well.

The people that complain about the snippets are completely lost. The snippets are sections of code, or lines of code. The author could easily add another 550 hours to this course so that you could watch him type in each line of the code. Or you can click your mouse on the "snippets" and the EXACT SAME LINES OF CODE WILL APPEAR IN YOUR FILE! There is ZERO benefit to watching someone type in line after line after line after line after line after line of code. If you think the instructor is going too fast because he uses snippets, then please pause the video and study the code after you've pasted in the snippets. It's that simple. The snippets are Awesome and save hundreds of hours of time. Anyone who complains about these snippets is completely lost and their opinion on this course should be totally disregarded. Complaining about using snippets is like buying a book and then complaining that the author did not let you watch him write and then edit the book. That is insane. That would be a complete waste of time, right? Of course it would. Well I don't need to watch the author type in every line of code. That is totally ridiculous. I just need to see the code. If I want to study the code, I just pause the video and study the code. So don't listen to anyone who complain about the use of snippets. As for the bluefish, I am using it on Windows Vista and it's working great! I look forward to sharing my review on the whole course when I am done. I am on lesson 8 so far and am happy. Whenever I have had any questions, the instructor has been quite helpful.

I'm not a complete beginner with PHP and mySQL, but still found this course very challenging. Just by looking at the table of contents, you can see that the contents is huge. So expect it to take a few months to go through it. I haven't finished it yet, but I know I 'll have to go through most lessons several times. Disregard the negative comments about the Bluefish editor as the author has fixed that - you can request the plain text files. I personally don't like the copy / paste this snippet, then copy/paste that snippet teaching method. However I still think there is great value in this course.

Very disappointing. I was hoping to get some education in PHP but the instructor goes on and on about blue fish editor which does not interest me at all. I would skip this course unless you use blue fish editor as your editor of choice.

I have several tutorials on PHP and MySQL and books as well a third year student at DeVry for web development and db management. This tutorials is the most difficult tutorial to follow. Meaning, you don't have the opportunity to type as you follow along, you just paste in snippets and keep going. I find myself writing numerous of notes from the videos so that I will remember the code structure and their meanings. I'm glade the files where rewritten in a text format so that other editors may be used. I'm currently a user of Dreamweaver CS3, notepad plus, and HTML Kit on a PC. Although, one can decipher the codes and implement into their projects.

I wouldn't recommend this course as it is quite confusing when you chose not to use the blue fish editor. All lot of the learning is fast tracked with the use of the code snippets and doesn't give a clear understanding of the underlying code. The instructor instead of giving the understanding of these new languages relies heavily on blue fish. Would have been better if it was independent of blue fish.

this seems to have good info, but i have to agree with the previous user that the use of bluefish severely hinders this program. since i'm a mac user, i've spent most of my time trying to debug the bluefish editor rather than learning php. since the program relies heavily on snippets, it makes it difficult to use a different editor (i prefer coda), since i have to pause the video and try and manually copy the code into a document from a small video window...

I am very disappointed with the course. I've had some experience with PHP and really wanted to brush up on using templates. But using Bluefish forced me to learn a new tool rather than PHP. And the emphasis on using code snippets (no different than using Zen Coding in Textmate) makes exporting anything I do in Bluefish much less valuable. Trying to follow along in Textmate really slows things down. I wish they'd taken an agnostic attitude towards a code editor. And put out a set of files that could be imported into any editor without the use of xml files for snippets. One star based on slow pace and poor tool requirement.

There is usually some growing pains when it comes to learning new skills, but the PHP and MySQL for Beginners course takes you from one step to the next, explaining every detail in a granular way - that means in a very detailed way :-) - and it also gives you the big picture on PHP language. The instructor, Robert Tucker, is basically the captain of the ship that takes you from PHP rookie to PHP intermediate level developer. One of the great things about Udemy videos is the full screen option to display the video lectures. Also, the audio is excellent as is the narration: pleasant yet professional. Robert Tucker gets down to business very quickly and goes straight to the point. You can watch the lectures multiple times if a concept is not absolutely clear. You will appreciate the fact that Mr. Tucker is concerned with clarity of content and is trying to get you to perform the tutorials. The concepts can be somewhat complex for someone that doesn't have a technical background like myself, but even I can follow the tutorials successfully. I would say that an intermediate computer user can easily follow the instructions as long as he or she pays attention during the lectures. A piece of advice would be to not be afraid of stopping the lecture video at any time to gather your thoughts or to write down notes on a notebook. I personally handwrite notes as I watch the lectures for added comprehension and improved recall of concepts later on. I will certainly use this course as my foundation to actually work on a side career as a developer. I know that I will probably need a few college courses, but I am sure that the quality of the education from the "PHP and MySQL for Beginners' is comparable to college level programming. I expect to hit the floor running as soon as I start with college programming classes or start work on a few side projects that hopefully turn into income. Although you cannot download the lecture videos to your computer or mobile device, you can though stream the videos on your web enabled iphone or other device that has a web browser. For most people, the fact that the videos can't be downloaded should not be an impediment to take full advantage of this course, since the lectures can be streamed via Wi Fi or 3G connections. I recently did some research and a community college course on Php in Chicago costs about $ 400.-. A 3 day bootcamp on Php costs $ 1495.- At $ 99, this course is very reasonably priced and it is almost a no-brainer for any beginning Php developer. I literally knew nothing of Php only 3 weeks ago and now I have some basic competence and familiarity, which coupled with more practical experience and even a college course or two, should give me the firm background I need to get my foot in the door of a web developer company or even an advertising company that does Web programming. I personally urge you to buy this product if you are serious about getting into Php programming and Web Development. A final word of advice, make sure you give yourself time to absorb the concepts and don't try to bite more than you can chew at once. I personally try to complete three lectures per day, making sure that I take notes and that I understand the concepts, before delving into more complex material.

If you're new to programming like me but are fascinated at the possibilities of grasping something as ephemeral as PHP then you are going to begin a grand adventure lead by this able instructor. Code can be ugly but for the one who is willing to be taken by the hand, guided with care, and open to being taught the skill of PHP coding, the end result is elegant and breathtaking. For those who love wisdom and are willing to sacrifice the little things to acquire the important things in life, you will have an able guide, a caring teacher, and an adventure of knowledge that will leave you immeasurably blessed and that you will treasure forever. Go now, invest in yourself!

Robert Tucker instructs PHP and MySQL basics in a clear, concise manner. The lesson segments are easily digestible and can be paused or replayed as needed. Udemy has a great course here!

The PHP and MYSQL for Beginners course is excellent. If you are a visual learner, this course is for you. The instructions are clear and the information is given in an organized manner.

What a great course. The instructor is EXCELLENT. The material is understandable and progresses logically. I have no prior coding knowledge aside from novice html and css, and I don't feel overwhelmed. It's enticing and stimulating to the point where I'm finding myself staying in on the weekends to stay up late and learn. I give this course 11/10 and two big thumbs up.

I have read 6 textbooks, 2 "dummies" books, and almost 30 ebooks all on PHP/MySQL trying to get it to stick in my brain. Finally! This is what I needed! SHOW and DO! I need to follow along, and reading only makes me familiar with the knowledge, but actually being taught how to DO what the books talk about makes me able to USE the knowledge that's floating around in my head! GREAT!