Web Programming using PHP/MySQL | Part 1

• PHP, MySQL, LAMP: what they are and what they do. Static vs dynamic pages. Client-side vs server-side scripting. Obtaining PHP and MySQL software. Resources and tools e.g. manuals, books, websites, and development environments. Using XAMPP as a development environment.
• Basics of programming with PHP - variables, constants, data types, operators, expressions, control structures & decision making, functions, type casting, program flow. Documenting your code. Simple templating with PHP. Organising your application. Finding and fixing bugs in your code. HTTP client-server communication: HTTP headers, server response codes.
• MySQL: What is SQL. Relational databases vs spreadsheets. MySQL in the terminal. Relational database design. MySQL's data types. CRUD operations: create, read, update and delete data. Primary, foreign and unique keys. Getting results from more than one table: joins. One-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many relationships. Column and table aliases. Changing table structure. Table types. Aggregate queries.
• PHP, MySQL and Apache admin: php.ini, my.ini & httpd.conf. Dealing with the legacy settings register_globals and magic_quotes. How to handle and log PHP errors.
• PHP and MySQL on the web: Connecting to MySQL using PHP. Querying the database and using the results. Dynamic templating. Single and multiple article templates. PHP's superglobals. Accepting user input through the URL and forms. Forms: validation and giving user feedback. Dynamic navigation. Building a simple CMS: Database CRUD operations through a web frontend. Defensive programming. Security considerations. Working as a web developer. What to learn next.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• understand the basics of programming in PHP
• write and debug procedural PHP scripts
• understand fundamental relational database concepts
• design a relational database suitable for a blog
• code a simple content management system
• understand the importance of web application security