Learning PHP

Okay the time has come that I have to learn PHP and it's counter part MYSQL. Now the questions arise.

1. What software will I need on my computer?
1 a. Can I do it on a laptop?
2. What book or website would you suggest to walk me through it all step for step. My programmming knowledge has been limited to HTML, CSS, and QBasic(ha ha ha) :o :D

All the same to MYSQL too! lol

The reason I want to learn PHP and MYSQL is that I've had a web site for almost a year and I never worked on it. Why? Because maintance sucked! I want to have to worry about content not layout!

Plus I want to be able to change layouts and not have to worry about having to cut and paste content


Thanks for the help!

Gerald

You don't need any software on your computer. You can just write the code on your computer, then upload it to your server. But if you want to test the pages and stuff on your own machine, you'll need to download the php and mysql software from www.php.net and www.mysql.com respectively. They have tons of documentation to help you install it.

Yes, you can install it on a laptop.

Those two sites I listed above have a lot of tutorials to get you started as well. And as always, a search on google for php/mysql tutorials will turn up a ton of results as well.

i recommend this book ALOT

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=691PMBXML6&mscssid=XDWHWG0FV1BM9NSKHW5U3GT6AWE67GS3&isbn=0672317842

go to spoono.com
robouk.com
and phpcomplete.com
for some great tutorials