PHP Percolate! Season 4

  • September 9, 2012 · 12:00 AM

PHP Percolate!, our self-study group for beginners, is returning for Season 4. If you would like to learn PHP from the ground up, consider joining us. Tell your friends and co-workers to join in the fun.

The format of a virtual self-study group is as follows:

  • Each participant purchases the same textbook (PHP for the Web).
  • Each participant commits to read one chapter per week, complete the exercises and post a link to your completed work.
  • Each participant obtains assistance by posting questions to a discussion area set up on the Boston PHP Message Board for each chapter.

Note: There is no classroom instruction. There are no webcasts. There are no scheduled appointments of any kind. However, Percolate! Coffee Clubs have been known to spring up like food trucks in various Boston area communities. These Percolate! Coffee Clubs are informal gatherings set up by PHP Percolate! participants.

How do I get started?

  1. Become a member of Boston PHP, if are not already a member.
  2. Register for PHP Percolate! Season 4. Simply RSVP: Yes
  3. Purchase a book (the only program cost). Simply visit the Boston PHP store and order PHP for the Web in one of two formats.

Full disclosure: Boston PHP Meetup receives a small commission on each sale which helps fund Meetup activities.

 

 

 

 


When your book arrives, start your virtual learning by reading one chapter at a time, completing the exercises and posting a link to your completed work.

FAQs:

Q: How long will the course last?

A: We will cover 13 chapters in the book, so 13 weeks starting September 9 and ending December 8. Refer to the PHP Percolate! Season 4 Master Discussion List for specific dates.

Q: Do I have to wait until September 9 to begin?

A: No need to wait. Feel free to begin by reading the Introduction once you obtain a copy of your book and proceed at a pace that best fits your current work/life situation.

Q: What if I have additional questions?

A: Simply post a reply below and you will receive a response.

Let's start percolating!

Gene Babon
Chief Percolator!

Join or login to comment.

  • A'Llyn Ettien

    Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to finish--I can't make the SQL parts in Chapters 12 & 13 work and I just don't have time to troubleshoot right now (new stuff to manage at work, holidays coming up...). I'm sad I won't get to be listed on the Wall of Accomplishment after getting so close, but it has still been really useful. I learned a lot, and appreciate the encouragement. One day I hope I'll make it to a physical event!

    December 12

  • A'Llyn Ettien

    Very helpful. It was good to have the motivation of the group project to keep working on the chapter exercises each week.

    1 · December 12

  • Jeff Sellers

    Excellent! Great to feel part of a group over here in the Philippines!

    1 · December 12

  • Roger Goode

    I'm really grateful for the announced extension... I made it as far as chapter 9 and life got in the way... but I don't want to give it up, so I'm still gonna try to finish up, including posts to the chapter discussions.

    Not sure if I can complete it in the next 3 weeks. But glad for the opportunity. It's been a good experience.

    1 · December 9

  • Brian Marple

    I thought it was terrific! It could have used some physical meetups and/or more Q&A

    1 · December 1

  • Nancy Fitzpatrick-Jones

    I enjoyed the process and hope to continue this PHP adventure.

    1 · November 28

    • Larry Ullman

      Great! Thanks to Boston PHP for this excellent program. Good luck with your future studies!

      1 · November 29

  • Alana

    Great introduction to PHP!

    1 · November 24

  • Gene Babon

    How important is self-teaching prior to entering the programming world?

    http://ow.ly/eCjMS

    October 19

    • Thorsten Boeck

      Great article. When you are completely new to programming you need a bit of guidance, though, and what better way to get that than with Boston PHP!

      1 · October 20

  • Mike Murphy

    Excellent experience, Gene and Tom did a great job running things, very good book. Liked it all so much I finished it in five weeks and hope for more.

    1 · October 8

  • kodjo

    Do I have to purchase the book from you?

    1 · August 6

    • Eric P

      Thanks, I clicked on the link and it returned many books. Please direct me to the correct link to buy the correct book with all accompanying files and exercises so that i can catch up with the tasks as other members are working on. thanks.

      October 3

    • Gene Babon

      Eric, the correct book is "PHP for the Web." Simply click on the image of the book above. The Introduction will provide you with a link to Larry Ullman's website. There you'll find every script available for download. Thanks ~ Gene

      October 4

  • Bing Mei

    It was a fantastic learning experience. Thanks to the leadership team for organizing this activity and providing such a great environment that facilitates self-study tremendously. The chosen textbook is excellent. It is well organized and paced with sufficient information for PHP beginners, very suitable for self-study. Working through all the examples in the book is a very effective way to learn (at least speaking for myself). I look forward to Percolating again, in Season 5!

    October 4

  • Jeff Tash

    This course was a phenomenally great introduction to PHP. The book is an excellent introductory text. Working through all the examples delivers a great educational experience.

    October 1

  • Jim Butler

    Hi Gene,
    I just found out about this too. Is it ok to join now?

    1 · September 28

    • Gene Babon

      Hi Jim,

      Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

      Week 3: PHP Percolate! Season 4
      http://ow.ly/dX1e6

      Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

      Gene Babon
      Chief Percolator

      September 28

  • Jesse Gilbride

    I missed the beginning of this. Is it possible to start late?

    1 · September 28

    • Gene Babon

      Hi Jesse,

      Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

      Week 3: PHP Percolate! Season 4
      http://ow.ly/dX1e6

      Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

      Gene Babon
      Chief Percolator

      September 28

  • Maria Schmitt

    Hi,

    thanks, I have already done the book and the exercises, it was inspiring for me to see the discussion. I will be tackling David Power's PHP Solutions next.
    But what I am looking for is a language without dollar signs - why put a variable with a dollar sign - the dollar might change it's value...
    Joke aside, haven't the bankers done enough damage and killed and illed us? I am looking for a server side or client side language that is equivalent to PHP, I think it is a great language that could be made better.

    September 7

    • Maria Schmitt

      Hi Jeff, the reason I want to be consequential about my coding is, that I have been seriously traumatised by the bankers network, when my colleagues died at 911. I realize that we need a better printing press, and our own money as such, and that is what my website will be about. It is more like a trading paper, fairly similar to money, but with a different concept behind, which is offering ones own goods. Basically I am putting out shares of my own company with every paper that will count as money as such.

      I had to be consequential in that I gave up my banking job when I saw what had really happened, and I want to explore all these different programming languages. I am glad there is a variety of programming languages. So I am very much looking forward to Ruby, as its code seems very nice, simple and straight forward, also less Apostrophes etc.

      September 27

    • Maria Schmitt

      I originally got stranded with a ZenCart Application, so I will have to learn PHP as well, there is just no way around it. I am also highly interested in the Yii Framework, I realized that Zend costs money. I installed it, but I will need a book to help me through the process, so I am looking forward to Larry's book:-)

      September 27

  • Joyce

    Hi! I just joined and bought the book. It looks like I'm a little bit behind but I hope to catch up... can you add me to the mailing list? Thanks!

    1 · September 25

    • Gene Babon

      Hi Joyce,

      Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

      Week 3: PHP Percolate! Season 4
      http://ow.ly/dX1e6

      Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

      Gene Babon
      Chief Percolator

      September 26

  • Brian Kenyon

    I'd like to join too. I'm looking to revitalize my hand coding.

    1 · September 25

    • Brian Kenyon

      Please add me to the mailing list.

      1 · September 25

    • Gene Babon

      Hi Brian,

      Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

      Week 3: PHP Percolate! Season 4
      http://ow.ly/dX1e6

      Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

      Gene Babon
      Chief Percolator

      September 25

  • Sandrine Sheon

    Hi, is it too late to join this self-study? I just had the pleasure of editing a php site and wanted to learn more, intensively and quickly.

    1 · September 23

    • Gene Babon

      Hi Sandrine,

      Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

      Week 3: PHP Percolate! Season 4
      http://ow.ly/dX1e6

      Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

      Gene Babon
      Chief Percolator

      September 24

    • Sandrine Sheon

      Thanks. I ordered the book and will try to get up to speed despite HONK Festival planning.

      1 · September 24

  • Gene Babon

    Hi Marcy,

    Welcome aboard. You are now on the e-mail list. Check out the most recent weekly update here ...

    Week 2: PHP Percolate! Season 4
    http://ow.ly/dRmo3

    Plenty of time to get caught up. The season just started.

    Gene Babon
    Chief Percolator

    September 20

  • Marcy Venezia

    Would you add me to the mailing list as well. I would like to work through the book. I am a designer.

    1 · September 20

  • Marlin May

    Is it too late to join Session 4?

    1 · September 12

    • Gene Babon

      @Marlin -- Welcome aboard. I added your name to the weekly e-mail list. Check out the most recent e-mail here ... http://ow.ly/dEXCv

      September 12

  • Igshaan Taliep

    Hi all, started reading the book and did the initial setup. Running Windows 7 with a Mowes portable server. I use the Mowes server for Wordpress development as well because it is easy with no system installation and auto configuration. Not sure where to post assignments?

    September 10

    • Gene Babon

      @Ighaan -- Please post your introduction in the Introduction section ... http://www.bostonphp.....

      You will need access to a hosting service (ISP) to post your exercises. Read through the Introduction section and you will see several recommendations from your fellow Percolators including 000webhost.com, which offers free hosting.

      September 10

    • Igshaan Taliep

      Done.

      1 · September 11

  • Thorsten Boeck

    One day too late to accept the RSVP. Can I still join?

    1 · September 10

  • Luke Schumann

    Is there some sort of certificate of completion after the course?

    1 · September 5

    • Vanessa

      Hi Gene. You may want to consider http://www.openbadges... as an option.

      1 · September 8

    • Gene Babon

      Thanks Vanessa for introducing me to Open Badges. As Season 4 progresses I'll be introducing folks to Smarterer.com where I am a "Professor" in both CSS and SQL.

      September 9

  • Gene Babon

    @Percolators -- Sunday, September 9 marks the official beginning of PHP Percolate! Season 4. Meetup.com may decide to send you a "How was PHP Percolate!?" e-mail because typical Meetups begin and end on the same day. Feel free to ignore. You'll get a chance to evaluate the program when we officially conclude in December.

    You will receive an official "Let's Start Percolating" e-mail from me by the end of the day on Sunday. Until then, rest up and get a good night's sleep.

    Gene Babon
    Chief Percolator

    September 8

  • Alan Forbes

    If you guys liked this and are looking for more, please check out my Kickstarter project "The Joy of PHP Programming"

    http://www.kickstarter.com/proj...

    So far it's only half funded, but if I get enough "votes of confidence", I'll be committed to delivering it. I am really liking PHP and want to share the fun.

    September 8

  • Nancy Fitzpatrick-Jones

    Finished chapter one and the exercises. So far so good. Looking forward to Sunday.

    1 · September 6

  • Kevin R. Sletten

    Just starting, I’m running XAMPP on a Windows 7 laptop, using Dreamweaver as my editor and FileZilla as my FTP. Chapters 1 and 2 exercises are finished, the results may be found at http://kevinrsletten.com/kevin_....

    1 · September 4

    • Diane Ponte Saia

      Nice Kevin! Makes me want to write PHP code with that view from my office!-Diane-

      1 · September 5

  • Gene Babon

    @Percolators -- Thanks for posting updates. Just a quick reminder that the most efficient way for us to track everyone's progress is to post updates for the Introduction and each Chapter in the appropriate discussion area. Here is a Master Discussion List that everyone should bookmark and refer to each time you post an update ...

    http://www.bostonphp.org/messag...

    For example, all Introductions should be posted here ...

    http://www.bostonphp.org/messag...

    All Chapter 1 updates should be posted here ...

    http://www.bostonphp.org/messag...

    Thanks,

    Tom Pettingill
    Senior Percolator

    Gene Babon
    Chief Percolator

    September 5

  • Bob Delaney

    Probably shouldn't admit this, but I'm a season 1 and season 2 drop-out! Just had trouble making time... hoping 3rd time is the charm. I'll be developing using MAMP on my iMac.

    1 · September 5

  • Lamos Paul

    I'm currently developing a website with Hostgator. I need lot of PHP support.

    1 · September 4

  • Kevin R. Sletten

    Just starting, I’m running XAMPP on a Windows 7 laptop, using Dreamweaver as my editor and FileZilla as my FTP. Chapters 1 and 2 exercises are finished, the results may be found here.

    1 · September 4

  • Mark Donaghue

    I took an excellent PHP course at Harvard extension school several years ago (2009), but I could use a refresher/update.

    2 · September 3

    • Gene Babon

      @Mark -- You are in the right place at the right time.

      September 4

  • William F. Zachmann

    FYI, I've just moved my completed exercises site from one of my GoDaddy hosting sites to my own, in-house, test server, but they are still available for view from the links I've posted here in the discussions for lessons 1-13 (I changed the DNS record for gomelez.com to point to the new location). This move initially broke a few things which I have (mostly) fixed already. I also disabled a couple of things (e.g. calls to phpinfo() and such) for reasons of security.

    I did find, by the way, that someone had already uploaded a malicious script (Trojan horse PHP/Backdoor.AG with a filename of iahoula.php) via the Chapter 11 (Script 11.3) file uploads exercise file. That just emphasizes some of the comments I've made along the way about the need to be careful about some of the practice scripts in the book. Some of them really ought not to be made available for public access!

    1 · August 27

    • William F. Zachmann

      er . . . make that: " . . . if it were . . ." please, and change the ")" after "intended" to a comma. *;-)

      1 · August 27

    • Joe Johnson

      There is always a significant risk of exposing code from training exercises to the world. Just take a good look at a server log and you will almost always see people probing for vulnerabilities. If one is found pray that you don't then become a target for every script kiddie on the globe. that is why I maintain a web server with nothing of any value or significance on it so I can play around. the problem with most books on how to code, especially introductory one is they just don't seem to be able to build security into their examples. When I went to school my internet technology course began with the building of a web server. Almost every student was hacked within 24 hours of coming on line. It turned out it was part of the course. Do you think we should take a closer look at the course material and post a list of exercises that comprise the "chapter assignments"?

      2 · August 27

  • Gene Babon

    Jobs Are Available; Workers Aren't Trained ...

    http://bit.ly/Pz9Uls

    Let's start percolating!

    August 20

  • Nancy Fitzpatrick-Jones

    Just bought the PHP for the Web. Looking forward to adding to my current skill set. Woo hoo! PHP!

    August 16

  • Gene Babon

    @Percolators! -- Terrific news to report. Larry Ullman has agreed to join us for PHP Percolate! Season 4. Larry is the author of PHP for the Web along with 21 other Web technology books.

    We can call on Larry occasionally to help us with questions we might have about our chosen text book. We will not abuse the privilege. Larry is a busy man. Check out his prolific body of work ...

    http://www.larryullman.com/book...

    I already see possibilities for PHP Percolate! Season 5 ...

    PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites
    Effortless E-Commerce with PHP and MySQL

    Welcome aboard, Larry!

    2 · August 9

  • William F. Zachmann

    Awesome! Welcome, Larry!

    2 · August 9

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