Is w3schools a good enough place to learn php and mysql? What are better places to learn from?
I not think about better place.
Laravel.
Mostly PHP and MySQL are taught by troglodytes. You just have to grin and bear it.
There is a decent Colt Steel course on MySQL at Udemy. He is pleasant company but painfully slow and keeps talking about his cat. However, there are lots of good practice exercises. This course does not use PHP, but there are plenty of others on Udemy that do. Just pick the top rated one.
The excellent Maximillian Schwarzmuller has a set of courses on Laravel on Pluralsight. Their basic courses on PHP are pretty turgid, but Daryl Wood’s course on PHP OOP is surprisingly great and useful from many perspectives. Jill Gunderson’s courses cover the basics effectively but without joy.
Don’t try to learn from W3Schools. It’s just reference material - and the official PHP docs are probably a better source. Like everything connected with PHP, they are horribly designed, but they are reliable.
Are you looking for a MOOC or would other types of resources (i…e., printed books) be ok?
When it comes to printed books, Larry Ullman is one of the better authors that I’ve seen, and he has a few books on the subject. Here’s one on just PHP, and another that covers it with MySQL:
https://www.amazon.com/PHP-Web-Visual-QuickStart-Guide/dp/0134291255/
https://www.amazon.com/PHP-MySQL-Dynamic-Web-Sites/dp/0134301846/
I haven’t personally done any MOOCs on MySQL in particular, but these two free MOOCs on Udemy cover Microsoft’s MSSQL (aka SQL Server or T-SQL) instead, which is mostly translatable.
https://www.udemy.com/introduction-to-databases-and-sql-querying/
https://www.udemy.com/advanced-tsql-querying-using-sql-2014/
This course covers relational databases and SQL in general:
https://www.udemy.com/database-design/learn/v4/
Finally, this is one of the better MOOCs that I’ve seen on PHP: https://www.coursera.org/learn/web-applications-php/
I’d really have to recommend learning through the Larry Ullman books though, as they’re more comprehensive than what you’ll get out of any MOOC.
I would recommend installing LAMP/MAMP/AMPPS, setup a virtual Apache server and mySQL server running, and learn how to use phpMyAdmin. That will aid you in learning SQL (the language), and mySQL (the database server).
Also learn from BOOKS, not online tutorials. Understand the very basics of SQL, every noun/verb/part of the SQL command, because once you understand the basics, you’ll be able to create complex and long queries with multiple and different kind of JOINS, conditions, etc. and be able to break it down and understand what it does.
And spend a lot of time playing and creating your own SQL queries, making mistakes, making it work, thinking of scenarios, playing what-if, and just doing practice, practice, practice. There is no shortcut here.
Why? Online resources can do everything that a book can do, and many things that it can’t: animations, audio, live coding examples.
If you prefer books, that is fine. But I think it’s a bit silly to insist on it.
Hello, try this: http://www.php-intro.com/ The teacher is great. Has a sense of humor. Lots of materials provided for you. I hope it helps.
I meant online VIDEO tutorials… it just can’t cover everything.
I learned PHP basics and OOP in this PHP tutorial. It’s quite descriptive.
w3schools tutorials is also okay.