Basic PHP Programming

Flash began life as a way for web designers to add simple vector animations to their web pages. Interactivity and programmability and become the one must-have browser plug-in. In the process, and almost unnoticed, Flash has turned itself into an online computing platform with Flash content viewable by almost all internet users.

Now Adobe is determined to fully capitalise on this platform by unleashing Flash’s ability to create full-blown, self-contained Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) – and to take the same power to the desktop. To unlock Flash’s full potential as a computing platform, however, Adobe needed to rebuild its technology and applications to appeal not to the designer but to the developer. What it came up with was Flex.

Before proceeding with tutorial on how to use PHP in HTML pages, you are first required to have basic knowledge on HTML and likewise on Programming Concepts and Principles, for those beginners in programming. This way, you will be able to grasp better the basic techniques involved with using PHP in creating HTML documents.

Also, in attempting to apply this system, you should be well informed about flow control, use of variables and condition testing in computer programming and applied information on basic HTML configuration and method. Take note too hat one of the simplest means of applying PHP is within the access of HTML document, which can be useful because you can easily manipulate the existing HTML page.

Command line interfaces are hard, right? XP has a great GUI and you so rarely have to use MS-DOS that there’s no reason to learn all those fancy commands. Well, there are some things you can do in the command line so quickly that it boggles the mind.

Want to resize a bunch of images? Fix your mailbox? Scan through your files? Command-line tools are your best bet. Want to tweak network and OS configurations? Watch for intruders? Figure out why a GUI program isn’t working? Command lines are perfect for these purposes. If you’re a power user — or call yourself a power user — not using command line tools is like calling yourself a pirate and never sailing the seven seas.

PHP was designed to solve what I (and others, such as PHP’s creator, Rasmus Ledorf) call “The Web Problem,” by which we mean the challenges found in the creation of dynamic server-side applications on the Internet or on an intranet.

PHP was created to–and continues to evolve to–solve this single problem, which perhaps is the biggest reason why it’s been a (if not “the”) Internet programming language of choice for such a long time. In fact, PHP is the fourth most popular programming language in the world, according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index, above C++, Perl, Python and Ruby. (In all fairness, this probably represents the reality that more people are writing web applications and are turning to a language designed to solve that problem.)

Regular expressions are a powerful programming tool, and the best way to solve many problems, but few people would call them a delight to use. Trying to tune a regex to match exactly the string you want can be a lengthy undertaking.

A new web-based tool aims to help with the process. Enter a text string into txt2re and its backend code (which seems to be antiquated PHP 3, judging by the file extension?) parses the string and proposes an array of regular expressions that match it and its various sub-elements. It recognizes certain string patterns, like state abbreviations and domain names.