Special attention was given to PHP??™s many
run-time configuration options. Finally, you were presented with a brief overview of
the most commonly used PHP editors and IDEs, in addition to some insight into what
to keep in mind when searching for a Web hosting provider.
In the next chapter, you??™ll begin your foray into the PHP language by creating your
first PHP-driven Web page and learning about the language??™s fundamental features.
By its conclusion, you??™ll be able to create simplistic yet quite useful scripts. This material
sets the stage for subsequent chapters, where you??™ll gain the knowledge required
to start building some really cool applications.
55
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C H A P T E R 3
PHP Basics
You??™re only two chapters into the book and already quite a bit of ground has been
covered. By now, you are familiar with PHP??™s background and history and have delved
deep into the installation and configuration concepts and procedures. This material
sets the stage for what will form the crux of much of the remaining material in this
book: creating powerful PHP applications. This chapter initiates this discussion, introducing
a great number of the language??™s foundational features. Specifically, you??™ll learn
how to do the following:
??? Embed PHP code into your Web pages
??? Comment code using the various methodologies borrowed from the Unix shell
scripting, C, and C++ languages
??? Output data to the browser using the echo(), print(), printf(), and sprintf()
statements
??? Use PHP??™s datatypes, variables, operators, and statements to create sophisticated
scripts
??? Take advantage of key control structures and statements, including if-elseelseif,
while, foreach, include, require, break, continue, and declare
By the conclusion of this chapter, you??™ll possess not only the knowledge necessary
to create basic but useful PHP applications, but also an understanding of what??™s required
to make the most of the material covered in later chapters.
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