Overview Open source has brought a lot more than Linux to the computing world. It has also given us PHP and MySQL. According to Graeme, PHP and MySQL are the world's best combination for creating data-driven sites. In the first installment of this three-lesson tutorial, our Kiwi guide covers everything you need to know to begin developing database hubs. | PHP MySQL Tutorial by Graeme Merrall Lesson 1 Overview Open source has brought a lot more than Linux to the computing world. It has also given us PHP and MySQL. According to Graeme PHP and MySQL are the world s best combination for creating data-driven sites. In the first installment of this three-lesson tutorial our Kiwi guide covers everything you need to know to begin developing database hubs. He gives instructions for installation on both Unix and Windows and then goes on to show some simple scripts that will insert information into a database and display that data on a Web page. Lesson 2 covers more PHP MySQL goodies than you could probably imagine. Graeme starts by showing while loops then talks about the ever-useful if-else statement. But this information alone means little if you don t continue and see how PHP can be used with HTML forms. By the time you ve polished off this lesson you ll be able to add edit and remove information from your database. In Lesson 3 Graeme shows some of the secrets that will turn your simple data-driven site into a useful application. As he covers validation he ll show how to prevent users from leaving key form fields blank and how to make sure numeric files don t contain letters. He ll also teach you how PHP handles includes and functions. Plus you ll see how these two features when deployed together can make the coder s life much easier. Graeme winds it all up with some tearful parting words and a bit of advice for the aspiring PHP MySQL coder. Other PHP articles on Webmonkey Site Navigation with PHP Image Creation with PHP Threaded Discussion with PHP MySQL 1 Introducing PHP and MySQL Unless you ve been living on Mars for the last six to eight months you ve heard of open source software OSS . This movement has got so much momentum that even the big boys are taking notice. Companies like Oracle Informix and a host of others are releasing their flagship database products for that poster child of the OSS movement Linux. Having
