Table of Contents

PHP First Lesson

This is suitable for people who are just learning programming. This page is a record of what Roger and I were able to accomplish in the first lesson. Charles was there too, but he was fated to drop out because he could not type very fast.

A big question could be, “Why PHP?” Well, PHP has an easy syntax and is extremely useful for web-based programming. It's a great starter, with better syntax than Python. And, why not? PHP has it's own local server, so it's easy for anyone to use. You can just use a text editor. Its oldschool! A great start for the serious. And so, we began.

1. Hello World with echo()

Run this. What does it do? What is ECHO? 

<?php
	echo "Hello, world!\n";
?>

For the record

Quoting slashes. 

<?php
	echo "echo \"Hello, world!\\n\";";
?>

ex.2 echo.php

Another example. 

<?php

	echo "Hello, my name is Appledog!\n";

?>

ex.3 roger.php

<?php
	echo "<---- he is Roger!\n";
	echo "I am appledog! wheee!\n";
	echo "He is Charles! ------>\n";
?>

ex. 4 box.php

We can draw art. Can you make a triangle? 

<?php

	echo "*****\n";
	echo "*   *\n";
	echo "*   *\n";
	echo "*   *\n";
	echo "*****\n";

?>

ex. 5 dinosaur.php

More art. This is fun! I think, this was a homework question (draw a dinosaur). 

<?php
	echo "               __\n";
	echo "              / _)\n";
	echo "     _.----._/ /\n";
	echo "    /         /\n";
	echo " __/ (  | (  |\n";
	echo "/__.-'|_|--|_|\n";
?>

ex. 6 triceratops.php

Oh, this was the homework question. Anyways, note the quoting slashes. 

<?php
	echo "                        . - ~ ~ ~ - .\n";
	echo "      ..     _      .-~               ~-.\n";
	echo "     //|     \\ `..~                      `.\n";
	echo "    || |      }  }              /       \\  \\\n";
	echo "(\\   \\\\ \\~^..'                 |         }  
\\\n";
	echo " \\`.-~  o      /       }       |        /    \\\n";
	echo " (__          |       /        |       /      `.\n";
	echo "  `- - ~ ~ -._|      /_ - ~ ~ ^|      /- _      `.\n";
	echo "              |     /          |     /     ~-.     ~- _\n";
	echo "              |_____|          |_____|         ~ - . _ _~_-_\n";


?>

2. input with readLine()

Teacher and Doctor. Here is teacher.php: 

<?php

	$name = readLine("What is your name? ");
	echo "Hello {$name}!\n";
	echo "Your new name is Teacher {$name}.\n";
?>

and doctor.php: 

<?php

	$name = readLine("What is your name? ");
	echo "Hello {$name}!\n";
	echo "Your new name is Dr. {$name}.\n";
?>

3. decision making with if-then

<?php

	$name = readLine("What is your name? ");
	if ($name == "vegetables") {
		echo "I don't like vegetables!\n";
		exit();
	} else {
		echo "Hello {$name}!\n";
		echo "Your new name is Mr. {$name}.\n";
	}
?>