PHP is the most widely-known scripting language for server-side applications. Yet still, a lot of people like me have never had the need to learn it. Maybe because it's not that fast, or because it's the granny of server development. Nevertheless, it's a language worth to know. Here, I've curated a list of what you need to learn it, so there you go:
- A great course on PHP that shows you the advantages of its easy syntax and included functionalities.
- Pick up a project to work on developing your skills.
- Get your side projects to work in a real-world environment, developing with popular libraries like Laravel and publishing your versions in Heroku.
There is yet another thing that is not always remembered, and that is code style. Don't bother to write a tremendous application if you are not willing to make it accessible to other developers. There are multiple books on the topic, but I recommend you to bring always a code style guide with you.
tip: since PHP 5.4.0, you can launch a local web server without using Apache directly from your terminal. Just go to your dev folder and run php -S localhost:8000.