Hi I was reminded of this earlier by a post in a topic, meant to post it but forgot and the topic on php books reminded me.

Well anyway there is tyhschools for learning php (unless someone else knows a better 1) but I wan't to know what is the best site for using php with mysql (using phpmyadmin) also whats the difference between postgresql and mysql? though I must admit the postgresql version of phpmyadmin whatever it's called looks better (visually)!

1. MySql and PostGre are both Open Source - Relational Database Management Systems. I don't think the Trap continues to support PostGre, but I might be wrong. The Cpanel includes all that junk regardless of whether they are installed or not.

2. For a Beginner's Tutorial on php and/or mysql, check over at w3schools.com or tizag.com. After you master a few things, use google to find a few more sites that are different or more challenging.

If you want to use PHP with MySQL, you wouldn't be using phpMyAdmin. phpMyAdmin is basically a user-interface to MySQL, that allows you to manage your databases easier than using the command line, and it happens to be written in PHP.

For using PHP with MySQL there are a whole load of possibilities. Personally, I find learning by example incredibly useful, and the PHP site has plenty of documentation and examples for MySQL and for MySQLi (the improved version, allowing for lots of new functions).

I also quite like using the Zend Framework, as it has excellent support for databases and makes everything much much easier than if you tried to do everything yourself with straight PHP functions. There is plenty of documentation with examples.

The O'Reilly series of books are also an excellent resource if you don't mind shelling out a few quid for a second hand copy. They have loads of titles relating to PHP, MySQL, and specifically to combining the two effectively.



Not a massive amount to the average user. If you intend to have thousands and thousands of rows in your tables, you might like to look into performance differences, and there are a few other small differences between the two, but nothing that will really cause you any problems.

I was talking more when i said php mysql about connectivity between them

Take a look at the links in my last post - they all deal with using PHP and MySQL together to create database-driven websites. The links to the PHP website focus on the various functions available to you to connect to a MySQL database, and to run SQL code on that database. The Zend Framework link does exactly the same, but using the popular Zend Framework, which makes life a lot easier (for example, it has functions to build SQL queries for you).

W3Schools have a comprehensive reference and tutorials for dealing with PHP and MySQL, and make a good introduction to combining the two. Lots of people start with W3Schools for HTML and CSS, and we can assume their PHP help is also fairly similar to what people are used to learning from.

Pixel2Life has a PHP section, and if you pick a tutorial dealing with databases too, you will be introduced to the basics of connecting to MySQL and using it in your own development. However, as all the tutorials are independent, I cannot vouch for their quality or usefulness.

Personally, I don't think a website can compensate for a good book. Take a look at the following, which deal with using PHP and MySQL together to create database-driven websites and web-based applications:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-PHP-MySQL...3591&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Web-Database-Appli...3591&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PHP-MySQL-Web-Deve...3591&sr=1-1