Just gave a my first PHP tutorial today at Mzuzu University to the Mzuni ICT Club .
Well, it was kind of a challenge to cover all the levels from year one who have few or no knowledge of Programming to the third year who want the advanced stuff to use in their course projects. Learned to involve the students though. And it was so much fun that I forgot the time and I had to be reminded that time is up.
It is my hope for the first years that this will have stirred up the passion for programming i.e. to find out more and not to look at it as difficult and a waste of time.
Computer programming helps solve a lot of problems in computing environments.
A few skills acquired early could be helpful: Somebody said the toughest job in programming is debugging. The clearer you write you code the easier it is to debug. Stuff like indenting which most of my classmates thought as a waste of time proved to be the most valuable time saver even to them later when they saw how easy it was to understand the code which is indented.
The other trick that helps understanding the code is the appropriate use of identifiers.
To them that attended the tutorial I would say best of luck.
A few links that could help further the knowledge of PHP:
- http://www.learnphp-tutorial.com/
- http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/
- http://www.phptutorial.info/
If something seems difficult, do the simpler stuff. It will improve your understanding and confidence.
I am always available for questions and directions. It aslo helps to remember that Google will also always be available with ready solutions. So my advice improve on searching skills as well.