Bill Hamilton

A quick start reference for programmers who want to jump into PHP coding without wading through manuals and tutorials. It is strictly a first look with an abbreviated reference to the must-know string functions. The article provides basic string functions, process control and operators.

This article is a short introduction to PHP and MySQL using the example of a simple page counter. It steps through creating the database in MySQL, connecting to the database from the PHP script, querying the database, displaying the information in a web page, and writing the information back to the database. The article examines the basic syntax of PHP statements and variables, and the fundamental PHP MySQL functions mysql_connect, mysql_select_db, mysql_query, mysql_num_rows, and mysql_result.