I'm trying to learn this programming stuff, and I'd like to know what are good books or sites to learn Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, CGI, and MySQL. I'm an absolute begginer to all of this, but I do know CSS, HTML, and XHTML very well. Again, I'm very new, and very young.

I've got the O'Reilly books on JavaScript, PHP, and Perl, but they're a bit, erm, confusing.

The O'Reilly books are more like guides to fix something with PHP when you have an issue, they're good information but there are others that are better. I don't have any PHP books, I taught myself based on online documentation and experimenting.

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ Read through that if you get the chance and you will learn a lot.

learn one language - be very good at it - then learn the rest. My point is that if you have a good programming concept. Once you master one language, you can pickup the others faster.

If O'Reilly books are confusing to you as you said, you can start using books written by Sams - start with a thinner books saying "learning php in 21 days". Don't get me wrong - you won't learn everything in PHP in 21 days by the title of this book. This book is actually simple to read, and it gives you most basic concepts of PHP language such as: variable, data types, functions, array, looping, cookies, sessions, etc...

Alright, which do you think would be best to master?

i am not sure if i could answer your question. what best to master is up to you. However, in my opinion, you can go ahead and start with php since you know well about xml, css,etc. You can study PHP to create some dynamic/static page using layout based on CSS.

Okay, my parents keep asking which books it is I want, but I've got no idea what to say...

I think the first thing that you should do is learn to program in general. For example, pick up The C Programming Language and work through the book. After you finish the book, do some personal projects. After that, grab a java book . . . maybe The Java Programming Language. Again work through the book and do some personal projects. Next, you will want to pick up some books that deal with good coding style. . . Code Complete, The Elements Of Programming Style, The Practice of Programming. When you finish those tasks, you should be fairly competent in small scale programming and you will be able to grasp any normal language easily.

Can you give me the names of the authors and publishers, and exact title of those books?

bump goes the weasel...

Hello,

For learning PHP you can try PHP Bible. This book will get you started on the basics.

Remember, PHP manual is a wonderful piece of documentation. The online version and the downloadable extended version, also include user submitted notes that will help you in daily coding tasks.

Regards,
Jatinder Singh Thind

Alright, thanks people. If anyone else has something useful for me, please let me know.

Hi,

PHP is def. the way to go - In fact, I'd recommend you learn it before learning any other languages, it's easier to use, and has much better debug capabilities than the others. I've used the Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672323117?v=glance) back when I started a couple of years ago... it was a lifesaver and really helped - once you've gone through that book, take a look at php.net's manual. It's the definitive language reference, and has everything you need, including a lot of user-contributed examples.

One book that I still love & use every day is the O`Reily PHP Pocket Reference (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565927699?v=glance) It's an excellent quick-find tool while you're coding.


Hope this helps,
Christian

Again, thanks to everyone. Help is ALWAYS welcomed...