Caffeinated Crash Course in PHP

SIPB IAP 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012 from 7:30pm-9:30pm, in room 4-231

No enrollment limit, no advanced signup required.
Single session event
Prereq: Some basic programming experience encouraged

Although PHP may not stand for "Programmed Hypertext Pwnage," it just may be that awesome. PHP is a server-side scripting language that is used on millions of websites around the world to dynamically generate websites. In other words, PHP code generates the HTML that is displayed in your internet browser. This class will be a fast-paced introduction to programming in PHP that will teach you the concepts and uses of the language, as well as take you through several examples. Some topics to be covered: basic syntax, using PHP to generate websites, accessing MySQL databases, using cookies and sessions, security, and an introduction to web 2.0 topics such as AJAX. If we have time, we'll cover some PHP extensions such as cURL (for accessing outside websites), GD (for making images), and more. Some basic programming experience and familiarity with HTML is highly encouraged.

Some topics that will be covered:

• What PHP is, and how it works
• PHP syntax (if, for, while, functions, classes, etc.)
• Using PHP to generate websites
• Using PHP to access MySQL databases
• PHP security
• Cookies and sessions
• A few PHP extensions, including cURL (for getting information from other websites)
• An introduction to web 2.0 - AJAX basics (i.e., updating part of a website without refreshing the whole page, like Gmail and Google Maps), a very basic introduction to using Prototype (a JavaScript library that's great for AJAX)
• And more!

Instructor: Steve Levine '11 (email)

Course Materials

Lecture slides will be posted here shortly after the 2012 class.

In order to code your own examples, you'll need to have a place where you can run PHP (for example, a webserver). If you're at MIT, a great resource is scripts.mit.edu.

Sample PHP sites mentioned in the lecture slides:

Example 1

Cookies Example

Sessions Example

MySQLi XSS Example

MySQLi Safe Example

AJAX Example

Please note that the code for the above examples can be found in the lecture slides.

Past Years: Caffeinated PHP 2011, 2010, and 2009

Class Materials

Here are the 2010 Lecture slides: Lecture Slides (PDF)

If you have any questions/comments about PHP or this course, feel free to send me an email using the address above.