Need Help! Massively Confused With Javascript And PHP!

im not sure which part your having a problem with, but ill try to answer it. keep in mind that PHP is a server-side scripting language. it is process once per load of the page. unlike javascript which runs on the client side and can dynamically update content with out refreshing the page. are you having a problem with syntax or the concept of server-side languages

I am on the PHP developement track. So it starts with the html and css - found that easy to grasp and understand. Then it goes onto the concept and beginning of understanding Javascript - basic concepts - thankfully, as did not understand one part of it. However, got all the quizzes right - strange. Then goes onto basic PHP understanding. And that threw me completely. The only part i understnad with PHP is <?php echo "Hello World!"; ?> - that is it.

Please Richard! Don't! :)

Don't worry about server and client side, as you can technically run JavaScript on a server these days.If you want a language for say UI design to manipulate the document object model (DOM) then choose js. jQuery basics would be a good start if you want to go down that route.

If you want to interact with the server or database directly and/or build a wordpress template then opt for PHP. Without getting into it too deeply your application will usually be a series of variables and functions that combine to offer the features you want.

If you're struggling after echo in PHP I would assume that is because you're not familiar with programming and while you have made your way swiftly through HTML & CSS these are both not technically programming languages. HTML allows you to define the document structure, CSS uses selectors to tell the browser how to render that structure.

With programming you are looking to do a little bit more you will come across conditional statements the most common of which universally is an if ..else statement. This is an example of a logical construct or a condition which exhibits behaviour depending on what conditions are met.

Let's say in PHP you wanted to display a message to encourage people to post a comment on your blog if no one has yet posted a comment but remove the message if people have commented you might approach it like this: -

function checkForComments($numberOfComments) {
   if ($numberOfComments < 1) {
     echo "<p>Be the first to comment on my awesome blog post!";
   }
}

The curlybraces {} indicate both the start { and end } of a block of code to be contained within the function and conditional statement respectively. In the example above IF the value of $numberOfComments was 0 (no comments associated with that post) then the condition would be true and the message Be the first to comment on my awesome blog post! would be shown on screen.

IF the value of $numberOfComments is 1 or greater then we already have comments on this post and there is no need to show the message, the condition in our statement is false and the message will not be shown.

I am using a logical operator < which means is less than to determine if the condition is true or false. In plain English you might write: -

if number of comments is less than 1 then show Be the first to comment on my awesome blog post!

Remember in both languages parenthesis are wrapped around arguments and curly braces indicate a body or block of code to be executed within a specific function or condition. There are a few exceptions of course nothing is ever easy but hopefully this explanation has helped rather than hindered!

Thanks Richard! Appreciate it! Would you advise learning Javascript before entering PHP? Because i noticed you mentioned JQuery, so would i be better off learning off track and learn JQuery then come back to the track?

node.js is more related to running outside the browser. it does not replace a server-side scripting lanuguage. it is powerful though

Good question! I took this up a hobby at first, and loved html/css. Love it that much, that i want to make a business out of it.

Which direction, not sure.

Will do, thanks for everything though.