Most of the time you hear of PHP as a language for creating web pages. 0:00 But PHP isn't limited to the web, 0:04 PHP is also very useful as a general scripting language. 0:06 You can write and run scripts directly on your computer without a web browser 0:10 using what's called the command line interface or CLI. 0:15 We'll start our projects using the CLI in the workspaces console before adding them 0:19 to a web page in the last section. 0:24 To follow along in your own workspace, click the launch workspace button. 0:27 If you're looking for 0:31 a little more explanation on workspaces, check the teacher's notes. 0:32 Let's get started. 0:35 When learning a new programming language, 0:38 it's a tradition to start with a simple hello world program. 0:40 So let's start off by creating a new file named Hello. 0:44 We'll give this the extension .php. 0:50 You place php code inside what's called a code block. 0:53 Much like HTML tags, the opening tag is <!--?php, 0:58 and the closing tag is ?-->. 1:05 We then place our code within this code block. 1:09 To display something to the screen we use the echo command, 1:12 followed by whatever we want to display. 1:16 In this case we'll type, Hello World. 1:19 We'll surround this text with quotes and end the line or 1:21 statement with a semicolon. 1:25 A statement in programming can be defined as an instruction to perform a specified 1:28 action, such as setting data, retrieving data, performing a calculation and so on. 1:33 Statements in php almost always need to end with a semicolon. 1:38 Now let's run our script in the console. 1:44 If your console is not visible go to View, Show Console, 1:46 then type php followed by a space, and then the name of the php file hello.php. 1:52 This tells the console we want to use the php command 1:58 line interface to process the file, hello.php. 2:03 This is often called running a script or executing the script. 2:07 Don't worry, scripts aren't hurt when you execute them. 2:12 In the console we see the output, Hello World, but 2:15 not the php tags or the echo command. 2:19 This is because the php command line interface, or cli for short, 2:22 processes the php code and returns only the output. 2:26 What we're talking about php code., let me point out that with few exceptions, 2:33 php does not care about extra whitespace such as spaces, tabs, or blank lines. 2:37 You can have things all smooshed up together, or spread out, however you want. 2:43 But remember, with great power comes great responsibility by following 2:47 best practices and spacing your code clearly, 2:52 you can make your code easier to read for others and for your future self. 2:55 Congratulations! 3:01 You've written your first php script. 3:02 To get the most out of this course, let me provide a few tips. 3:05 If you hit a part of the video where you're struggling to follow along, 3:08 you can always slow down or speed up the videos. 3:12 Also, feel free to watch the videos more than once. 3:15 Furthermore, I've included additional information in the teacher's notes. 3:19 So don't forget to check those out as well. 3:23 If you don't write your code exactly right, php will give an error. 3:26 If you want to learn more about error handling, 3:30 check out the workshop in the teachers note. 3:33 And finally, not only is the php community as a whole fabulous. 3:35 You also have an awesome community of fellow students here at Treehouse 3:40 who can help you with questions that you might have. 3:45 Sometimes it just takes another perspective 3:48 to help you really understand a new concept. 3:50