How much PHP should I know to work with PW?

[Krlos]

Hello, I'm a long time lurker but I'm loving PW so far.

I know a little about PHP, but I can follow and understand tutorials.

I want to learn the enough  PHP to be able to work well and make the most of this incredible CMS.

The question is what PHP should I learn, I mean I know PW is OOP based but what patterns, what would be the most appropriate techniques should I focus on.

Thank you.

PD: please forgive my bad english... I'm still learning this too.

Edit: some typos.

[LostKobrakai]

To start out with PW you don't even need to use or understand oop. You just need to understand the api processwire does provide and a basic understanding of using php. You'll learn all the other stuff on the go, which will be much easier with a real use case at your sight. 

[Jonathan Lahijani]

To extend upon what LostKobrakai said, by basic understanding of PHP, I would say:

• how to set variables
• how to use the if control structure
• how to loop through an array (foreach)
• how to output something (echo)

Those basic concepts apply for any programming language and will be heavily used in your templates.  Master those with PW's easy API and you'll be like 80% of the way there.

[GuruMeditation]

I went through the following free course which was easy to follow and didn't take long. It has most areas covered and allowed me to understand the PW API and templates.

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/php

[Juergen]

I have been learning PHP on my own, so I never vistit a PHP course or something like that. It was only "learning by doing". The only thing I have done was buying a book about PHP. I use it sometimes, but most of the time searching the web is enough.

It always depends on what you try to achieve (outputting only content in frontend or creating complex modules with a lot of logic behind).

For me the best way was to learn from examples. As Jonathan pointed out you dont need much PHP knowledge to output content on frontend.

[EyeDentify]

Hello Krlos. Welcome to PW community.

I hope you will persist and learn PHP because its worth it and a wonderfull language once you get the hang of it.

I would suggest you have a look at the:

http://www.php.net

and also another good source with alot of valuable info is:
http://www.phptherightway.com/

PHP the Right Way might be tough to for beginners but they teach good concept and worth a read.

Good luck and don´t be afraid to ask questions.

[pwired]

The forum is your friend

https://processwire.com/api/coding-style-guide/

https://processwire.com/talk/topic/3961-new-to-cms/
https://processwire.com/talk/topic/2994-learning-php/
https://processwire.com/docs/tutorials/but-what-if-i-dont-know-how-to-code/
https://processwire.com/talk/topic/6030-learning-php-where-to-learn-just-enough-to-make-living-w-pw-easier/

[Krlos]

Thank you!

I think I'm falling in love with PW, It's so easy doing complicated stuff.

[flydev]

Thank you!

I think I'm falling in love with PW, It's so easy doing complicated stuff.

We are all falling in love with PW

good luck dude