# Looking for an elementary programming tutorial

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-elementary-programming-tutorial/339626>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 12, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-elementary-programming-tutorial/339626 "2006-01-12T05:03:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-elementary-programming-tutorial/339626/1 "2006-01-12T05:03:55Z")

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A friend of mine has expressed a desire to learn PHP coding, so that she can add some simple features to her website; she would prefer to write it herself rather than just find something approximately suitable off-the-shelf, or, if she does have to use pre-written code, at least understand what it’s doing.

However, she has absolutely no experience of programming at all. Can anyone recommend an on-line resource which goes through the _most_ elementary aspects of programming (variables, loops, arrays, etc?). Something that was based on PHP, or, at least, C, would obviously be ideal, but we’re really just looking for coverage of the fundamentals at this stage.

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**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-elementary-programming-tutorial/339626/2 "2006-01-12T05:35:12Z")

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Here’s one you might try:

[PHP Programming](http://jamhitz.tripod.com/toc.html)

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-elementary-programming-tutorial/339626/3 "2006-01-12T17:52:01Z")

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Whenever I need to learn an internet technology, the first place I look is [w3schools.com](http://www.w3schools.com). As it just so happens, they do have a free [PHP tutorial](http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp). Mind you, it may not be appropriate for someone who’s an absolute neophyte, but it’s worth taking a look at.