Top 5 PHP Tutorials You Probably Don’t Know About

Being a fully self-taught PHP developer, I’ve spent a LOT of time searching for and perusing online tutorials.
Some are awesome. Others… not so much. So, I figured I’d take a moment to help you separate the wheat from the chaffe.
Here’s my top 5 PHP tutorials in no particular order:
1. Tizag.com PHP Tutorial
I spent a lot of time with this little gem. For me, the best part about this tutorial is it covers the important stuff. A lot of tutorials spend way too much time covering things that don’t really matter… at least in the beginning. Tizag.com’s tutorial covers the essentials like working with MySQL, includes, arrays, file manipulation, and more. A great collection of essential PHP skills.
2. W3Schools.com PHP Tutorial
This one is really similar to the Tizag.com tutorial in that it covers the essentials. That said, it’s good to hear it explained a different way and it covers some topics and shares some tips you won’t find in the Tizag.com tutorial. You get similar essentials to the Tizag.com tutorial like working with MySQL, arrays, includes, etc… but you get a few extras like ODBC and using PHP in conjunction with XML and AJAX.
3. Learn PHP
Self-aggrandizing? Blatant self-promotion? Probably, but I really do believe this is one of the better tutorials out there. It is, of course, a tutorial by yours truly but what makes it unique is that 1) it’s a VIDEO tutorial, which are hard to find and 2) it covers in-depth what I call the “Essential Loop”… the first major skill I believe a PHP coder must learn. And, like the others, it’s free.
4. PHP For the Absolute Beginner
Again, similar content to the first two, but what make this one unique is the playful style in which it’s written. Vikram Vaswani, the author, isn’t afraid to take a stab at injection a little humor into this tutorial. Of course, sometimes the humor hits just right… and sometimes it falls flat, but you gotta respect the valiant effort.
5. WebMonkey PHP for Beginners
Another beginner tutorial that’s even more focused on the first steps of learning PHP. I like this tutorial, because it is so focused on the critical first steps: learning PHP syntax, working with variables and functions, operators and a few others. If you’re brand new to PHP, this is a good place to start and keep from getting overwhelmed.
All in all, these PHP tutorials are a great place to start. Be sure to check them out. Also, what other tutorials have you taken that you found useful? Feel free to share with the community!