In this chapter, you will get your hands dirty with some of the nuts and bolts of the PHP scripting language. Those of you new to programming may feel overwhelmed at times, but don’t worry—you can always refer back to this chapter later on. Concentrate on understanding the concepts rather than memorizing the features covered, because these elements will be repeated throughout the scripts in this book. Eventually you’ll get it, if not the first time!
If you’re already an experienced programmer, you should at least skim this chapter, as it covers a few PHP-specific features with regards to gobal variables, data types, and changing types.
In this chapter, you will learn
About variables—what they are, why you need ...