GBdirect's PHP On-Site Training Courses: software and logistical requirements

Hardware Requirements

To teach the onsite version of a PHP course we will require:

• Suitably equipped workstations, with a strong preference for one per student.
• One fairly large work space per student (enough to accomodate folders, notepads and text books, etc. alongside the workstation
• A dry-wipe whiteboard and pens, or flip chart, or similar. Most of our trainers prefer landscape format whiteboards
• A SVGA projector is not an absolute requirement, but strongly recommended. Please let us know well in advance if you are unable to source or book one.

Software Requirements

In the past we have worked with Unix/Linux based platforms and those from Microsoft; either works perfectly well.

We are not prescriptive about which packages you use. In general, we simply request that you have recent versions of the following:

• A version of PHP 4 or PHP 5 should be installed, either from source code or a binary package. See the PHP installation instructions for details on how to do the installation.
• The PHP Manual and FAQ
• A Web server (typically either Apache or IIS)
• A Database supported by PHP (typically MySQL or SQL Server)
• A Web Browser
• A good Text Editor

Students will need their own database with specific tables for some of the exercises. Our trainer will supply the descriptions for those tables, or supply a sample database where appropriate.

Preferences and Recommendations

Obviously, we have definite preferences for particular packages. Here are our preferred packages for teaching PHP.

PHP Binaries

Our experience is that, particularly for Microsoft Windows platforms, Xampp is the most convenient way of installing all three of Apache, PHP, and MySQL. Xampp also works with Linux or Mac OS X, but note that most Linux distributions provide all the software needed.

If you cannot use Xampp, binary distributions of PHP are available from the PHP download section. N.B. Only get the "Installer" version if you are compelled to use Microsoft's relatively insecure IIS/PWS web servers. We quite strongly recommend obtaining support for graphics; if it is not already part of the download you obtained, this is done by installing an extension. If there are problems installing the extension, that part of the course can be skipped.

The PHP Manual

The manual is an important part of the course as students become increasingly reliant on using it for reference. For Windows users either the HTML or help-file formats are useful. For Unix/Linux the HTML format is the simplest to use, other formats may need viewers installing such as gv or acroread.

Apache Web Server

This is installed as standard on Linux distributions. A version of Apache for Windows version can be downloaded too.

Database System

We strongly recommend MySQL: this is not only free, unlike some releases of Microsoft's SQL Server, it actually works too. You can obtain it here. You can use your own RDBMS, if you prefer, provided that you ensure there is support for it in the version of PHP that you install. The course examples use MySQL.

Please ensure that the delegates are given suitable user names and passwords for the database system prior to the start of the course!

Mozilla Web Browser

Mozilla is now our preferred Unix/Linux browser. If you are using it, please ensure you have the latest stable version possible (check the previous link).

A Good Text Editor

Unix/Linux systems typically already have good software editors installed; the links below are mostly for the benefit of Windows users.

• Vim A powerful editor with a non-trivial learning curve. Easier to use and more features than a traditional Unix vi, but still for the experienced.
• Xemacs See the comments above re. Vim - they apply similarly to Emacs.
• The Programmers File Editor
• PHPEd — Commercial IDE for PHP, with Windows and Linux versions. A 14-day trial licence is available.
• Notepad+
• TextPad N.B. This is not free software. Many MS-Windows programmers have, however, found the evaluation copy useful for our courses.
• HTML-Kit

Course Schedule

Our typical daily schedule for in-house courses is fairly intensive, and runs as follows:

• 9.30 Session 1
• 11.00 Mid-morning break
• 11.15 Session 2
• 12.45 Lunch
• 13.30 Session 3
• 15.00 Mid-afternoon break
• 15.15 Session 4
• 16.30 End of formal teaching, though our trainer will typically stay until approx 5 PM if wanted.

If you are organising an on-site course It will help us very much if you can inform us of the appropriate

• Contact Name
• Contact Number
• Start Time

— in the past we have had experienced trainers arriving at security or reception, where all knowledge of the course is denied!