Chapter 2: Using Variables and Input

Overview

In Chapter 1, "Exploring the PHP Environment," you learned the foundations of all PHP programming. Now that you have reviewed your HTML and CSS skills, you're ready to start seeing the real power of programming in general, and PHP in particular. Computer programs are ultimately about data. In this chapter, you'll begin looking at the way programs store and manipulate data in variables. Specifically, you'll learn how to:

Create a variable in PHP.
Recognize the main types of variables.
Name variables appropriately.
Output the values of variables in your scripts.
Perform basic operations on variables.
Read variables from an HTML form.