Book Image

The PHP Workshop

By : Jordi Martinez, Alexandru Busuioc, David Carr, Markus Gray, Vijay Joshi, Mark McCollum, Bart McLeod, M A Hossain Tonu
Book Image

The PHP Workshop

By: Jordi Martinez, Alexandru Busuioc, David Carr, Markus Gray, Vijay Joshi, Mark McCollum, Bart McLeod, M A Hossain Tonu

Overview of this book

Do you want to build your own websites, but have never really been confident enough to turn your ideas into real projects? If your web development skills are a bit rusty, or if you've simply never programmed before, The PHP Workshop will show you how to build dynamic websites using PHP with the help of engaging examples and challenging activities. This PHP tutorial starts with an introduction to PHP, getting you set up with a productive development environment. You will write, execute, and troubleshoot your first PHP script using a built-in templating engine and server. Next, you'll learn about variables and data types, and see how conditions and loops help control the flow of a PHP program. Progressing through the chapters, you'll use HTTP methods to turn your PHP scripts into web apps, persist data by connecting to an external database, handle application errors, and improve functionality by using third-party packages. By the end of this Workshop, you'll be well-versed in web application development, and have the knowledge and skills to creatively tackle your own ambitious projects with PHP.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

2. Types and Operators

Activity 2.1: Printing the BMI of a User

Solution

  1. Create a new file called tracker.php. Then, open PHP and create a variable to store the name. You can assign a value directly, in other words, $name = 'Joe':
    <?php
    $name = 'Joe';
  2. Add variables for the weight and height; again, set a default value:
    $weightKg = 80;
    $heightCm = 180;
  3. Take the $heightCm variable, convert it to meters by dividing by 100, and then store the result:
    $heightMeters = $heightCm/100;
  4. Square the height and store the result:
    $heightSquared = $heightMeters * $heightMeters;
  5. Calculate the BMI by taking the weight and dividing it by the squared height:
    $bmi = $weightKg / ($heightSquared);
  6. Display a message to the user showing the name and BMI result:
    echo "<p>Hello $name, your BMI is $bmi</p>";
  7. Open the Terminal/Command Prompt and navigate to your chapter2 folder or where you stored tracker.php. Run the server by typing in...